Fourth of July Celebration

Ok -- I know it is a bit late to be writing about the Fourth of July, but things have been a little busy around here. This year, we celebrated my favorite holiday in D.C. Watching the National Fireworks Display. For those of you out there who are thinking -- what a nightmare it must have been with all the crowds -- that was not the case. We watched the fireworks from the hillside between the Iwo Jima Memorial and Arlington. Claire and her family and some friend went there in the past and we met them there. It was the perfect spot. First, because we have friends (Tim and Ashley) who live in Arlington about a half mile from the memorial. Not only were we able to park at their place, but it also gave us a chance to introduce them to Olivia, and hang out to catch up afterwards.

We walked over to the hill and got there around 1530. It was a Big open space with a few trees for shade and until about an 2000 (fireworks were at 2100) there were probably no more than 100 people out there. The boys had fun playing football and Frisbee all afternoon, especially when Claire and her kids got there. Caden tried hard to play with Anna but I think she was more interested in when the next cookies were coming out of the cooler. LOL.

Unfortunately we did have to deal with a bit of weather while we were out there. A couple hours before the fireworks were to begin clouds rolled in and parks people started warning people to seek shelter. We figured we were pretty safe where we were and decided to stay so we wouldn't loose our good spot for watching the fireworks. While everyone tried to seek cover and a lot of people left Chris took the boys to walk up and see the Iwo Jima Memorial. While they were gone it poured down rain and then cleared. They found a CVS pharmacy across the street and bought a big beach umbrella and some emergency ponchos. I was very grateful for the beach umbrella because it rained off and on for the rest of the evening. It did clear enough for us to watch the fireworks. We had a terrific view of them over the Washington Memorial out across D.C. They were nice even though partially obscured because the weather caused the smoke to sit in front of them like a big cloud. All in all it was a great day even with the rain. I think next year we may take the train up to New York and watch the tall ships come in and then the fireworks over the Statue of Liberty.

I guess I should have pictures to post, but in all the excitement we forgot to take them. I did get a couple of pictures of the view earlier in the day but none of the fireworks. Maybe we can get a few pictures from Claire to put in our scrap book, since she took some nice ones.