Ooohhh.....so pretty!
I visited this park last year during cherry blossom season, but it was by myself and in the rain. This year it was overcast, but only slightly chilly and no rain!
Our apartment building is lined by sakura trees on all sides. It's always beautiful, except this year on the back side of the building our park is being redone, so there is a line of ugly construction fencing all along this road. Farther down the road, by Gridley Tunnel, the ground had an amazing pink carpet of petals!
I was very excited to find this tulip garden on a side street as we were heading to Shomyoji. I can't believe I've never seen this before! It was phenomenal!
And....the main event...Shomyoji Temple!
There are a few trees right at the entrance that have a mixture of white, light pink and dark pink.
After snapping a LOT of pictures at the first gate, we made our way down the sakura covered sidewalk and to the main part of the temple. The kids always beg me for sodas as we pass the vending machines on this road. So, they both got grape Fanta, which I think Garytt dropped at least half a dozen times.
Kenzie was a happy kid as we entered the park....she had her favorite onigiri (two of them, actually) and a box of her favorite Pocky.
Oh so pretty!
It was a little chilly and very overcast, so there weren't a lot of people here this day.
After a little hanami (the alcohol-free kind, unfortunately :) under the trees, we made our way around the pond and as we were getting ready to go across the bridge the kids noticed a lot of ducks on one side of the pond. Now, when we came here with my mother last year, there was a duck that followed Garytt around the whole pond. He was a sad little duck that all the other ducks kept chasing across the pond. But, for some reason, he liked Garytt, who subsequently named his little friend Quackers. Well, today he was on a mission to find his faithful friend again.
Is that Quackers? No....it's not coming over to say hello, so it can't be him. Look! A cute turtle with about twenty of his closest friends just hanging out on the banks of the pond. Then, all of a sudden a cat emerged from who knows where and slid into the tall grass where he calmly watched all the ducks and fish moving back and forth in front of him. We were waiting to see if he would be brave and hungry enough to jump in after his lunch. He was not...
The Boy!
I think I have this picture of him from every time we have been here.
And....here is the last happy picture of Kenzie for this trip.
One last shot before we go....these trees are so beautiful!!!
Okay...so, when we were at the 7/11 getting our lunch goodies I convinced Garytt to try a new Pocky. It was grape flavored! How could we go wrong with grape?! Well....turns out....it can go VERY wrong with grape flavored Pocky. We both took one bite and then tossed the box into the trash bag. Since I had so much faith in the grape flavored treat I didn't think to have a back up for the Boy. So, I asked Mackenzie to share her Pocky. Ohmyword....how dare I even think to split her chocolatey goodness in half!!! She threw an absolute fit...like, with tears and loud sobs and every ounce of drama she could put into it.
And, this is the result in my pictures....such a sad face. There were a few others where she looked like if her eyes could shoot lasers at me, they would have done so!
No one messes with Mackenzie and her chocolate!!
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