Red White and Blue 2010

We woke up early or at least I did on Saturday July 3rd and got ready to go to the City of Fairfax 4th Parade. I was looking for a parade and this one was highly recommended by my patients! I woke up around 6:30, researched the parade route and then made a list of supplies for Brent to pack while I was out. Allison slept in until 7:30. We are beginning to think 3 1/2 years later we may have broken her of the 5:30 wake ups! Or at least we hope so. Brent decided to drive us by Mason via Braddock road and parking was a shot in the dark. There were several street closings and we lucked into parking into a faculty lot by Mason. We put on our sunscreen and then dashed down the street. When we first arrived at the route, we thought we were at the end of the parade route, bummer. But then we realized (once we looked at the map a little closer) that we were actually at the start of the parade. Yeah!!
While we were waiting for it to start we walked around and checked out the freebies--Allison was hoping for a lollipop! We found some at the 97.1 Wash FM booth and low and behold they took her picture for their website. Gosh she's cute! As of this morning, it's not on there or at least I can't find it. I'll keep looking! I'm sure they will post it front and center!!

Then the parade started. Oh it was fun. It reminded me of sitting on my grandparents porch and walking their parade go by as a kid. So fun! Allison loved the parade and it kept her attention--it was a good two hours long!!
Check out these balloons! Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade look out!




And the grand marshall was Sam Champion from Good Morning America. I always thought he looked a little "Ken-like" on TV and it's the same in real life. I don't think he was wearing makeup, but he has the whitest teeth and flawless skin, especially for a dude!

Fire trucks, shriners, bag pipes and lots of American flags, it was a perfect parade!





After the parade, we dashed off to lunch and then rest time. (We take rest time very seriously!) We wanted Moe's but settled on Ledo's pizza. Mine was el yucky. I was hoping for a pizza margherita but it was not fresh mozarella, AT ALL! I did like the thin crust, but overall yuck. Allison got a cheese pizza and Brent got a meat lover's stromboli. They were both happy with their choices, and I was envious!
Once home we made cupcakes, Allison took a pause, no nap! Then we were off to Stevie and Janis' house for a pool party. I was super hungry when we arrived due to the lunch failure and wasted no time eating a burger, barley salad (yum!), chickpea salad (yum, yum!) and of course beans. The baked beans were made with root beer that made them especially nice to the tastebuds! Allison headed straight to the pool with her Daddy. One of the other girls that was there, Eleanor took to Allison and looked after her all afternoon. It was too sweet! Eleanor is eleven and I can only hope that one day Allison will show such kindness and patience to another little girl. After lots of swimming it was time for fireworks! And dessert! I referred to the dessert as a caroseul of goodness. I opted for a dinner plate and loaded it up with a piece of my mom's rum cake, sour cherry pound cake and then homemade cheesecake. My tastebuds were out of this world. Oh it was good. I thought I should take a picture of it, but I ate it so fast there was just no time!
We headed home around 9, just in time to catch the fireworks at Potomac Nationals stadium. We pulled over and parked the car and watched the show. It was a wonderful day and holiday and we are hoping to catch more fireworks today.