Independance Day 2008

We had a grand Independance Day this year. I really think the 4th of July is one of the just-plain-fun holiday's. You don't have to do it big - there's no obligation or guilt if you don't - but if you do it's a blast. This year we did some of the same things we did last year. We started the day at a small-town parade in nearby Leesburg. Then we let the kids picnic at a playground to kill some time. Ruth joined us for both of those outings. It was great. The parade is just the right size for our little family and the kids always love the park. After that it was naptime for the kids and Ruth stayed home while Richard and I went out for lunch. As soon as we got back from that Ruth and I took off for D.C. I had tried and tried to get a babysitter so that Richard could come with too, but it just wasn't in the cards this year I guess. So Richard (very, very sweetly) let Ruth and I go and he stayed home with the kids. We left at like 3pm so he really had the kids for a large chunk of the day. What a great guy. Ruth and I had no trouble driving into D.C. We parked at the Kennedy Center since she has a parking pass there and then walked onto the mall. After doing some loops to avoid road-blocks (and side trips to see Lincoln and the WWII memorial) we eventually made it to her group of friends. They had staked out a great place right in front of the Washington Monument. A great place to see the fireworks. We were there by 4pm and the fireworks don't start until 9pm so we had a little waiting to do. But Ruth had fun with her friends from church (she even joined in on some frisbee playing!) and I relaxed with no kids clambering for my attention. It was totally weird hanging out with a bunch of single people. My goal was to be as un-anti-social as possible while still not really being social. I didn't want anybody wasting their time getting to know me much. But they were all very sweet and I didn't ever feel unwelcome or uncomfortable. Anyway - there was rain. And then we dried off. And then there was rain again. And did I mention we had no umbrellas or jackets or anything? Yep. That part was lots of fun. But in the end the fireworks were so worth it. Everybody kept saying "you just have to see the D.C. fireworks" and I really thought it was more for the glory of being able to say you have done it. But they were amazing. Seriously breath-takingly amazing. First off, we were so close that they were huge. You sometimes had to turn your head to be able to see the whole picture in front of you. And they just seemed to keep going and going. It was like 20 minutes of non-stop amazingness. And really cool. Just really, really cool fireworks. I definitely want to do it again next year. With my hubby instead of random single people (no offense, Ruth). Getting home wasn't even a total disaster. We were still pretty wet when we got home, but we didn't even care. It was really a very memorable and fun day.

The Parade

The Playground / Picnic

Ruth and I hit the National Mall and the Fireworks

The view from where we sat

A close up of the Lincoln Memorial because we thought it was cool how the crowd looked red, white and blue. How very patriotic of them all!