4th of July

This Saturday I wanted to go down on the National Mall and check out the Folklife Festival, but we decided to have a relaxing day in Arlington instead.

We are having a bit of a food obsession in our apartment these days. While I have decided to cut back, Albert is opting to double his daily food in take in order to put on the pounds. I want everything low-fat and he wants everything to be ultra-high calorie so he doesn't have to eat so much. So Saturday morning I made him a highly caloric breakfast with bacon, sausage, eggs, and toast. Plus he had a protein shake and lots of other junk food.

I made some festive blueberry & strawberry muffins. They were supposed to be red, white, and blue, but you can't see any of the strawberries. I substituted applesauce for the oil so now they are only 108 calories each :D

We went to a friend's bbq for lunch and I had my 2nd hamburger since October when I went gluten-free, but the highlight was the homemade strawberry ice cream that was there. I figured since it was a holiday and the girl had picked the strawberries herself and the vanilla was straight from Africa, I could splurge a bit. I made the right decision.

We went home to relax a little before going to the Air Force Memorial to watch the fireworks. We went early (at about 5:45) so that we could get a good spot. Kim&Joe and Laura&Blake joined us and we played Phase 10, chatted, and ate lots of snacks (threw that ol' diet out the window). The weather was great and the company even better.

Albert brought his camera and took tons of great photos.

There were quite a few people that joined us on the hill facing DC. Luckily we had our territory marked off by blankets and umbrellas.

Here are the couple shots...oh cuuuute :D

I know right...a post without a picture of Albert and I kissing.

Here are the group pics as we slowly added everyone.

(Blake&Laura, Joe&Kim, Tiff&Albert)

When we weren't playing games or chatting I was working on my blanket and Albert was stocking up on calories by eating two peanut butter & jelly sandwiches at the same time.

An hour before the firework show the Air Force Band played patriotic songs so Albert and I carefully made it up the hill over all the blankets and people to check it out.

Our friend Emily is an Air Force Singer (brunette on the left). You may remember her from our ring ceremony on our wedding day...she played the violin.

The fireworks were great as usual. Albert took about 100 pics of them...these are my favorite:

You can see a UFO in the last pic. Hmmm...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA!!

Thanks to all those who sacrifice (and have sacrificed) to make our country the wonderful place it is!