We got super lucky this year because work closed down from July 4 through July 6 so we had a 5 day weekend!!

And let me tell you – we made the most of all of those 5 days.

Before we get to the 4th, we did spend some time with The Hubster’s family when they came to visit us. We took them to our favorite brunch place and it was so sunny that The Hubster had a hard time opening his eyes for this selfie.

I told him I’d let it slide for this time.

My niece asked me to have matching nail polish on our toes.

Her favorite color is pink.

How could I say no to her?

I couldn’t.

She’s so adorable and was so so happy when I painted her nails to match mine.

The night before the 4th, we decided that we should do something fun. So we went out for pizza and beer with our friends. We ate outside under these awesome twinkly lights and had a really fun night.

On the 4th, I made a really delicious summer berry salad and we headed next door to a holiday brunch.

We had so much fun and ended up laughing for hours.

Hours!

We partied so hard that I might have come home and taken a nap before we embarked on the second part of our day – driving to DC to visit The Hubster’s brother!

My in-laws live right outside DC in Virginia, so we headed to their town park to listen to a concert and watch some fireworks.

We joked that there were more people in that park that night than there are in the 4 towns around our house!

My favorite firework of the night! So happy I got it in a picture!

Basically for all the years that The Hubster and I dated, we didn’t spend the 4th together. I have no idea why – it just always seemed to work out like that. I’m pretty happy that we got to spend this night together with some family.

On the morning of the 5th, we got up early to head into DC to check out some museums.

I needed some life blood before we left, but at 8:30am the temperatures were already in the high 80s, so I decided an iced latte would work best.

It’s starting to feel like whenever we go somewhere, these guys are always there!

I initially had my doubts about going to the Air and Space Museum on July 5th.

I might have exaggerated because the whole world wasn’t at the museum…it was just half of America. 😉

Really we went to the museum to all see the orange airplane that’s above my head.

It’s the Bell X-1 aircraft. That specific plane was flown by Chuck Yeager and broke the sound barrier.

Interesting tidbit about it – The Hubster’s grandfather worked on the design of the plane with Mr. Yeager. It’s really cool that something in our family’s history is hanging in the Smithsonian in Washington.

After that, I went back to my usual museum MO and started taking selfies.

This one was with Orville and Wilbur Wright.

You know, those guys that invented airplane flight.

Even I was impressed with the first Wright flyer.

And there is no way I would have ever laid down in that to try to fly.

But it’s amazing and awesome that they did.

The last few times I was in a museum, I got yelled at for being too close to an exhibit. (I wasn’t…I swear!)

So one of my friends dared me to try to touch something and see how quickly the curators would come over.

Gosh darn it…you can’t get close to anything!!

See I tried to touch a rocket and I couldn’t quite get there!

Just a quick pic of the Capitol while crossing the street!

After lunch, we headed to the American History museum (the line for Natural History and the dinosaurs was out.of.control).

This is Abe Lincoln’s hat!

Regardless of your politics, Melania Trump’s inaguration gown is so pretty to see in person.

And all of the other first ladies have a dress of some sort on display.

I know that’s not everyone’s thing, but I liked it!

You have no idea how crazy I looked trying to get this selfie! hehe

The last ting we did that day was take some pictures with the Washington Monument in the background.

Despite the crazy heat (100+) and trying to organize a party of 10 (which we aren’t good at!), we had a fun time and look forward to going back again.