A Star Spangled 4th.....

Where has the time gone?!?! It is hard to believe that it is already the 6th of July. I think everyone will agree that time has literally flown by so quickly.

Where to start....we finished celebrating the rest of our Birthdays for the summer with Erin, Brenda, and Erine during a couple different celebrations.

We've had a few hot, humid and miserable days here in the house. In celebration of the heat (especially for the 3rd floor troopers who have a huge skylight in the hall and in the bathroom that radiates heat) I bought the group ice cream and cones at the store and we had an ice cream celebration after their midterm in class.

Last weekend some of the group volunteer at a local women' shelter for a few hours. Below is the gang before they got to work. We have another group going this weekend and the rest of the group going to a family shelter the following weekend.

Later last Saturday a few of us ventured to the Museum of Science. Here are a few of the photos I took.

Sam loved the "sniff a scent" exhibits

Megan flaps like a bird does

Cheetah!!!..........a View of the Museum (it was huge)

Some of the group has been parts of off the last week due to the 4th of July Holiday. Some of their time has been spent at Revere Beach, just outside of Boston.

Let's see....so much goes on I can't even remember! Let's talk about the 4th of July- the biggest event of the last couple of weeks. We planned for this day. The night before some of us scoped out the perfert locations. We were torn between standing in line for tickets into the Hatchshell area to see John Mellancamp, Blue Man Group and the Boston Pops perform...or find a spot on the river for the fireworks. The trouble is in the Hatchshell area your view of the fireworks is somewhere blocked due to the trees.

We left the house bright and early at 5:45am on the morning of the 4th. There were about 10 of us that we crazy enough to get up at that hour. We walked along the Esplanade and found our spot. There were few people in the area we chose at 6:30 in the morning so we spread our sheets and blankets out and settled in for the remainder of the day. Please note that the concert didn't start until 8pm and the fireworks weren't until 11pm, so we had a long ways to go.... It was a beautiful morning and we all took advantage of the sunshine to lay out for the day. More of the group joined us throughout the day as we took turns guarding our perfect location for the entire day.

Prepping our lunches the night before...
Beth ends the evening in a junk food coma (not really, but she was tired!)


6:30am.......the morning of the 4th......


You can see how quiet it was around 9am...
A great time for an early morning swim


Approximately 6:30am....and 7:30am...


Much later in the afternoon....probably around 3ish.


Some of the Patriotic people around....he liked Katherine's polka dots!


Fun on the River...

Did I mention the evening weather? Well, by about 4:30pm it clouded up and started to rain. It was one of those light rains that was just hard enough to be annoying. Our sheets and towels became quiet wet. Some of the group headed home for a while to dry out while some of us stayed and held down the fort. We were counting down the hours. I think many will agree that once the actual concert started a little after 8pm the time went a little faster.

Garbage bags were used...and any other means necessary to keep dry!


Not sure what Brandon was doing here....Just before the fireworks it stopped raining and everyone got a burst of energy. The picture is the group that stuck it out in the rain. Others watched the fireworks from a little closer to the house.


View from the river....overlooking Cambridge


And the fireworks begin......

All in all, the 4th turned out to be great and we were glad we got up so early for our perfect location. Our coolers were well stocked with plenty of drinks and food throughout the day and we had some fun on the river. Beth even took a couple of dips in the water while fetching her frisbee!

This past weekend a group of us went to the aquarium. I'll post some more pictures later tonight or tomorrow. We also had another group that spent part of the day on Saturday volunteering at the Women's Shelter again.

It is already July 9th and the summer is coming to a close in less than 20 days! The group has this entire week left in their internships, then two, three day weeks left. We are headed to Philadelphia next week for the NSCS Convention which should be a fun weekend out of Boston.

Until next time...

Stephanie