DC 4th of July & Night Hike w/ Kat

For our last fourth of July, we spent it down on the DC Mall. Yes, we are a little bit crazy to make the trek downtown & stake out a spot for hours with little ones - but it was a beautiful day, overcast and not too hot. We are grateful that we decided to go. We met up with our beautiful friend, Kat who lives in Orlando, Florida. We had the best time with her, she is such an uplifting and inspiring person to be with. We really love her and her sisters, Debs & Erika!

Independence Day is a huge celebration in DC with Smithsonian cultural exhibits. This year they had Welsh (Cymru) booths featuring cultural food, crafts, & music. It was great fun walking around & observing the storytelling, cooking, planting traditions of the Welsh culture.

Around 8:30pm, Elise asked me for a hot dog. I figured that was plenty of time to get one vefore the firework show. So Kat and I took the kids and waited in line. As the fireworks started we were 1 person away from ordering so we stuck it out, shuffled with our food through the masses and plopped down on our blanket. I quickly took some pictures and within 30 seconds, the show ended. Crazy! Good thing Kat has such a laid-back personality! We just laughed about it. The kids conked out right after the fireworks' show, which made our night walk amongst the monuments really peaceful. : )

Reflection of the Washinton Monument in a pond on our way to the Lincoln Memorial.

Aaron kneels in front of the Vietnam Memorial. I like how you can see the Washington Monument faintly reflected on the Wall.

The beautifully pillared Lincoln Memorial.