Happy 250th Birthday, AMERICA!!

 July 3rd!!

We decided that we were going to do the 250th anniversary of America right.  After all, we knew that President Trump was going to go all-out.  It would have been a shame to be so close to D.C. and not see what he had in store.  And, spoiler alert.  It was totally worth it.

We went down on the 3rd.  We stayed in a Airbnb just a 15 min train ride from the National Mall.  We went that evening to watch a concert, which was underwhelming, as the 'free' tickets were so far away.  We also had to go through an hour security line, which wasn't fun.   Still, it was pretty cool to be in front of the Capitol at night.

As we walked back to the train, truck after army-truck passed by us.  They were preparing for the parade set for the next day.

The parade would have been amazing, except for he fact that a storm came through and it was cancelled the last minute.  It actually gave us a little time to relax in the morning, as we knew we'd be spending the whole day on the Mall, in the million degree heat.

 July 4th!!

We got to the Mall around noon, and it was packed with people.  The line to go through security was way over an hour long, so I told Robert to take the boys into the shade while I stood in line.  I'm glad I did, because it was blazing hot, (about 105 degrees) and already the heat plus the Autism wasn't mixing well.  

We nearly got into the Great American Fair on the Mall without incident.  I had bought little fans for the boys that also doubled as flashlights.  You weren't allowed to bring anything into the Mall, not even water.  (this was supplied by the National Guard who were handing out water like it was going out of style)  The little fans I had brought should have been okay to bring in, but because they were also flashlights, they got flagged and taken from us.  This pushed Jason right over the edge, and he broke down immediately.

The problem was, we were now officially inside the Mall, and to leave would have meant that we would have to go through the line again.  Inside the Mall were two rows of tents.  These long tents were sectioned off to give each state about 600 square feet to showcase the best of their state.  I can't remember the state we went into first, but I think it was one of the Dakotas,  Inside they had posters, big buckets of different grains that they grow, and different themed displays.  Each state had a person set up to stamp the kids' passports that they had been given at the entrance.  We went up to the woman stamping the passports and she took one look at Jason who was struggling to keep himself together, and understood our predicament immediately.  

There was no AC inside the tents but each section had a tube that blew in air to keep everyone alive.  It wasn't exactly cold air, but it was refreshing, and it was pumped in so hard that if you sat in front of it, it felt like you were in a wind tunnel.  The woman at the desk was also a special ed teacher and she told Jason to sit right in front of that tube.  (It was behind the displays, so not easily accessible.)  Jason laid down right there and didn't move for 15 minutes as he tried to calm himself down.

We were so grateful for the kindness of these ladies.  After he had calmed down, we started to check out the other states' tents.  

Here was another air-tube.  

We all actually sat down at this one.  The wind tunnel was blowing so hard that it was hard to keep your shirt down.

We kept finding the corners with the air tubes.  

Now, I'm not saying that Florida is the best state of the United States, but they sure do know how to put on a show.  Their tent was completely transformed into 4 smaller rooms.  (I think they bought a double tent)  Each little section had sound, video, tech, lights, and smells.  They had games and stuff animals.  It was so fun.

We weren't the only ones who thought Florida was the best.  Check out the line to get into the Florida tent.

One of the main attractions was the huge Ferris Wheel in the middle of the Mall.

In between the different state tends were these larger tents that cut across the Mall, each with a different theme.  This one was themed 'Faith & Family' and inside were displays of different faiths and pro-family displays.  One of the others was themed 'Innovation & Technology,' Manufacturing & Industry,' Military & Veterans,' 'Agriculture,' Health & Wellness,' 'Art & Culture,' 'Entrepreneurship,'  and Space Explorations.'   We were too exhausted to make many of the other larger tents, but from the Ferris Wheel we could see a little of the rodeo that was set up, and we could hear the Christian music that was playing live at the end of the Mall.  Apparently, over there, there was a tent called, 'David's Tent,' which had a 24-hour worship/prayer site, with music, prayer and baptisms.  Let's just say, this wasn't Biden's 4th of July.

Near six o'clock, this was how we were all feeling.

One of the best parts of the fair was the fact that the Air-force was flying planes over the Mall every single 15 minutes all day long.  It was fabulous.

I took way too many videos of these planes, but they were so amazing, that I couldn't stope myself.