the hills at capitol hill

as it would turn out, a nation's capital is the place to be for a nation's birthday.

elles-a-belle was hyped up for the day hearing benjamin franklin & thomas jefferson read the declaration of independence in front of the national archives. it was super cute when they read off the signers & she heard her name: william ellery! huzzah!

we walked through the sculpture gardens & danced & played waiting for the parade to start at constitution & 7th. uncle sam knows how to hold a parade! we loved the old "bicyle-cycles" with 6 foot front wheels, the curious george balloon (you can see e announcing "it's george!"), & all the impressive bands.

we then walked up & down the national mall 3+ times just checking everything out. there were festivities, carnivals, a tour of the world through food, the progression of music in the united states, etc. TONS to see & do! then it was time to get out of the heat so we headed into the museum of american history which we hadn't visited yet. it was saweet! definitely one to explore again. i hit the exhibit on the first ladies & saw inaugural gowns as far back as martha washington. incroyable! & we both went through the colossal exhibits on the evolution of transportation. we felt super guilty that the girls were asleep by now & didn't get to see all the cool old steam engines, buggies, cars, etc. 

we then made our way to the capitol to meet up with bryce, jamie, & her parents who were visiting from out of town. we had a fantastic spot to view the concert on capitol hill & enjoy the fireworks.

the concert had some people that even i knew (josh groban, jordin sparks, matthew morrison, steve martin) & was really a lot of fun. they then played good old american music (elvis, etc) until the orchestra took over to serenade the fireworks.

here's what the lawn looked like when we arrived...

& then by the time the concert started:

& this doesn't even account for the crowd once the fireworks began! but isn't it beautiful?!

the fireworks were SO fun. & SO long! love love love fireworks & these were great! little cossette slept through the entire thing, canons shots & everything & ellers kept saying "oh dear! up in a sky! fireworks are awesome!" :)

the chaos back to the metro station was not bad! we went in prepared but it was ideal because it was one of the farthest east that you could see the show which meant it was pretty empty & we calmly walked in & nestled into a little alcove in the very front seats & watched as we went further in & people got crazier & crazier. & since our metro stop is the last on the line we didn't have to fight our double stroller through to get off. walked home from the metro stop, hosed all 4 of us down (i really wore white pants on purpose?!), & went to bed. exhausted. love the day, love my family, & love my country. it was a perfect independence day!