Washington 🇺🇸DC 🌸Spring Break Travel with 👦🏼Kids
04/20/2018
If you ever 🛣✈️travel to 🇺🇸Washington DC, Mandarine Oriental Hotel is the 🙋🏼only place to stay. A convenient semi-private bridge walkway to the 🌸Tidal Basin (⏱3 min), and from the front entrance, the view of the Capitol opens up! The hotel is also very conveniently located to the National Mall ~ few blocks and you are at the Smithsonian Castle information center! Adrian kept 🏃🏽 running around the immaculately 🌺🌷maintained turning circle in front of the hotel's entrance! Kids need so little to have fun!
Times when you think you can hold the Washington Monument in your hands!
Julia is wearing Ralph Lauren vest (shop here) and distressed Hudson Jeans (shop here). Adrian is wearing Janie and Jack collection (shop here).
Did you 🙈miss the peak bloom of main Yoshino 🌸cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin which was on 🗓April 5, 2018? Not a problem! Kwanzan Cherry blossoms are late bloomers (they reach peak bloom 15 days after the Yoshinos reach peak bloom) and are the most beautiful blossoms you have ever seen!
Kwanzan Cherry blossom trees have a much darker pink, a multilayered flower that looks a bit like a small rose. And there are also far fewer people crowding around them. Read more here.
The Kwanzan Cherry blossoms trees themselves are quite low to the ground, so they’re especially good for getting a close look at the flowers.
I am wearing a Ralph Lauren cap, sweater and a vest (shop here) ) and a Tory Burch scarf (shop here). Adrian is wearing Janie and Jack collection (shop here) and Ray-Ban Junior sunglasses.
Do not stand, when you can sit down, and do not sit when you can lay down🛋 not to mention when you can take a 😴 nap ... I cannot even imagine traveling without the carriage🙈What will I do when Adrian will no longer fit in it😬(Shop Orbit Baby G3 Stroller - Teal - Black - Black here).
There is something magical about Capitol at dusk ✨
If you ever visit 🇺🇸Washington DC with children, Mandarine Oriental Hotel is the only place to stay🙋🏼We stayed in other hotels nearby trying to save 💵and those 💰savings are NOT worth it🙅🏼! Did you know Mandarine Oriental offers 3rd night free for select 🗓dates in 🌸Spring and ☀️Summer! And no hotel is more conveniently located to 🌸Tidal Basin than Mandarine Oriental Hotel! So, don't save the 💰savings, rather save the 😬aggravation and experience the❤️ best! (Shop Julia's distressed Hudson Jeans here).
Do 🌷flowers make you 😍happy? Would you prefer to look at a 💐 bouquet or at the garden🙋🏼? Do you have a favorite 🌺 flower? I am loving this gorgeous 🌷display in front of Mandarine Oriental Wasnt DC!
This is actually my 8 yo Julia taking pictures! When hubby had just about enough!
When you go 👀🏙sightseeing, is 👟comfort your priority or fashion? Well, thanks to 😘Tory Burch sneakers (shop here), you can have both👍🏻(Shop my distressed Hudson Jeans here).
Children are closer to the ground, so they 👀notice little wonders of 🌸nature much more than adults do. 👦🏼"Mommy, look a 💧 droplet of water in the flower!" Honestly, I would not have noticed it before children 🙈Do you see the world 🌎 through the eyes of a child?
"Sons are the anchors of a mother's life." ~ Sophocles.
The National Mall is Soo 🙈packed during the 🌸Cherry Blossom festival, but if you travel just 🗓few days after the peak, you might have the entire lawn to yourself😉
I was so comfy in Tory Burch sneakers (shop here), and distressed Hudson Jeans here). Well, after hours in museums, which are absolutely free (we so appreciate it after having visited some in NYC and paid $40 per person), we are heading back to the relaxing Mandarine!
Mandarine Oriental in 🇺🇸Washington DC has an amazing 🍸Empress Lounge overlooking the gardens and offering a place to relax just steps away from our lavish lobby. It serves casual 🍴dining including 🌅outdoor dining where you can get appetizers, a sandwich or a 🍔 burger. They used to have sushi 🍣 but not any longer 🙅🏼. It is worth it since (besides being adorable), there is a big lawn where your children (if you have) can be entertained by playing ⚽️ball (provided by the hotel) while you have a 💖romantic 🍽dinner by the 🔥 fire. See the menu here.
The Smithsonian gardens are breathtaking, and the Castle, with its Gothic Revival architecture, leaves you in awe. Did you know that the first Secretary of the Smithsonian, Joseph Henry, lived in the east wing of the building with his family, starting in 1849, during the initial construction period?
We were surprised to learn that the Smithsonian Institution includes a number of outdoor museums. Located directly above the National Museum of African Art, S. Dillon Ripley Center, and Arthur M.Sackler Gallery, the 4.2-acre Enid A. Haupt Garden is actually a rooftop garden. It comprises three separate gardens, each reflecting the cultural influences celebrated in the adjacent architecture and the museums below.
Established in 1972 to manage the museum grounds, Smithsonian Gardens extends the Smithsonian’s museum experience in a public garden setting, providing inspiration with exceptional displays while educating about horticulture, plants, the natural and built environments, and artistic design.
Julia is wearing a Ralph Lauren vest (shop here), and Ray-Ban Junior sunglasses.
👦🏼Adrian always gets close to things that attract him, like bending down and smelling a 🌷flower. He clings to my leg and says "l love you" a hundred times a day, he hugs and snuggles, and when he lays his head on my shoulder, I melt! I hope, he will hold on to all these tender habits even when grown up.
Be strong, protect the week, and help those in need. Appreciate the beauty, cherish the nature, and always follow your 💖heart!
How can you be at the National Mall and not visit the museums, which are all free, as contrasted with NYC? And, since we are studying Impressionists, children unanimously said they would like to visit the National Gallery of Art.
The Cradle-Camile With Artist's Son Jean. Claude Monet. 1867, oil on canvas.
The Japanese Footbridge, Claude Monet. 1899, oil on canvas.
In 1893, Monet, a passionate horticulturist, purchased land with a pond near his property in Giverny, intending to build something "for the pleasure of the eye and also for motifs to paint." The result was his water-lily garden. In 1899, Monet painted 12 works from a single vantage point, focusing on the arching blue–green bridge and the microcosm of his water garden. Among the 12 works was the National Gallery's Japanese Footbridge. Monet designed and built the landscape that appears in the painting—from the bridge to the pond and its shape, to the water lilies and other plantings. The artist, who as a leader of the impressionists had espoused the spontaneity of directly observed works that capture the fleeting effects of light and color, had in these later paintings subjected nature he recreated to sustained, meditated scrutiny. Also, the vertical format of the picture, unusual in this series, gives prominence to the water lilies and their reflections on the pond.
Stay tuned for more ...