July 4th!

July 4th is always an exciting day! This year, Nathan and I started our anniversary (9 years!) by heading out to breakfast. We were going to head to IHOP, but after seeing that everyone in Norwood was already there we opted for the less crowded Friendly's. Well, it was less crowded for a few reasons, one of which was that the serivce was super slow. But, we got a great deal on our anniversary breaskfast and only had to spend $12. (You can tell where our priorities lie this year!) Then, we got a chance to go shopping at Lowes - another glimpse of our 2008 life.



We got home to find that my Mom had already made good progress in packing up our dining room. We joined in the efforts and continued to pack about 20 boxes. It was a good start, but not suprisingly there is a lot more to pack up.



Nathan headed over to Arlington to do some work while the rest of us did other errands and then we met up with him later. Around 7 we headed down town to meet up with friends for Boston's fireworks.

This was SJ's first ride on the T. She's been in Boston her whole life and had never ridden it. She is used to trains from her time in Germany, but was very excited to go on a train that went underground in a very long tunnel.

Notice that SJ and my Dad have on red, white, and blue. We all did, in fact. When I was a kid my Grandmother always made everyone wear our flag's colors on July 4th. So I have always continued to do this. We were suprised at how many people don't wear these colors on the 4th. Maybe it's an Ohio thing? I'd be curious to know if other people try to do this.

Boston at dusk....beautiful! We opted to head to the Cambridge side of the river - less people, fewer trees. It was awesome thanks to friends who got their earlier and claimed a large spot of grass next to a low lying tree. Since nobody sat behind the tree it gave SJ and the other kids a place to dance to the Boston Pops music that blared out over the sound towers. We also got to bob our heads to Rascall Flatts this year!

Here's SJ taking a break from dancing to pose with her Grandparents. They all have on glow necklaces (even Bear has one (a little yellow "bracelet."))

Everyone enjoyed the fireworks. They were truely spectacular! A great way to end our anniversary!