Anyone who knows me know that I love the 4th of July and anything patriotic. One friend dubbed me a 'patriotic nerd' and I guess that is true. :) Our town had their fireworks on Saturday night, so we went early, got a great spot and sat down to wait for it to get dark. We took sparklers, licorice and cotton candy to occupy the kids until the show started.
Incidentally, is it really wise to hand small children little flaming sticks and tell them to 'be careful?' I mean, how wise IS that?
Since the four youngest kids are terrified of thunder, we weren't sure how the fireworks show would be received. Big brother Taylor, aka pyro-boy, has initiated them somewhat with firecrackers, but still...
Here are the first reactions from Zoey and Kate:
"I'm having grave misgivings about this strange family tradition."
"Ohhhhhhhh....what was THAT?"
Jake, our outgoing little guy with the dizzying array of fears, did not enjoy last year's show, as reported in this post. He enjoyed his cotton candy and licorice, but when the first large firework BOOMED loudly, he spent the rest of the show like this:
At least he made it out of the car this year!
It was so fun to watch the bigger kids running around catching fireflies and watching 'their butts light up' (to borrow a phrase from Calvin and Hobbes, my all-time favorite comic strip). SaraGrace is the family professional when it comes to catching bugs. She had the largest collection of fireflies in her bug-catcher.
Everyone had fun except Jake! Maybe next year will be his year.
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Last night we went to visit my dad as he convalesces at home. He said he was already bored, so we thought we would come and give him some company. My brother and his wife and kids were there, so we all had a good time.
How adorable is this little guy?
I'm not sure I want to know what these two were cooking up.
My mom gave all the kids an ice cream cone--ice cream with chocolate chunks in it--because she doesn't have to do their laundry. hee
