Cherry Blossoms

In late January, we did our annual trip up north to see the cherry blossoms. The first year we were here, they weren't quite bloomed when we went to see them, and last year we saw them a little past their prime. This year we lucked out and they were perfect! We drove to Mt. Yaedake in the late afternoon, and the pink blooms were beautiful against the blue sky.

On our way over to the cherry blossom festival, the kids walked in a pack in front of us. It was so cute- you could tell they felt pretty cool leading the way.

Anderson, Jack, Sydney, Shawn, & Henry

Shawn amazed me with his confidence on the playground.

We were sad to see that all the pictures we took while driving up the mountain were a little blurry. Maybe it's because they were taken on the go. We opened up the sunroof in the back, and while I drove, Spencer stood up in the back (like in the movie "Big") to take pictures. Luckily, all the cars just kind of crept along as we admired the trees, but I always felt a little pressure to keep our pauses for pictures quick when we were in the front of the pack.

We pulled over to sneak this picture of Ie island at sunset.

We love getting to enjoy this kind of stuff with our awesome friends!

Sydney spent most of the ride putting on fake nails she got as a prize at the festival.

At some spots the blossoms formed a canopy over us. It was so pretty!

As it started getting dark while we drove down the mountain, these lanterns lit up.

Getting home was a little crazy. Traffic was really terrible, and what should have been an hour and 15 minute trip home turned into a 2.5 hour drive. We got stopped at a McDonald's drive through and ate in the car while we moved toward home at a snail's pace. Once the kids' bellies were full, they crashed and stayed asleep for the rest of the ride home. I can't help but feel a little sad knowing that this will be our last time getting to see the cherry blossoms here, but glad to know that we'll get to see some in the spring in D.C.