Happy 4th of July, everyone!

We have had surely the most fantastic 4th EVER. Daniella, Darryl and Valerie came over around 11:30 this morning, and after discussing whether or not we should go downtown, we ended up just sitting around in our backyard, talking and relaxing. It helped that it was a perfect day, weather-wise: Breezy, not too warm, humidity almost non-existent. Valerie and Rachel were, of course, delighted to see each other. They played outside on the swings, did gymnastics tricks, then went upstairs while Drew baked his famous chocolate-chip cookies. Daniella admired the herb garden I've planted and even helped me weed a bit (THANK YOU, Daniella!)

At one point, Daniella went upstairs to Rachel's room to check on the girls -- and, she said, it was like going through a time warp. Valerie was in the corner playing with one of Rachel's dolls, and Rachel was lying on her bed, reading, intensely absorbed in her book. "It's just like when Lisa and I were kids!" she told Drew. "I was always drawing, I didn't care for books, and Lisa was always reading!"

Yeah, the apple(s) don't fall far from the tree, I guess...

We gathered up our picnic stuff at around 3:30 or so, then went to Harris Teeter to get food. We had two shopping bags full by the time we were done, which got Drew momentarily cranky, but I had a backpack and he had a large bag and Darryl and Daniella carried the other food bag and a backpack, so it worked out. Luckily we found two parking spaces at the East Falls Church Metro station -- and since it's a holiday, parking was FREE! -- the Metro was surprisingly uncrowded, and we got off at the Foggy Bottom station and walked about six blocks to the check-in. We easily found a nice shady spot right on the Mall to spread our blanket and then ate dinner (it was around 6 by this point). The girls amused themselves by listening to a rollicking version of the Hare and the Tortoise by Daniella, complete with props (yet another reason why she is a thousand times better than me at being a mommy) and then I took the girls to the Lincoln Memorial. They hung out at the gift shop for a while, doing -- what else? -- reading some books they found, then I walked them back, and then Drew took Rachel to a kiosk and bought her a cool D.C. T-shirt that I want the adult version of, and then it was just about time for the fireworks to start, and Drew took the kids to a bare patch of lawn and watched them race around (they have to be run like puppies every hour or so).

And then the fireworks! OH, THEY WERE AWESOME!  "I must be imagining this!" Rachel exclaimed at one point. "You realize, we're going to be totally spoiled after this," Drew said, and he is right -- I can no longer imagine spending the 4th anywhere else except on the Mall. I had visions of us at 70, lugging lawn chairs and a blanket, setting up at 4 p.m. with our Kindles (or whatever devices are in vogue by then), reading the afternoon away and eating a fabulous dinner until the fireworks start.

Getting home was a bit of a trick -- approximately 1 gazillion people all heading to the Metro at the same time -- but I must say, the Metro folks were fantastically organized. There was a line to enter, but once we did, we snagged the 2nd train that came through even though we had to squeeze ourselves on (and poor Rachel had to go to the bathroom, so I tried to distract her by braiding her hair in the station). We stood next to a nice elderly couple from the Shenandoah Valley who had seen the fireworks and asked the kids which ones they liked best, which Rachel and Valerie recounted in great detail, and we managed to make it back to the Metro and home in time for Rachel to pee. On the train she turned to me, despite the fact that it was crowded, and said, "This is kind of fun." And I answered, "It's an adventure! You two are adventure girls!" And, surely, they are.