Skip to main content

July 4th is more than Independence day around here

We know that it is way past July 4th now but this month has just been so busy that I am just now getting around to blogging about our July 4th.  Matthew's birthday is July 4th and for the longest time when he was a child he thought that everyone celebrated his birthday with fireworks and parties!  It is great to be able to celebrate the independece of our country right along with the birth of one of the most amazing men in my life!  For this year, Matthew's 23rd birthday we had many different ideas about what we wanted to do.  We changed our minds many times before finally settling on going to Washington DC to watch the fireworks. 

We were able to drive up to a nearby town called Alexandria and settle into our Marriott hotel room!  Yeah that's right we stayed at a Marriott!   We actually got an amazing deal for that hotel and we were definitely blessed.  After settling in for a little bit and getting our blood flowing again from our long drive we took the metro into the capital and met up with our friends Andrew and Tianna. Most of the rest of the afternoon was spend walking around the Smithsonian mall and seeing some of the different museums. 

We saw many different historic sites that we will never forget.  We walked and walked and walked some more!  From the capital to the White House back to the botanical garden by the capital and back to the Washington Monument.  We were treated to a lovely early dinner by Andrew and Tianna at a little pub off the beaten path.  Then we had some alone time to relax and walk around together which was great because we had a chance to talk to each other about how we were enjoying the blessing of how everything was working out for the better the entire weekend.


When the main event came around it was time to find a good location to settle down.  The fireworks started at about 9:15 when the sun was just about set.  The four of us settled infront of the Washington Monument so that we would have a good view.  I was able to use the fireworks function on our new function to take many pictures.  Here are a few of them:



After our spectacular light show we had to book it to our metro station to be able to get back to the hotel.  Well at least that is what everyone else there thought!  The metro that we had to take to get back was packed!  At first we were going to wait until the line went down to get on but then we decided to just face the crowd and after standing in line for about 10 minutes we were rushed though the lines and onto our train in less than 30 seconds!  It was all very fast paced!

The next morning, Monday morning, we went up to Maryland to visit Matthew's grandfather for a little bit.  It was great seeing him and his wife and their lovely house.  Matthew's granddad is a cute old man and Matthew looks a lot like him!  So I guess that means that Matthew will make for a cute grandpa too!

Overall our weekend excursion was definitely blessed by God because the whole thing went so smoothly without a single hiccup.  I think that for the first 4th of July that I was able to spend with Matthew I would have to say that it was a definite success!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Moving Right Along

So with the due date nearing and the anticipation of finally being able to hold our precious baby girl, I thought that I would share a little bit of my everyday normal for now!  I am one day away from being 38 weeks along and let me tell you:  I have one active baby inside me!  Yes, she loves to move around and kick/punch mommy in the gut, ribs, and pelvis!  Some of these kicks are so strong that I actually jump!  For those of you that don't believe it could get that bad...oh have I got a treat for you!  I recorded a mere 1.5 min video of my belly!  Now this video is only a small taste of what she does ALL DAY LONG!  And yes at night too!  It's no wonder I have such a hard time sleeping.  So without further ado, here is Ms. Isabella Marie Ohrvall staring in her first movie entitled:  Making Waves in Mommy's Tummy.  :) Update on presentation:  Isabella is still breech and we are diligently trying all that we can to ...

Seated with Christ: An Imaginative Activity

This post is from an imaginative activity prompted from the book "Seated with Christ" by Heather Holleman.  The question posed was: "As an imaginative exercise, describe your seat in the heavenly realms with as precise and vivid detail as possible.  What do you see, hear, smell, taste and feel?  What are you wearing?  What are you experiencing in your mind?"  The following is my answer: I'm seated, comfortable and relaxed.  I have no worries.  All I can physically do is sit and stare at the majesty that is my most indescribable Lord that sits before me.  The most magnificent smells of the Earth can not compare to the wondrous smells that permeate the air here.  They remind me of some of my favorite smells on Earth such as lavender, the beach and pine wood needles; but there is something else entirely in the air that I can not put words to.  The songs of angels saturate the air but seem to fade into the background at the same time. ...

Australian Vacation

Hello all!   I know that it has been quite a long time since I last posted a blog but I decided it was time for another post.  Having a little one crawling all over the place really takes up my time now-a-days.  Infact, the only reason I am able to write this now is because she is napping.  Maybe I will be able to get this done in the time it takes for one nap...we shall see.  So here it goes. This past week the Ohrvalls' took a much needed vacation to Cairns, Australia.  Matthew and I had such a blast taking Isabella on her first family vacation but it was difficult to transition our old vacationing without kids mindset and bring it to a vacationing with a baby mindset.  It is quite different going on vacation with an 8 month old than it is with just two adults.  Needless to say, we spent a lot more time in the hotel room during nap time and at parks for playtime.  But we were still able to do a lot of really fun stuff as a family that we ...