~ Happy Independence Day ~

By Tina~in_ut

I can't stand the 4th of July. It's my least favorite Holiday. It makes me nervous to watch my kids lighting fireworks. The dog and cat go crazy. Someone always gets hurt. The neighbors think it's great to light illegal fireworks and I'm afraid they will land on my house and it'll catch on fire! I usually try to work on that day.

When Carol asked me to write this blog, I started laughing. I asked her if I should write about how much I can't stand it! Then I remembered one 4th of July that I just loved and had a wonderful time with my family:

When the twins were about 4 or 5 yrs old, my hubby had a conference in Alexandria, VA, and since his room was paid for and we could fly free, we all went with him. It was at the end of June and we decided to extend our stay to be there for the 4th of July. It was on a Sunday and, of course, we had to find a church to go to. I always thought that the National Cathedral was the Catholic Cathedral. I'm so glad it isn't, as that puppy is one ugly church. So off we went early to church at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. As my youngest said that day, over and over, "It takes two twains to get to the chuwch! The wed one and the gween one!" He had trouble with his R's and sometimes his L's. The basilica was enormous. There was so much to see after mass.

The entire time we were in D.C., it was over 100 degrees and much of the country was experiencing the same heat wave. Instead of going straight to the Mall after church to await the fireworks, we spent 6 hours in the Basilica visiting the 70 chapels, the cafeteria, and the bookstore. There we found THE most precious item for my youngest.....his Capitoh watoh bottoh (Capital water bottle). The kid was obsessed with going to the Capitol. We never could figure out why.

After that, we started off for the Mall. It was still early.....hours before dusk. On our way, we found that the National Archives was open. The kids were bored because it's hard to explain the importance of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights to someone so young. One thing they did understand, though, was that the air conditioning was on in the building!

We couldn't stall any longer, and off we went to find a place to sit at the National Mall and wait to see the fireworks. It seemed like we sat there sweating our buns off forever, but it really wasn't more than a couple of hours. By the time the fireworks started, my kids and hubby had their shirts off and we were all drenched. I forgot that the twins didn't like loud noises. I ended up with my youngest in my lap. There is nothing nastier than a kid drenched in sweat sitting in your lap!!!! He covered his ears the entire time and had that worried look on his face. The fireworks were spectacular. Of course, when it was over, my scared little child was just as excited as everyone else around him and back to his old self.

I don't think you can describe the experience of spending Independence Day in Washington, D.C. It's incredible, fantastic, over-the-top, and makes you proud to be an American. I can, though, describe what it's like for hundreds of thousands of your closest friends to head for the same subway at the same time! SCARY!! In all the mayhem, I ran into a co-worker, which was really weird. And while I was trying to talk to him, my youngest was pulling on my arm. He wanted to know if we were taking "two twains or just one!"

Happy Independence Day to all~

(and happy birthday to Tucker!) :D