Happy 4th

What a glorious day. The weather was just perfect - sunny, not too hot, slight breeze, with a few wispy clouds helping the view. The boys swam and dove and splashed in the pool, then spent the rest of the afternoon playing marbles and making spaceships out of Legos. We had an early dinner of hot dogs, corn on the cob, and salad. Not the healthiest meal, but Independance Day comes once a year. Then we all bundled up into the car with blankets and jackets and water bottles (and a secret stash of ice cream bars) to watch fireworks in the park.

This is where I love living in a smaller city. There's a free fireworks show in this small, sprawling park just a few miles away. People bring chairs, blankets, food, children, and dogs and scramble for the best spot on the grass to watch the show later that night. There was face painting, someone selling glow in the dark necklaces, and fresh lemonade and funnel cakes. The band was an excellent Beatles tribute group, done up in satin nehru jackets and sounding just fine. Children danced and ran and climbed on the logs by the playground while the grown ups tried to keep up.

Then it grew dark and people rambled back to their spots, eager for the show. The speakers weren't quite working, so while there was some kind of commentary and music as background, we only heard some of it. No matter. The fireworks were brilliant. Sparkling colors, the big flashy ones that take your breath away and the smaller rambling ones that have their own special beauty, they were all incredible. The boys jumped up and down and shouted out "wow! That's amazing!" and "oh boy, oh, boy, oh boy!" as their eyes sparkled almost as much as the fireworks before us. The finale was one of the brightest I have ever seen. Someone must have decided to take every shell they had on hand and set them all off together at the end, and it was huge. Then time to walk to the car and get home, sleepy boys drifting off to Cirque du Soliel in the back seat.

Days like these I want to bottle and keep forever.