4th July 2012

Well this is our second 4th celebration.

Last year we were complete amateurs, novices, noticeable first-timers.  We bought a few fireworks, but not really knowing what we were allowed to fire off we pretty much kept it on the tame side..........NOT this year!!!!

For months, prior to the 4th, Ewan and the kids, mainly Ewan, had been talking about what they wanted to get this year....kids wanted spaceships and parachuting figurines, Ewan wanted BOOM!

Within moments of arriving at the fireworks store Ewan, and one of the sales guys, were amongst giant boxes of explosives discussing what they do and how high they go.  At one point I asked "is it legal to set these off?" to which the guy replied "it's legal for us to sell them!!"  Ahh, Sth Dakota!

It didn't take long for us to have a shopping trolley (cart) full of fireworks.

For a week the fireworks sat in the basement and on a daily basis the kids would pled to let a few off.  We couldn't resist, and set a few off before the 4th.

Finally the evening of the 4th came.  We invited some great families over, the Anderson's, the Steven's, the Taylor's and the Vest's.  It was stinking hot so the kids enjoyed playing in on slip'n slide that I had set up on the front lawn....i think it was a hit.

With the fireworks "safely" in the back of Ewan's truck....how redneck are we!!...the boys, and by boys I mainly mean the fathers, and by fathers I mainly mean Ewan and Jeff S., got to work with their firework displays.

At times this celebration almost seemed like a war zone.  This next photo makes me laugh.  If you didn't know better you would have thought we were in the middle of some kind of riot!  Explosions...kaos...kids just running around.  Someone get this situation under control!!!

There were some casualties, a few singed feet & arms and one blackened t-shirt...oops!  But all-in-all it really was a terrific, safe, celebration.

Kids, bare feet and wet; teenagers laughing and looking after the little ones; adults relaxing and chatting...all these things made for a really memorable evening.

Thanks everyone, let's do it again next year.