Although we’ve been visiting the Brooklyn Botanical Garden during cherry blossom season every year since Mika was a toddler, this was the first time we braved the crowds and attended the big Sakura Matsuri Festival. The day started a bit overcast, but in the afternoon all clouds gave way to clear blue sky and crisp sunshine. We joined team Elsie, Violet & friends on their blanket, and had a front row seat for both blossoms and passing fruitcosplayers.
This afternoon, we made a field trip up to the NY Botanical Garden to catch the last of this year’s cherry blossoms. It seems like the Bronx was even ahead of Brooklyn with most trees about a week past peak bloom: lots of leaves were mixing into the flowers and the floor was already covered in pink petals. The kids enjoyed it nevertheless, especially since it was not nearly as crowded as the BBG on a weekend. We also discovered hills with lilacs, peonies, and a sea of azaleas and rhododendron spread out under majestic trees. Spring has indeed come full force!
Earlier this week, the main Cherry Esplanade at the Botanical Garden started flowering. We consolidated a bunch of play dates on this perfect spring day and went to the BBG with five kids: Henry, Bruno, Katja, Roman, and Tobin. This time, the flowers were too high for a petal shakedown, so the kids were happily running, poking dirt, sharing toys, and watching fish in the pond.
Tobin, Henry, and Roman enjoyed a relaxing stroller nap/rest on the way back to our neighborhood, which was topped off with a treat at Blue Marble. Happy kids all around…
Note: This is already the third Hanami season for Tobin and Bruno at the BBG. Check out 2008 and 2009 to see how much they’ve grown!
Today, we had one last day of Summer weather before temperatures will go back to seasonably cool levels. To make the very best out of our play date, we took Henry and Tobin to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden for some flower appreciation. The big “Cherry Esplanade” has not launched into bloom yet, but the weeping cherry trees around the Japanese pond and along the side lines were quite a sight already.
The boys were so excited to run on grass that they kept doing just that. They hardly ever stopped … only to drink water, to point at passing maintenance tractors. or to shake down some cherry blossom “snow”.
Temperatures plummeted back 20+ degrees to seasonably fresh spring weather, but we were lucky enough to catch a few more sunny hours of stunning cherry blossoms with Bruno and his parents yesterday. The weather for the rest of the weekend, including the official Sakura Matsuri Festival, doesn’t look so good. It’s already raining heavily tonight!
We made a quick after-school visit to the BBG to experience the “peak bloom” cherries on this last day of the heat wave. It felt like the best of Summer and Spring coming together and during our 90-minute visit, even Tobin felt a bit less sick.
On the last (week)day of Mika’s spring break, we returned to the BBG for some more ‘Hanami‘ (cherry blossom viewing/appreciation). Of course, Mika appreciated her ice cream treat just as much … but she helped arrange Bruno and Tobin for a keepsake photo. What those two really had to say is captured here.
It’s been two years since we visited the NY Botanical Garden during cherry blossom season, and even longer since we enjoyed Hanami with Uncle Joe. Today, we got to do all of it on a perfect Spring day. It was very windy, but the temperatures were just right to put everybody at ease. Except for one little sword fighter, who kept challenging us with various sticks. Once the sun had been taken over by clouds, we warmed up bodies and minds at the Orchid Show with it’s abundant shapes and colors.
