4th of July in DC?

We actually went to DC for July 4th, 2012. Although it was hot and busy, we had a great time! After all the research, we were more than prepared to handle the crowds. The morning of the 4th, we had a good size breakfast, and then went ahead to the parade. We took some umbrellas for the sun, sunscreen and good walking shoes. We parked ourselves under a shade tree and watched about half the parade. We then made our track toward the reflection pond, had lunch at one of the outdoor eateries near the Vietnam Memorial and around 3 that afternoon we sat between the pillars of the Lincoln memorial. We had brought snacks, card game, crossword puzzles, etc. to keep us busy, along with a blanket to sit on. There was such a fantastic breeze and the sun was behind us the whole time. The view of the fireworks was spectacular and I wouldn't have done it different. It was actually nice to take a break for an afternoon, after all the walking from the other days. We made lots of nice conversations with the people around us, and even during the fireworks, the people behind us got engaged. We knew the metro would be slammed packed after the show, so we took advantage of the decent cool night and walked to the white house for a great evening photo shoot. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but we didn't have a bad time at all. We were prepared for the day and since it's a once in a lifetime for us to do that, we made the best out of it. I also forgot to mention that we had our kids with us at ages 6 and 10.