Washington DC and the 4th of July

I drove up with the kids on a Monday to visit Audrey in DC. I haven't seen her much since we lived on the west side of the US for the past two years, so it was really super great to spend a whole week with her. We did all kinds of fun stuff. Museums, parks, the zoo, sight seeing, playing swimming and we ate at a great little place that Jonah can't stop talking about- The Cactus Cantina. I highly recommend their fish tacos.
Anyway- Matt flew up to meet us for the weekend on Thursday night and Laura Dawn flew in on Friday morning. We hiked the Billy Goat Trail that day and visited Great Falls. We were having so much fun all week that I didn't take any pictures until saturday.
Audrey really wanted to watch the fireworks from the National Mall. I thought for a second that she meant a great big shopping center, but soon realized that is actually the name of the large area that contains the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, WW 2 memorial, Viet Nam Memorial, etc. So, we headed downtown and actually got a really great spot just below the Washington Monument. Clouds were looming all day, but thank goodness it never actually rained.



Audrey packed lots of snacks and we just enjoyed the music from the US Army Concert Band and Mark Wills until it got dark enough for the fireworks.

Will, Bans, and Ry "making fire"- their new favorite game.
Me and Matt- scary! me that is.

Enjoying the wonderful fireworks

I got a couple of good pictures
I thought it was cool that you could see Savannah's little shadow here
Jonah by the Capitol Building.

Audrey is a great hostess. The cousins had a blast and after driving across the country, 10 hours there and back really doesn't seem that bad.