A few weeks ago I decided to plan a special date for Brandon. The theme was "Choose Your Own Adventure." I had seen an idea on pinterest (gotta love it) but it was for a big group date. So I decided to take the concept and tweak it to work for the two of us! I must say, I was pretty proud of how it turned out!
I gave Brandon this sheet a few days before our date.
Remember those books that we used to read when we were 12? They'd go along with a plot then let the reader choose what would happen next by turning to a certain page? Well I decided to tell Brandon that I had found a page from novel about him and that he should choose the next page for his story to unfold! (I had started to plan 4 separate dates and I decided it would be way less work if he picked one date idea for me.) Well Brandon picked not the scientist, superhero, or artist, but SECRET AGENT!
The morning of the date, Brandon found these instructions on his bed. He did indeed leave two bites of breakfast for me as his acceptance of his secret mission. :)
First stop of Secret Agent Brandon? The Spy Museum!
We had signed up for a interactive Spy Op Mission but had some time before it started so we walked around the gift shop a little.
I'm in love.
Lots of James Bond memorabilia, spy books, and invisible ink! We loved it!
When we got to the Spy Op Experience it was pretty snazzy! We were with a group of fellow spies and were led on this interactive activity to save the world from nuclear disaster. It was awesome but we weren't allowed to take pictures of it. Obviously, the world was saved by our excellent spy work considering that we didn't all blow up a few weeks ago.
We had an awesome time and definitely need to go back to check out the rest of the museum and exhibits.
Then Brandon was given the next part of the date: Choose Your Own Dinner!
His choice: Shake Shack! This yummy burger and milkshake place in DC.
Funny story, I knew Shake
Shack was close by the museum but I didn't know where exactly. We spent
a few minutes trying to look for it and Brandon started to look it up
on his phone while we got walking. We had walked 6 steps from the museum
when I looked up and lo and behold.... there it was. Literally RIGHT
next to the museum. Hahaha so much for being such great spies!
After Dinner, we decided to walk down the Mall and see the stunning cherry blossoms. The Cherry Blossom Festival in DC is a huge deal and we were proud to walk the streets, not as tourists but as residents of this beautiful city!
I sure love DC!
My handsome man. He is the hunkiest secret agent ever.
We snapped a few selfies of course. It's hard to take pictures of just the two of you! We're a little goofy together I know:
For some odd reason, I had this vision of seeing the cherry blossoms by the reflecting pool by the Lincoln Monument and SWEAR there are blossoms there. So we walked allllll the way down to the end of the mall to see them. Whelp folks, turns out I'm an idiot and the majority of all the blossoms are by the Jefferson NOT the Lincoln Memorial. Whoops! Embarrassing mistake. But kinda funny. Guess we are still kind of tourists here...
Before it got too dark, we did walk up by the Jefferson Memorial to see the sunset over the blossoms and the water. SO beautiful! I wish I had a better camera to catch all of it!
There were SO many people there! So many residents of DC avoid this area like the plague because the can't stand the tourists everywhere. It just adds to the experience though. :)
We found a stranger to snap this one of us together. Awww...
I told you the lighting was bad. BOO. Someday I'll have a rockin camera to capture all these beautiful shots one day.
After enjoying a lovely night with the cherry blossoms, I gave Brandon the last piece to the date: Choose Your Own Fun!
Brandon's choice: Skyfall! Gotta love me some James Bond!
The next morning, we went to the Cherry Blossom Parade with our friends Kayla and Terry!
We didn't get there early enough to get great seats but found a decent spot to sit for a little while. Until a large group of Asian tourists stood in front of us, forcing us to stand the rest of the time.... :) Yeah! haha It wasn't too bad but was comical watching their camera happiness.
Here are a few favorite parts of the parade:
One of the many perks of living in the Nation's capitol is the abundance of military personnel everywhere you go. I love it. There were members of the military from all five branches to start off the parade!
Even a revolutionary war band! Pretty cool!
This folks is THE Aaron Carter. Like "Beautiful Soul" singer, Aaron Cater! SO random to see this pop signer on a pink cherry blossom float! haha I seriously loved it. Terry swears Aaron pointed right at him when he sang by us. :)
The Nationals Baseball Team have several presidents run around at games and they made an appearance in the parade. Here's a severely disproportionate President Taft.
And Teddy Roosevelt. I think there's a Washington and Lincoln as well.
Those are some awesome Southern bell Easter dresses!
And of course, the parade ended with giant cherry blossom balloons.
Besides the parade being horribly spaced out and last waaay longer than we thought, we had a great time with Kayla and Terry! We got some tasty Nando's chicken together for lunch on our way home. I'm SO happy spring has arrived and that we got to enjoy our first Cherry Blossom Festival here in DC!
