then there were fireworks

July 8, 2011 at 7:31 am (holiday, independence day, picture post, sensational summertime)

“Fireworks make my ears yell!”

– Ralph Wiggum (The Simpsons)

We celebrated Independence day on the last weekend of June, as we did last year and the year before. It’s become a family tradition for our clan, and everyone who can shows up. There are always a myriad of aunts, uncles, and cousins to join in the fun – and of course Nonna comes along with a sibling (or two). This year we were joined by one of the Day-baby families, and everyone had a fantastic time – especially Teaball!

As always, T jumped at the chance to sit in the gigantic fire truck, and ran right over to ask the fireman for a ‘ride.’ He was happy to oblige her, of course. They then proceeded to have an in-depth conversation that went something like this. . .

Fireman: Do you want to be a fireman when you grow up?

T: No.

Fireman: NO! Why not?

T: Because I’m actually a girl. . .

Fireman: Well, girls can be firemen, too. We call them fireFIGHTERS!

T: Fighting isn’t nice, and I don’t want to fight with people.

Fireman: Well, that’s true. But firefighters don’t fight people, they fight FIRES, and help people.

T: Well. . . Fire is very dangerous, and I’m not allowed to touch it. . .

After that delightfully silly exchange, we headed over to the cotton candy machine for our traditional dose of puffy pink sugar. Above is an image of a very happy little girl, burying her face in sticky goodness as she goes in for that first delicious bite. . . I cropped it closer so you could get the full effect. I get a similar look on MY face when presented with chocolate. . .

And this next one? This is the face of a sugar-crazed maniac. . . Please note the absence of cotton candy on that stick. . .

This year marks the third time T has gone to see fireworks – she’s a seasoned pro!  She knows all about how long it takes for the show to start, and made a little song about it:

Oh fireworks, when do you start?

Oh fireworks, when do you start?

When the sun goes down and the sky is dark

that is when you’ll see the spark!

The second verse was the same, but ended with:

When the sun goes down and the moon is bright,

that is when you’ll see the lights!

There were other verses, too – all ridiculously amusing – but these two were the most consistently repeated.

As we waited for the sun to go down, we cracked somewhere between seventy-five and one hundred glow sticks. . . you can NEVER have enough glow sticks!

Abby showed us her best impression of a bespectacled mouse. . .

. . . and T loved the amazing glowing raver ball, and her light-up belt! (belts made from glow sticks are fantastic for keeping track of kids once the sun goes down!)

Aunt Ange got a whole new look. . .

. . .and Cordy? Well, nobody quite knows what Cordy was doing in this picture, but it is VERY clear that she was having a good time!

Jules is generally not satisfied until she has collected ALL of any given thing, but in this case, she was happily contented with a mere fist-full of rainbow shine!

The magical Aunt Ki shows T how the raver ball is meant to be used. . .

. . . then Teagan showed us her wicked cool glowing ninja moves. . .

. . .while Munkey Joe did his very best imitation of what might be his spirit animal –
the Angler fish.

We also had sparklers!

T and I had gone on a massive quest in search of the ever-elusive sparklers. Several friends assured us that every gas station and grocery store known to mankind carry sparklers the week before Independence Day, but this did not prove to be the case. We made five stops before giving up and heading for Wal-Mart, where we finally found them – and Johnny Poppers, too! Teagan enjoyed our journey – and the sparklers, this was the first time she was deemed old enough to give them a try.

She was absolutely mesmerized by them. . . but maybe she wasn’t quite old enough, because although T handled her sparklers like a pro, she ended up touching the wrong end of  one that was already extinguished but still quite hot. Poor kid got a tiny burn on the third finger of her left hand. . . as she mentioned to her fireman friend “fire is very dangerous, and I’m not allowed to touch it”

Oops.

But it was nothing serious! She whined a bit about it, but it didn’t stop keep her from playing with sparklers again later – though she was slightly more cautious about them this time.

and then there were fireworks!

Fireworks are awesome!

This was the first time the twins got to see fireworks. They weren’t quite sure if they loved or hated them, but couldn’t look away – at least not for long!

Neither could Puff! She was spellbound. . .

Everyone loves fireworks!

I hope you had a fabulous fourth of July – whenever you celebrated it!