Fourth of July 2010 -- weekend of celebrating, part 1

Living near the Nation's capitol means that we have lots of opportunities to celebrating the Declaration of Independence and the founding of our country.  We're even luckier than most as our neighborhood has an old-style celebration that is an all-day event ...

Our weekend started with the arrival of my favorite Godson named Steve ... just recently graduated from college and interning in Maryland.  He came down on Friday evening ... and launched right in to entertaining us all with his own particular wit and intelligence.

Saturday morning found us up and ready to watch the Parade ... a mix of classic cars, club floats and politicians kissing babies ...

(that would be BamBam drooling over the Austin Healy ... but I REALLY liked the candy-apple red pickup!) ...

after a flag-raising ceremony, it was off to the point for swimming, eating and the traditional

face-painting .... which I actually helped with this year (4 hours of painting faces) ...

[oh, in case you're wondering, vaseline or lotion gets off the rather thick, dried-on face-paint in time to be presentable to serve 7:30 a.m. Mass!]

Here's LegoManiac with two dear friends -- Miss Marion helped win the "best appearance for a marching unit" for the Players!

After dinner by the Lake (dh and said nephew made sandwiches, hamburgers and brought the essentials, including a St. Pauli Girl Dark for his favorite aunt), the water ski club put on a show that kept us all enthralled ...

well, mostly anyway (Steve thoroughly enjoyed a book I lent him).

Then once it got dark, we were treated to front-row seats for an amazing fireworks show that last about 30 minutes and was one of the best I've ever seen.  Lovely.

Today, it's off to a friend's house for their annual get-together ... more food, fun and fireworks! [See the post, Part 2, tomorrow]

Life in America is GOOD!

God bless America!