Big Weekend Fun

Charlotte’s July 4th weekend was action-packed.  It started Friday morning with a family trip to Dunkin Donuts for a special breakfast – how exciting!  And after a busy day of cleaning out the guest room (in anticipation of a couple sets of guests and then changing it into Charlotte’s big-girl room!) we went down to the West lawn of the Capitol to enjoy a picnic dinner and watch the dress rehearsal of A Capitol Fourth.  For those that don’t know, this is the big concert prior to the fireworks in DC and is broadcast on public television stations across the country.  We got to see Aretha Franklin sing the National Anthem, Barry Manilow sing several songs, including Copa Cabana of course, and then Charlotte’s second favorite thing of the night — a message from Barack Obama.  Yes, Charlotte still wants to go to his house.  She also decided she’d like to go in his car.  And then it was the moment we had all waited for – the 40th birthday of Sesame Street!  Charlotte did not stop smiling as Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Abby Cadaby, and Rosita all sang songs (with Natasha Beddingfield even).  Wow!  We stuck around to hear the cast of the Jersey Boys and called it a night.  It was made even cooler when we watched it on TV on Saturday and Charlotte got to see it all over again.  Pretty exciting stuff for a 2.5 year old (and her parents)!

Saturday was another busy day around the house, but we finished it off July 4th-style with hamburgers, chips, and watermelon for dinner.  Sunday morning we did some final preparations (including a bit of sidewalk chalk art–she drew them a racoon)…

…and headed to downtown Takoma Park so Charlotte and Josh could go to Charlotte’s yoga class while I went to the Metro to collect our friends Carrie and Richard who came to visit from England (via a wedding in New Jersey)!  I showed them the Farmer’s Market and then we went to Roscoe’s – Takoma Park’s new Neopolitan Pizzeria – where Josh and Charlotte joined us for lunch.  Charlotte loved her pizza, but was most excited by her pistacio gelato/”green ice cream”, especially when it melted and became ice cream water.

The rest of their visit included a lot of reading books to Charlotte, watching her play in the park and being chased around the living room by Charlotte and her play-doh snakes.  They were both very good sports. 

They even played along when it was time for everyone to see the doctor – especially the baby.

We did manage to have a great gown-ups dinner out with firends Monica and Tom on Sunday (Charlotte got to have Jodie babysit!) and met up with them again on Monday for a walk around the sculpture gardens and a lovely lunch, but I think Charlotte was likely the highlight of their visit.  Thanks to Carrie for providing these photos!

Next up, Namma and Papa come July 17th!  Can’t wait!