4th of July

They told us we were crazy.  They told us not to go.  

Did we listen?  No.

And thus began our 19 hour long 4th of July in DC experience.

No, that isn't a typo.  Nineteen hours from when we left our home in the wee hours (okay, 5 am-ish isn't that wee) hours of the morn until just after midnight when we returned.  I can neither confirm nor deny that it took Jason and I about 3 days to recover.  We're getting old.

But, it was fun.  We will never do it again.  But it was fun.  

We drove into DC early so we could get a parking spot.  Pro: We parked close to the capitol and the boys could sleep on the return trip.  Con: We were in DC all day in the heat.  Pro:  There are lots of places to go in DC.  Con:  All of which open at 10am and we arrived at 6:30am.

So, first we spent some time outside the American Indian Smithsonian.  Here is what the boys looked like at the beginning of our day:

We had a bit of time to kill.

Eventually we headed west on the Mall and came across this.  Josh was good enough to pose with a kissy face for me.

Luckily, the outdoor sculpture garden at the Hirshhorn was open and the boys could scamper around and check out some art.

The museums did (finally) open so we hit up our favorite - Natural History - and walked into a live demonstration of some creepy bugs.  Creepy being my word, not theirs.  Josh got to hold this ginormous grasshopper.

Back outside on the Mall for lunch, I took this picture of how the boys were holding up after the first six hours.

After our picnic lunch, we headed over to see the parade.  By this point it was hot.  And we were late to the game of finding a spot for the parade.  And Jason let the boys take turns sitting on his shoulders so they could see.  Josh might be a smidge too big for this.

Luckily, this pool was open for people to cool off and for Jason's back to recover.

After a quick run through the American History museum to look for Josh's teacher's wrestling medals, we headed back on the Mall.  This also happened to be the week of the Smithsonian's folklife festival.  This year showcased Hungarian Heritage, and since some of Jason's ancestors were Hungarian, we decided to take a peek.  We listened to some traditional Hungarian music and watched some traditional Hungarian dancing.  Not pictured here.

And then we took a break.  In the grass.  Which probably explains why Josh's face and ears swelled up like a chipmunk with Dopey the Dwarf ears for the next 3 days.

After we all recovered a little bit of energy, we walked back to the van to fill up our water bottles with cold water and to sit in the A/C for a while.  I also took this picture of how the boys were holding up after 11 hours.

We dashed over to the National Gallery of Art to look at the waterfall and check out this cool tunnel of lights.  Sadly, they close at 5pm so this was also our last air-conditioned bathroom experience of the day.

Then we camped out on the Mall so we would have a good view of the fireworks (still 4 hours away).  We were all a little burned at this point.  Turns out that SPF 50 sunblock only works if you take out the bottle and apply the stuff to your skin.  Go figure.  So Jason gathered up all of our umbrellas and we made a little cave.  There was no direct sunlight in the cave, but there was no breeze either so the boys weren't very interested in hanging out in there for too long.

Which was fine since we brought frisbees and balls and gloves.

Oh, and little flags which the boys were under strict instructions not to use as weapons because 1) that would be disrespectful and 2) going to the ER in DC was not part of the game plan.  And here they are about 14 hours into the day.  I know they don't look very chipper, but that had more to do with them being tired of all the pictures I was taking than of being just tired.

A little after 9pm the fireworks started and they were lovely.  Although we couldn't hear any of the music, there was a concert going on in front of the Capitol behind us.  Part way through the fireworks, they set off the cannons.  Not the best idea to do to a post-9/11 and post-Boston Marathon crowd in DC.  Several people jumped a bit and looked around for an explosion.  

 After the show, we headed back to the car for more water and the long drive home.  The traffic in DC was a mess (although the Metro was just as bad) and it took us over 2 hours to get home.  Luckily, the boys passed out quickly and stayed asleep until we got home.

I am so glad that we were able to have this experience.  The boys did really well (I won't lie, there was some whining) and we all had a good time (well, other than the whining).  But Jason and I have decided that we have crossed this experience off of our list and don't need to do it again.