Cherry Blossom Festival

On Saturday, I went out to DC and got sunburned.  That's okay, I was spending time with my family.

First, Ian, his family, and I met up with Margot and her family and we watched the parade together.  I think the kids got more out of it than the adults, but that's fine.

It's important to teach kids about selfies at a young age.

After the parade and lunch (I brought little cherry tarts to share), we went to the Washington Monument to fly kites.  The kites had to be assembled, so we were fortunate that we had enough adults to be paired with each of the kids that were big enough to participate.  That is to say, the assembly was tough, the instructions were vague and unclear, and the wind was aggressive (look at the flags in the background).  We kept at it and everyone got at least a little air time.

 Sophie got plenty of attention later when I held her hand and helped her walk around.

 That kite in air was one of ours!

Clara, flying her kite as high as she could.

After we achieved as much lift as we could manage, we went to the National Museum of the American Indian (which was clearly named quite some time ago) and wouldn't you know it?  They were putting on a presentation of a traditional Cherokee dance.  For those of you keeping track at home, my generation is 1/16th Cherokee and the generation after is 1/32nd Cherokee.  No, it's not a lot of a connection, but it's more than any other tribe, so it was nice to get to learn a little bit more of that heritage.

Once that was done with, we realized that it was getting late and that we needed to part ways.  We tried to get a picture with Margot, Ian, and I, but the first spot we tried didn't have very good lighting.

Yes, I am the youngest person in this picture.

The next spot we tried still had lousy lighting:

Look how patriotic we are with our coordinated shirt colors!

Finally, we found a good spot:

Bryan told us to do a serious picture. Looks like one of us has trouble following directions.

When did Ian start smiling in pictures again?

Margot's expression makes me think a joke was just told, but I don't remember anything. 

Apparently, the joke was in poor taste. 

... really poor taste.

That was our Saturday.  You can't see my sunburn in any of the pictures, but I certainly felt it by the evening.  Even so, it was worth getting cooked a little to get to see my family and spend time with them.