Jovie's First 4th of July!

Fourth of July was a fun day!  The first part of the day was spent doing some scrubbing the house and working, because all the days without power left things kind of gross.  But in the afternoon, we all went to the pool.  I love swimming on the 4th of July!  It reminds me of my childhood 4th's!

Then, we put Jovie down for her second nap late, she woke up late and ate a late dinner and we prepared to go to the fireworks.  

Happy Baby at Dinner

Around 7 pm, we drove to Crystal City and parked at my office.  Then we walked to Longbridge park to peek at the festival there, then walked to the Metro.  It was a PACKED Metro ride to Arlington Cemetery.  I was hanging onto Jovie tightly with one arm, while gripping the rail with the other.  We were sardines, and I was sweating!  Had Julie not been with us, we wouldn't have done it.  But we would have missed out, because it was so much fun!

When we got there, we got a great spot above the Mount Vernon trail.  We were close enough to hear them, but not in the Mall crowds.  We had about an hour to wait, and Jovie loved playing!  The breeze from the river felt great, and we relaxed and enjoyed ourselves.

In our prime spot

 Crawling around pulling the grass

 Love my Daddy

 Playing with Daddy, waiting for fireworks

Playing with Aunt Julie's water bottle 

Then the fireworks started!  I was nervous about how Jovie would react, but I had nothing to worry about. She was mesmerized, and LOVED them.  She kept giggling and was fascinated.  And it was a good show this year.

 Laughing with Julie about Jovie's cute reaction to the fireworks

 Love the way the colors reflect off the river and you can see the boats!

 After the fireworks, Jovie's ponytail came out

We had prepared ourselves for a killer commute home, but it wasn't so bad!  We took the elevator down to the Metro, so skipped some of the foot traffic.  We grabbed an empty train that they hadn't allowed people to board on the Mall, and zipped right over to Crystal City.  We were so happy to miss all the misery of the trip home.

Then, of course, we came home and watched the show on PBS with the music, as we do every year.  Happy 4th of July!