Fourth of July Fun

I love the fourth of July. It might even be my favorite holiday. I love summer long weekends and fireworks and the smell of a grill and red, white and blue outfits and small town parades, and it is the one occasion a year on which I even eat apple pie. I don't really like it, but it feels like the right thing to do, as an American.

It would seem that our nation's capital would be the perfect place for an America-lovin' gal to celebrate Independence Day, but with twoundertwo and a husband who hates both crowds and public transportation, fireworks on the mall was not in the cards this year. Besides, I desperately needed a getaway. Luckily I have an indulgent husband (and in-laws!), who acquiesced to my packing everyone (and everything we own) into two cars for a long weekend adventure.

We headed for Tall Timbers, a quiet sailing community on Piney Point in southern Maryland, because 1) I firmly believe that summer long weekends should be spent on the water, but 2) so does everyone else, and we were not about to spend the entire weekend sitting in Bay Bridge traffic.

And it was perfect. Tony arrived just in time for the festivities, and we set up house in a little cottage in the trees right on the Potomac. Finley ran around with her beloved bubble maker while we watched from Adirondack chairs,

 and we had the little river beach all to ourselves.

The kayak fishing  I had planned didn't exactly happen, but we walked to dinner at the marina, where we drank summer shandys and watched Finley dance to live music (which she adores) while Ford slept right on the table,

and we took the kids to the Country Life Festival, where there was a contest involving dogs jumping into a pool (a big hit) and plenty of hunting propaganda

and our little city girl went for her first pony ride.

We also discovered a waterfront restaurant that had beach toys for kids to play in the tiki bar sand while their parents drank beer and watched the sunset. (Pure genius. Seriously.)

Our brunch dates may have come a long way (because we pick our battles, this one involved cupcakes and bacon)

(and because we forgot the orange juice, and Seth was in charge, this one involved green juice mimosas and whipped cream),

but we still know how to have a great time. We loved having Tony & Jayne to hang out with (and help with kid wrangling), and although there were no fireworks (that we could see anyway) or apple pie, we still feel like we nailed it.

And now I'm back at work and pretending Jayne isn't headed back to North Dakota, leaving us on our own to figure out the work-life logistics with twoundertwo. We've been so lucky to have her  here to ease the transition for all of us, and we're not quite sure how this is going to go now... Wish us luck!

My favorite photos this week are of Finley enjoying her dirty gas station lollipop on the road trip home yesterday,

and looking a tad suspicious of the pony ride.

And, because I didn't have very many of Ford (who is sadly too small for pony rides and blue frosting) this week, here's him looking like such a big guy at the zoo Friday.

Oh, and yet another family photo fail. We're racking up quite a collection.