One for the record books

I love the 4th of July so much! This one has been especially awesome, who else throws a bigger party on the 4th of July than the country's birthplace? About a month ago my friend Katey and I decided we should go to Washington DC for the 4th. What a spectacular idea! Seriously, there will be over a million people there, but when am I ever going to get this chance again? Out of curiosity I looked at what was going on in Philly on the 4th and I found a website that said there were going to be fireworks at Penn's Landing on Friday and Saturday nights. We had already decided we were going to DC on Monday but I thought it would be really fun if we went to the fireworks on Friday night too! So we got a whole bunch of our friends together and made the trip. We met and went to eat at a great little hidden Mexican restaurant which was great! I really miss being able to get really great Mexican food on the square all during the week of the 4th! Then we made our way to the subway to ride to Penn's Landing. By the time we paid, got down there and were waiting for the train it was already dark so we decided to check online what time they started. So we looked, and looked, and looked again and found no mention at all of any fireworks going on that night at Penn's Landing.  Turns out the schedule of events I had looked at a month ago was not entirely accurate and had been changed. You would have thought we would have checked that before that moment. Nope. So there we are, nine of us, in the subway, carrying our blankets, with no where to go. We decided since we had already paid for it we should go somewhere anyway. So we rode down to City Hall. They were showing Hairspray at LOVE Park so we walked over there and stayed for a couple minutes and then walked back to the house where we all met, talked for another couple hours and then went home. Even though it didn't work out nearly like we planned it, we all still had a really great time!
Saturday my branch had a picnic that turned into a multi-stake activity which meant a bunch of people from the surrounding stakes came. Some people drove an hour to get there! It was so much fun, we ate a lot, played Frisbee, kickball, and wiffle ball, talked, met new people and just hung out! It was a perfect 4th of July Bar-B-Que!

Monday was Washington DC! Have I mentioned how much I love DC? Well it's a lot. We thought we were going to be so brave to go down there and battle the traffic trying to get onto the National Mall but traffic on the way there was practically non-existent! We left Philly at about 6:30 in the morning and got there just in time to find a great spot to watch the parade. I love parades, I don't know what the 4th of July would be without a parade.

The beginning was so cool, there were all these dashing military men from each branch!

I love the parade. Unfortunately there were no tractors in this one. This is the first time in my life that I have been to a parade that did not have at least 1 tractor!

My mom made these leis for us to wear, while we were waiting for the parade to start a guy walking past told us they were cool :)

After the parade was over we wandered around for a while. There was a lot going on, it was all so exciting! There were concerts and a Folklife festival with booths from all over the world with crafts, dancing, and food. At about 4:30 we got to the capitol building to save a spot for the "A Capitol 4th" concert that was going to start at 8. And it was already crazy crowded! We were able to find a  small spot near the front but right behind a giant sound tower. So much for seeing the stage but we had a great view of the fireworks! We had about 4 hours to wait for the concert to start but it was really nice to just lay on the grass. The concert started right on time and it was so awesome!

 It was hosted by Jimmy Smits, an apparently famous actor from a long time ago, I have never heard of him. The national anthem was sung by Jordan Sparks, and it was so good! Other performers were incredible as well!

Mathew Morrison from Glee

Steve Martin. Yes, he's funny, but did you know he's also an award winning banjo player? News to me! But he was so good! That's him in the white :) He walked right past me, probably 100 feet!

My favorite of all the performers...

Josh Groban!

We had a lousy view of the stage so I only caught a glimpse of him, but his performance was amazing! (you can see all of them on YouTube) So many times you see your favorite artists live and are disappointed, but Josh Groban was just as good live as he is on his albums! This was my favorite song that he did

We also saw Little Richard, Kellie O'Harra, and the National Symphony Orchestra which I loved! After the concert the fireworks started and they were incredible!

We read that there were about 1.4 million people at the National Mall that day but I didn't really feel like it was overcrowded! Except when we tried to leave. Then it got a little crazy. But we walked to a Metro station that was a little further from the Mall and got on with no problems.

In all it was an incredible weekend! So much fun and definitely one I will always remember. But even with all the fun I had this 4th of July, I still missed this with all my heart