Happy Independence Day

We had a wonderful 4th of July. We celebrated "An Old-Fashioned Fourth of July" 1814 at Fort McHenry  A terrific day- we arrived at 11:30 expecting to park far from the visitor's center because the overflow was half full but found a spot right up front. (C said God said that one for us!) Then really enjoyed the movie- I must confess I didn't know or remember the history of The Star Spangled Banner. I did know that Francis Scott Key wrote it but didn't know he wrote it about the view he had of Fort McHenry from aboard a British ship. He was an attorney aboard a British vessel to negotiate release of a prisoner. He (along with most of Baltimore) watched as the men of Fort McHenry defended for 25 hours and strained early in the morning to see what flag flew over Fort McHenry. 

When the movie ended, someone gave me one of their entrance stickers which meant I didn't have to pay, I didn't have to stand in line, and we got to march out with the Fifes and Drums. The boys were very excited about that- although they did point out that some of the people were walking not marching. 

 We enjoyed hearing the Fife and Drums go through their jobs throughout the day- reveille, meal calls, meeting calls, drill, ...

 Then we got to hold the out-stretched American flag with its 15 stars and 15 stripes- 30 feet wide, 42 feet long. We heard the story of the defense of Fort McHenry.  Then marched to the cannons.

 We watched them load and fire the cannons a couple of times. Pretty loud and smokey!

KG was finally out of the backpack but she's missing from the picture because she didn't want to fall in the water.  This is as close the boys could get to the seawall without KG bursting into tears and screams. (Much like her fear of the dunking booth last week.)

Despite her fears, we had a terrific day. I think we'll be back there next Fourth of July!