The 4th of July has come and gone for another year. This year we are counting two special blessings 1) Utah legalized aerial fireworks (in other news, Santa got Daniel's letter) and 2) after the night was over, Daniel was still sporting all 10 fingers. Hallelujah!
Samantha was extremely excited for fireworks this year, possibly because her father told her all sorts of stories of how wondrous and beautiful they are. Even more exciting, she got to go over to cousin Molly's house to watch them, which has a playground and a plethora of awesome things in addition to her 2nd cousin who is exactly her age. A lot of excitement going on all around that day. We had a lot of firework shopping, a family bbq, and then off to light the fireworks we spent the morning gathering, pricing, comparing, and purchasing to put together the best show ever. When all was said and done, our family firework pool had about 800 dollars worth of aerial fireworks to blow up. That's a LOT of pyrotechnic amazement, right there. For our AZ friends who aren't familiar with fireworks, the aerial fireworks we bought were the huge shells that shoot 150 feet and burst into ginormous circles of color like they have in the professional shows we normally sweat to death waiting for in Phoenix. We even bought one with 3" shells for a huge grand finale called the "Mega Lode." Can you go wrong with something called "The Mega Lode?" No, you can not. The boys were so excited by their haul that they immediately took pictures and posted them to Facebook. They put Sam behind the fireworks to provide perspective and show that some of the firework displays they purchased were nearly as tall as she was even when they were still in the boxes. It's a guy thing, I guess.
Shortly before the sun went down, a little rainstorm came in. This provided great relief to Molly's dad and anyone else shooting off fireworks as it greatly reduced the chance of setting a roof on fire with a renegade firework. It also dropped the temperature by a lot very quickly. Sam, our little Arizona girl, was totally freaking out about being chilly in the middle of summer. Suddenly, she desperately needed a jacket because she was "super freezing."
Molly's mom wanted to accommodate the little girls, so she ran through the rain in and out of the house several times, first bringing a blanket for them to share, and then a jacket for Molly, and then a jacket for Sam to borrow so they could have the same things (and me, being just as much an AZ girl as Sam hadn't thought to bring a coat for a July 4th trip either!). Sam didn't actually need a raincoat, since she was under a gazebo, but it kept her from wiggling out of the blanket. Plus, it was pink with hearts on it--be still, Sam's beating heart! Once Molly's mom put that jacket on Sam, life was sweet! She couldn't shut up about the dang jacket! "Hey, everyone, I got a jacket! Look at my jacket!"
The fireworks started going off, and Sam just got louder "Oh, pretty! Look at my jacket!!!! Mike, did you see my jacket!? Sarah, did you see it? Mom, I love this jacket! These fireworks are loud, I'm so glad I have my jacket!" She asked every person there, by name, if they had noticed her awesome jacket.
Occasionally, she also said something about the massively loud burst of exploding color over her head.
My cousin's boyfriend was completely cracked up by Sam's deep love for this borrowed jacket. As soon as the explosions died down so Daniel could light another round, he turned to Sam and asked "So, what do you like best, the fireworks, or that jacket?"
Sam thought long and hard for a minute, and then smiled and yelled "Fireworks IN my jacket!!!!!"
The fireworks display was awesome, and we all had a great time. I think Sam had the best time of all though, and it had little if any thing to do with the display her father and grandfather had so carefully crafted!
We capped off the night but opening up 150 glow sticks and finding all sorts of fun ways to wear them. The girls were covered in glowing bracelets and necklaces, you could probably see them from outer space. Sam lined the sleeves of that jacket with glow bracelets, and went to sleep in her room at Mack and G's using 50+ glowsticks sprinkled around the room as a nightlight. Awesome.
Family BBQ: $100 worth of food. Aerial firework display: $800 Glow Sticks: $15 Borrowed pink raincoat: Priceless.
1 comment:
I'm so glad that you explain the fireworks. You see, on my first 4th in NM, I was crazy shocked to see the aerial ones because I did not realize that any regular old Joe (or Jose, I guess, since I live in NM) could buy those. Granted, they are illegal here, but that stops no one from buying them on the indian reservations and shooting them off. Anyway, since you feel there is a need for explanation, I don't feel so dumb about the fact that I didn't realize they existed for the first 26 years of my life.
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