4th of July, 2012

We LOVE being in the NOVA/DC area during the 4th of July! What better place to be to celebrate our nation's birthday? It's awe-inspiring. When we were here 2 years ago we drove around and around looking for a good place to see the fireworks without having to go into the city. We ended up at the Air Force Monument right next to the Pentagon and it was great. This year I wanted to go to the Iwa Jima Memorial and see how the view was from there, we could sneak in a history lesson too. But, alas, too many blocked off roads and a frustrated hubby driving we didn't make it there. So more driving around trying to get back to the Air Force Memorial brought us to the Lyndon B. Johnson Memorial Garden next to the Pentagon parking lot. We saw lots of people heading in and a half-way empty parking lot so decided this was a good spot since we were so early. It was only 5pm and the fireworks weren't to start until 9:15pm. Because we were so early it was still VERY hot outside and we had a long wait but we found a few ways to keep ourselves busy.

napping

cloud watching

drinking lots of water

more napping

playbook and snacking

UNO!

being silly

catching fireflies

checking out the sites

Then there were the FIREWORKS! I gave the kids the camera to take pictures so I have, literally, hundreds of fireworks pictures but I will save you and only include a few (those rare good ones that are in focus).

The smoke cloud afterwards.

the parking lot afterwards.

It only took us an hour to get home this time, 25 of those minutes spent waiting to get out of the parking lot. Not too bad. This might be a new spot for us.