Cherry Blossom Festival

Once upon a time, Jim got the idea to try to convert me to San Diego by showing me all the neat things to do here.  (Not that I didn't like it here; I just didn't think it was the wonderland everyone else seems to think it is.)  Though fun, the original San Diego tour didn't last long.  Recently Jim decided to pick it back up.  Our first outing was to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Balboa Park. 

Sam and Tatum and their two girls met us there.  It's a one-day-only event, and we didn't get there until less than an hour before it ended.  About a million other people were also there at that time, and the place wasn't very big (particularly the narrow trail we had to take down to where most of the booths/cherry trees were).  I had been looking forward to authentic Japanese cuisine, but the couple of food booths near the entrance were so crowded that we a) couldn't tell what the booths were selling and b) passed by them as quickly as possible.  After we wound down the trail to the bottom of the hill, we found a bunch of pretty trees; booths selling trinkets, origami art, and the like; and a little breathing room.  The only food offerings down there were shaved ice and kettle corn - really big in Japan, I'm sure. 

The way down:


Notice Dolly's gesture.  No. 1 baby.



 

At the bottom of the hill:

Tatum took a whole bunch of photos of us trying to get a decent family shot.  It didn't really work out.

Jim took a lot of artsy blossom shots. 

We got a bag of kettle corn and caught the last performance of the day - this sweet little high school sophomore playing the shamisen (which I just learned about in Memoirs of a Geisha):

Between songs, he told us a little about himself.  He goes to Japan every summer to learn the shamisen.  From September to June, he learns by watching people play on You Tube.  He was totally adorable. 

As we headed back up the trail, we saw this Japanese (I'm guessing) teenager wearing a Britney Spears-inspired schoolgirl outfit, along with what appeared to be bunny ears and some other bizarre accessories, doing a photo shoot:

Odd.  And fascinating.

Toward the top of the hill, Dolly took over pushing the stroller.  I had to help with steering:

She didn't want to quit.  She pushed it over the grassy area by the car and then (due to her lack of steering skills) over this dirt/rock/stick area . . .

. . . until she couldn't go anymore . . .

. . . which made her very, very sad:



I got her back on the grass, and she took off:



A mini tantrum followed when we had to stop the stroller-pushing and head back to Oceanside for Ward Conference that night.  Life's tough when you don't get everything you want all the time.