4th of July

I LOVE the 4th of July.  Growing up in Perry and being so close to family made the 4th so fun growing up.  Last year was the first time I was able to be back home for the 4th in 5 years.  It was so much fun but made this year hard.

This year in Raleigh turned out to be a fun day.  All us girls went to a small town in the morning.  They had a lot of free fun things for the kids, they had a good time.  Maddi and I were dying of heat!  We stayed sat in the shade. :)  The heat this summer was intense some days!  I felt so bad for Dave!!!

 Maranea, Maddi, and I

That evening we met at out pool for a BBQ with others from the office and then we took off and went into downtown Raleigh.  It was an interesting show.  It was packed!  They shot the fireworks off in the middle to buildings.  It was fun.

 Dave and I waiting for the show to start

 Dave and Abagail.  She wanted to see "the beautiful fireworks".  She says the cutest things :)

 Some of us girls.  Jasmine, Brooke, Cami, Maranea, me, and Chanel.  

Us

Cami and I 

Then we headed back to a parking lot next to our apartment complex to light off fireworks.  Dave was disappointed since they didn't sell big fireworks here (I won't complain). :)

 Dave, James, and Brian started lighting off the "daddy sparklers." This was the fountain fireworks that were supposed to STAY ON THE GROUND.  They then started having a dance off.  They were very graceful ha ha. I won't lie, it was VERY entertaining. I can't get the video to upload...

After lighting off our own fireworks we headed to a late night run to McDonald's for ice cream! 

D.C Trip

I went up to DC a few days after I got to DC.  The first day I got there I went to dinner with the family I nannied for.  It was a lot of fun!  They are neat people.  I went to the cemetary and visited Alex's grave.  It was a beautiful head stone.  It was so sad to be there.  I couldn't help but think of him a lot that weekend, he should be graduating with Tyler and starting an exciting part of his life!

I then went and visited my friend Liz.  Her husband is doing an internship in DC this summer.  It was so great to see her and her little baby Markus! 

I found a gelato place downtown.  It was delicious!

We walked from the national mall to the Arlington cemetery.  It was a LONG walk but really fun!  We had to take a few rests here and there. :)

Tyler's graduation was at the George Washington Masonic temple.  Liz, her husband Dave, and I went before hand and walked through it.  It was neat. It was interesting to see some of the symbols and things from our temple in it.

A painting on the wall.

An apron they wear.

One of the rooms.

They did some cool things at their graduation.  The school made them each a quilt that represented them.  A student in a lower grade presented it to the graduating student and gave them a quote of encouragement for the future.

Each graduating student gave a short speech.

Getting his dilploma.

His graduating class.

Tyler and I.  He is sooo tall!

Me, Tyler, Dana, and Mike

It was nice to visit with everyone!

The outside of the Masonic temple