Springtime Comes to Balboa Park

The girls and I went to the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Japanese Friendship Garden today.  The garden is located right in Balboa Park, so we went early to find parking.  We were a little nervous about the gray clouds, so I took all the diapers out of my bag in the car so that I could fit the umbrellas.  Thankfully we didn't need to use them (and Audrey stayed dry too).

We stopped to take pictures on the side of the path, with the Cherry Blossoms blooming in the background.

Then we went to check out the Koi.

Eliza paused for a picture on the way back out.  It was super crowded and not much to keep the girls' interest, so after walking all around we decided to find something else to do in the park.

We checked out every single fountain that we passed, and took pictures by most of them.  The girls both love any kind of water feature.

Audrey and Eliza had so much fun climbing on this big green dragon!

Audrey loved the teeth and kept saying "teeth" for the pictures.

Eliza

They climbed all over the dragon, from head to tail and everywhere in between.

Next we checked out a garden area with hedges all around and fountains in the middle.

Eliza smelling these beautiful purple flowers.

We went over to the sculpture garden, but the girls were upset they couldn't climb on these so we didn't stay long.

Audrey outside the Art Museum as we walked past.

Eliza liked this sculpture with the faces.

As we began to head towards the playground, we came across another festival taking place.

The butterfly festival in the Zoro Garden was the perfect thing for the girls!  There were crafts and story time with a live butterfly release at the end.

Audrey was happy to have her face painted for the first time too!

Checking it out in the mirror when it was finished.

The lady who painted her face just loved her and she did a little butterfly on her other cheek too.

Eliza is still afraid to get her face painted for some reason, even after watching Audrey.  So she got a butterfly on her hand instead.

Then came the time for the big release.  There were over 200 Pink Lady Butterflies to be released, so it was no problem getting one for each of the girls - just a problem in keeping them from shaking them.

Audrey opened hers and handed it right to me.  The butterflies were a little groggy, so it took them a minute to get their bearings and actually fly away.

Eliza did great at holding hers nice and still while she watched and waited for it to fly away.

We had such a beautiful time at the park today!  The sun was playing peek-a-boo behind the clouds throughout the day, but it didn't slow us down.  We covered a surprising amount of ground with no plan and no stroller.  We saw lots of new gardens and sculptures, and we still have so much more to see there.  I even signed up to get emails for upcoming events through Friends of Balboa Park.  Looking forward to going back to explore some more soon!