Putting on my red blazer.

I haven't been absent because of some impromptu international travel or a torrent love affair. Instead I've been putting on my red blazer to play tour guide and then catch-up after hosting a group of some of my favorite people - my family.

The first day they entertained themselves for most of the day. For the second year they came just after the peak of the cherry blossoms, catching a lot of trees in transition, and the occasional tree still in bloom.

I had convinced them to stay on the Hill, making it easier to get around. They jumped right in and put some pretty substantial mileage on their feet the first day, walking from their hotel along the mall,

out to Lincoln.

Then around the tidal basin

to the Roosevelt

And around to Jefferson

then back to meet me at my favorite museum on the mall. Well, my favorite cafe at least. The delicious food at the American Indian museum. As always, the food was outstanding, with the exception of some coconut brick that my mom called dessert.

Then we meandered around the Capitol and decided to go in for a tour. We made friends with security as I sassed the guard about the sign stating that knitting needles are forbidden, and another guard yelled at dad to redress himself somewhere else. Luckily the beau skipped out of the office for a few minutes and was waiting for us inside ... just in time to witness our great entrance. 'Um, hi Rich, these are my parents. Parents, this is Richard.'

Then we toured around, stopping for a few requisite shots like this one, standing at the center of DC
And eventually made our way through one of the tunnels to the Library of Congress. I've always admired the outside of the Jefferson building, but had never actually ventured inside. The inside of the building is absolutely amazing.

We ended up going back to it a few more times throughout the weekend.

Now, my Dad is handy at just about everything. He can build, fix, or grow everything that I've ever seen him up against. Except grass. It's like his one little nemesis. It just never grows. I'm talking - one weekend we laid sod in the entire yard and somehow even that managed to die off. So whenever he sees a nice patch of grass, he always has to stop and admire it.
That night the rest of the visiting family got in and we had a deck party at the condo they were staying at. It had a great view of the Capitol dome and the Washington Monument beyond that. We kicked back with some beers and enjoyed the crisp air. (Really, spring - you can show up aaaany time now)

My memory isn't the best to put everything in order, but at some point we did all of the following and more....

We walked around the tidal basin and found one cherry blossom tree that was still somewhat blossoming.

We walked through the tulip library. My three favorite things about spring : cherry blossoms, WARMTH, and tulips. The warmth can come any day now.

There are a hundred different varieties of tulips around DC right now, but the funkiest I've seen is this hairy little bastard.
We walked around the Capitol and the Hill, a lot.

We did the Portrait Gallery/American Art Museum and the Museum of American History. We were pretty exhausted at this point...

They experienced the Metro

and Union Station.

We feasted at an amazing restaurant called Marrakesh.

with Moroccan food that you eat family-style and with your hands. Devin, my 18-year old cousin, definitely failed at this. But in true Dev style he just laughed it off and continued to play his role of court jester.

and we were entertained by a belly dancer midway through the evening.

We walked around the Capitol area some more. The 'kid group' ended up being Dev, the beau, and I for most of the time. They're both retired swimmers - so at 6'1 and 6'3 they literally (and figuratively) talked over my head the whole time.

spending some time at the Taft memorial.

admiring more tulips.

and watching my parents be cute.

We also braved the rain and took a tour of the newly re-opened Fords Theatre


Luckily Rick and Carol are like us in that we can enjoy a good pint pretty much anytime. So we had a lot of good meals and good brews along the way. I finally got to sample the beer at Gordon Beirsch - a place I've heard a lot about but never really experienced.

They have a great sampler of their brews in cute little double shot glasses.

And we all made fun of the teacher talk that ensued when Mr. Teach for America joined the group. It's bad enough when teachers find eachother, but when it's two long-lost pals who teach the same grade...it's just brutal for the rest of us :) Luckily there was beer to get us through.

We also stopped by the Postal Museum (oh yea, that's how we do in DC - we have a museum or memorial for EVERYTHING).

I think the most entertaining part was the gift shop where we found these awesome Lincoln hats

and Benjamin Franklin hats.

We spent most evenings on the deck at the condo, and Saturday night we had a special treat with a huge fireworks show that was the finale to the Cherry Blossom festival. Kicking back on the couches of a rooftop deck, sipping on some B & B and watching the fireworks. Who's having more fun than us?

The beau was batting 1000 with his recommendations, and that continued through to a wonderful Easter brunch at Paper Moon in Georgetown. Mom is becoming an expert scrapbooker, and has recently tried her had at making cards. She's so crafty.

We had a delicious brunch and then bid farewell to Rick, Carol, Devin, and the beau- and my parents and I drove down for a 'quiet' day at Mount Vernon.

It took us about 30 minutes to even find a parking spot - so much for the quiet and relaxed day :( But the grounds were spectacular and it was really nice to walk around. Did I mention that despite it being April and supposedly spring, it was still really cold and windy (luckily we were spared the rain that day)

What's cuter than little kiddies feeding baby sheep?

OK, we had to play with the baby sheep as well.

and walk around a lot.

We were just about to leave when dad found a big, beautiful lilac bush - my mom's favorite flower/scent.

And that concludes our springtime tour of DC. Please make sure you have all of your belongings before exiting the area. We hope you enjoyed your stay. When booking your next travel we hope that you keep us in mind.