4th of July in DC

We went off to Grandma and Opa's for the long weekend. Shoshanna traveled like a champ, as usual.

Saturday
We arrived in the morning, did various errands, and then ventured out to the Germantown fireworks display. Part of the idea was to do a test run to facilitate decisions about what to do Tuesday night. Grandma and Opa bought Shoshanna her very first glow-stick, which was a big hit and also leaked.

In fact, Shoshanna decided to once again prove Lisa's characterization of her as a "high-intensity kid" correct. She LOVED the fireworks - I had her in my lap when they started, and said "Boom!" in order to make it seem fun. She thought that saying "Boom!" was really fun. In fact, she said it with almost every explosion, even after she'd gotten bored with watching the actual fireworks.

Sunday
Uncle Josh and Aunt Jacy surprised us by showing up before brunch rather than in the evening as they'd led us to believe! So we all had brunch, and then Matthew, Shoshanna, and I drove off to Baltimore to visit our friends Jonathan and Kristen and their 10-week-old daughter, Caroline (who is entirely too cute).

Shoshanna wasn't overly interested in Caroline for most of the time - she'd stop by the bouncy seat occasionally to say "Hi, Baby!" and then run off to dig all of Caroline's un-played-with toys out of their basket. Eventually, though, when Caroline was lying on the floor, Shoshanna decided that the baby needed to play with some of her toys, and brought them over. We were very impressed by the sentiment, although she wasn't too gentle when she deposited the toys on top of Caroline.

We got back in time to go to The Cracked Claw for crabs and other good eats. Shoshanna got cranky before the grownups had even started dinner, but we managed to keep her entertained until Fran & I were ready to head home.

Monday
Shoshanna, Opa, and Daddy went to visit at NIST while Josh & Jacy met with a realtor and Grandma and I went to get manicures. We also went to the pool for a bit (Shoshanna's still not sure about wading pools... she's not all that confident of her steadiness on her feet, and she doesn't like going under when she falls), and Shoshanna had oodles of fun dunking all of the grownups. In the evening, the grownups all went out to dinner at Equinox while Val & Steve babysat for Shoshanna (she was apparently an angel).

On Monday, Shoshanna also learned to say "Opa" ("pah!") and she figured out how to run (an actual run, with both feet off the ground at the same time). She still goes head-over-teakettle after a handful of steps, though.

Tuesday

Fourth of July! It was beastly hot, so Matthew, Grandma, and I took Shoshanna to the playground at the mall for a bit (she loved it, of course). We went to the pool for free burgers and dogs and beer (Shoshanna's still not too keen on hot dogs, but she loves hamburgers), sat out one thunder-induced wait and gave up when there was another one (an hour or an hour and a half later). Had dinner on the deck, which Shoshanna loved because she could run around with impunity when she got bored with her high chair (which, as always, took about five minutes). And she decided that Uncle Josh shouldn't be napping on the lounge chairs. (OK, she might have had some encouragement on that score...)

After dinner, we went to watch the Gaithersburg fireworks from the grounds of NIST. Shoshanna liked these "Boom!"s as much as the ones on Saturday, but she was exhausted and fell asleep about halfway through the show.

You read that right. She fell asleep DURING the fireworks.

And now we're back home again!