Our first 4th after joining the Foreign Service was spent with several other Foreign Service families.
First, we spent a few hours by the pool and the grills at the “mothership” (Oakwood Falls Church). Then around 6 p.m., together with the families of three of Paul’s friends from a-100, we headed for the Air Force Memorial (which apparently is where Life after Jerusalem also went for the fireworks, though we didn’t realize that at the time). All told there were 13 of us including seven kiddos (ages between 1 and 7) and two grandmas.
This was our second year watching the fireworks from the Air Force Memorial. We watched them from the same place last summer when we came to DC for Paul’s Foreign Service Oral Assessment. We really liked the location on a hill behind the Pentagon overlooking DC though there seemed to be a lot more people there this year than last year. It would have been great to watch the fireworks from the Washington Monument but there was simply no way we’d drag the kids downtown. So the Air Force Memorial fit the bill nicely and there was a concert at the memorial, which provided the background music for the show. That and there are actual bathrooms there, not just porta-potties!
Things got a little crazy when the sprinklers suddenly went on and a bunch of people got soaked. Guess someone forgot to turn them off for the 4th. We were fine as there were no sprinklers near us and they managed to turn them off eventually. The fireworks didn’t disappoint and everyone had a good time. Getting home took a while though not nearly as long as it would have taken us had we gone downtown.
Four diplomatic families; Mackenna and Nia; Nia and Daddy.
Nia, Babi (my mom) and Paul: the Air Force Memorial; the fireworks.
We went there two years ago, and it was a stagnant day. No wind existed. Consequently, after the first explosion, the smoke lingered and ended our night. But that first explosion was really something.
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