The DC 4th

We had an incredible 4th of July. It started with a breakfast in our ward parking lot- yum. When we were trying to leave our car was attacked with balloons by the local primary (very different from a singles ward). We took an afternoon metro ride into the city and found a place to sit and watch the concert and fireworks right in front of the stage on the steps of the capital building. They were great seats, and then began the wait- Brad actually fell asleep. Somewhere online I read that mini concerts before the main concert would start at 5:30. Um wrong. At about 5 :45 we asked a nice Indian family sitting next to us when the concert starts and they said 8:00. Great another two hours and nothing to eat in sight, we were going to watch the mini concert and then go eat and come back for the fireworks. Whoops. So we asked the nice Indian family if they could hold our place and we found a nearby hot dog stand, grabbed some food and then had to wait in line to get back in the Mall (where the capital is). An hour and a half later we made it back in, miraculously our seats were still saved. About this time it began down pouring and all of us on the steps put up our umbrellas creating a huge wall against the rain. About 5 minutes before the concert started the rain stopped. The concert in the words of Brad was "just a bunch of has-beens" But it was still cool and then came the fireworks with the orchestra playing the 1812 Overture and then Stars and Stripes Forever. It was very moving- seeing the fireworks just above the Washington monument and hearing this music. Then the event was over and the real event of the night (the metro run) began. Brad was very smart and chose the metro at the very top of the mall to get on. We had to wait in line to get into the station but got on the first metro we saw which was really lucky because most people we passed were denied because it was so full. I even got to sit most the time. Once we reached our metro stop it was pretty much smooth sailing getting home.