insta-fourth.

i was going link up with jeannett for instafriday this week, but i took so many instagram pics yesterday during our july 4th celebrations, so i thought i'd go ahead and do an entire post with those photos instead. i {heart} instagram SO much. (as you will soon see for yourself...)

our friends came down from nj/ny and we were thrilled to have some extra special peeps join us for the fourth. grace is my oldest friend. we have been friends for over 20 years...yes, we have the same name. and yes, it freaks me out that i am old enough to have had a friend (that i haven't known since birth) for over 20 years! chris is one of my dearest friends from college. she and grace have become good friends themselves, so it's always fun to have them both visit together. kim, grace's good friend from college, also came down with them and it was the more the merrier! (are you confused by all these explanations yet? because i am.)

aside christmas and thanksgiving, the fourth of july is my favorite holiday...i love the patriotism and the summery feel of it all.

so, to start off our celebration, choi boy and i dressed in cheesy, matching, patriotic outfits!


the hubs HATES rompers because he thinks they look like dresses. (i know, right, rach??) but, he was still willing to take a picture with cb, romper and all. and look, he was rewarded with a smooch for putting up with my outfit choice for cb. :)


cb's aunties grace and chris presented him with some sweet gifts, which he loved, but i'm pretty sure the aunties loved bribing him seeing his joy, even more. they spent all weekend squabbling over who loved him more and who he loved more. hilarious. but also so very heart-warming. :)


we went to one of our favorite places for lunch -- wegmans. our grocery store! it's amazing and we take all of our out of town guests there to show off its goodness. i'm not kidding. and they are *always* impressed. look at these super cool new carts they just got!

i decided cb could be british for the day and had him drive on the right side of the cart. :)

after lunch was the pool -- a july 4th tradition, for sure! :)



choi boy later decided that his new buddy, kim, was his favorite because his crazy aunties kept fighting over him.

i'm fairly certain grace and chris were fuming as i was taking this photo...;)

after naps and some washing up, we headed into DC to meet up with my sister and watch the fireworks. we all smooshed into my car and cb was probably the most comfortable of us all. especially since auntie chris let him watch elmo videos on her phone the entire way there...this may or may not have been a strategic move to win him over.


we walked through the city to get to dinner...that's my favorite part about cities. the walking...no, really! i love it.


our waiter was hilarious and sweet but when he learned that we were packers fans, his native chicago self was dismayed and he brought over this list of people's names for choi boy to study and learn.

can you make out some names, bears fans?

without any prompting, cb used the napkin to clean up his mess.
sorry, dude.

once dinner was done, we went back to my sister's apartment to watch the fireworks from her roof. we could see the washington monument and the capitol -- so beautiful!


there is nothing like being in our nation's capital for america's birthday!


choi boy wasn't quite sure about the fireworks, but he did enjoy acting like a chimp and looking through my hair for bugs. just kidding. i hope.

just after that photo was snapped, cb was hoisted off my shoulders because he was pulling my hair. ouch.

at this point, it was 2 hours past cb's bedtime and he was about ready to crash, but we managed to get a photo of cb and all his ladies before calling it a night.

family, friends, food, fireworks, and fun...fantastic.

hope you all had a wonderful independence day!