4th of July...On the National Mall

I'll have to say, spending Independence Day at the Nation's Capital was an amazing experience. Never have I seen so many people gathered to celebrate July 4th. It was amazing to see so many Americans come together and celebrate the birth of our nation and honor our Four Fathers. If you couldn't tell...I LOVE THE USA!! Ok, enough patriotic preaching.
On July 3rd we went to the rehearsal show of the 4th of July concert on the Capital Building's west lawn. There were lots of big names at the show. Aretha Franklin sang the National Anthem, Jersey Boys' cast sang some songs and even Natasha Bedingfield sang. I liked the performances, but I was surprised they didn't have more patriotic songs. I think, besides the National Anthem, only one patriotic song was sung. The rest were just hits from the past and present. I was a little disappointed, but it was still fun and exciting. The military bands that played at the very end of the concert were really cool. Here are a few pictures of the evening.
Yes, it is a little artsy, but it was a good picture.

We are at least 3/4th the way back, so you can imagine how many people were in front of us.


July 4th!! We spent the day being lazy and making a picnic for the long wait for the fireworks. We were not sure how early we needed to go to the mall to get a good seat, so we played it safe and went about...4 or 5 hours early. I know, ridiculous. Even so, there were tons and tons and tons of people there already. We got as close as we could and claimed our spot with a huge blanket (I don't like when people crowd around me during a show). My cousin and his wife (Ryan and Meghan) joined us soon after we got there. We played games, ate food, napped, and waited for the fireworks show. It was worth the wait. They were AMAZING!! The show was shorter than I thought it would be, but it was awesome.
Nate and I waiting for the fireworks. That is the Washington Monument behind us.
This is only one portion of the National Mall. There were probably 3 or 4 times this many people just on the National Mall.
Ryan and Meghan palying canasta with us as we waited for the show. This sweet old grandpa behind us kept watching and talking to us. Had we had time to play another game, I think I would have invited him to play with us. He would have killed us I'm sure.
Some pictures of the fireworks. My camera and picture taking skills are not that good.

Because of the large amount of people at the fireworks show, we decided to walk the 3.5 miles to our car instead of wait a few hours till we could get on the metro. It was a fun walk. All-in-all, a very happy 4th of July.

Camping at Burke Lake

Our camping trip at Burke Lake, VA was tons of fun. Not only did I convince Nate we should take the air mattress to sleep on, but he also agreed to take food instead of live off the surrounding environment. Although Nate's ideal camping trip would be backpacking to a remote place in the mountains (where wild animals are abundant), sleep on the ground in a "backpacking sleeping bag" (I guess there is such a thing), and live off granola bars and whatever he could find; he was very accommodating to my wishes of going somewhere with other people around and taking the air mattress. Hahaha, I know, I'm a baby. Thanks love!! Here are pictures of our adventure.

Man making fire.


Delicious tinfoil dinners! Nate said they were the best he has had. I thought they were pretty good myself.
Can you really go camping without s'mores? I love s'mores!!
I think it was my fifth s'more or something ridiculous like that.

This is the contraption Nate put together to boil water for our oatmeal breakfast.
We had a marshmallow roasting contest, and Nate roasted this beautifully golden marshmallow. He won, hands down. I would show you mine, but it would embarrass me. Nate then decided to put peanut butter in it. It was very tasty. I recommend trying it sometime. So as I'm packing up the sheets and blanks we used on the air mattress in the back of the car, Nate is supposed to be deflating the air mattress with our deflating pumb. I get back to the tent so pack up the other things and this is what I come back to. Nate's idea of deflating the air mattress. Hahaha, I laughed so hard. He is too funny.
After we packed up camp, we went for a 5 mile hike around the lake. I was called a hike, but it was more of a "nature walk" around the lake.

We had a lot of fun. I have filled my time for the day to work on this thing, so more of our adventures in D.C. will have to wait.