I love the 4th of July. I remember being a kid spending the day lighting snakes and smoke bombs and jumping rope and waiting for dark so we could light fountains. It’s really kind of funny when you consider that I’ve always been a tad scared of fire. I don’t like matches or candles, or sparklers, for that matter. That’s just a little too close to the fire for me.

Nowadays, I spend 4th of July in the house playing some kind of card game. This is while Curtis is outside cooking all the food. It is amazing to me how relaxing beating someone at spades can be. Ahhh. Even being beaten can be fun if they talk the right amount of stuff. Or maybe that was because Curtis takes care of all the food.

But if I spend the day in the house, I miss the whole snakes/smoke bombs/pop it vibe. The kids and I love those little champaign bottles that shoot confetti. They don’t look as spectacular at night.

Last night, we and our usual 4th company joined our next door neighbors and their company for a joint fireworks celebration. That was great, especially after last year.

I had put the baby down, was whisking people outside, and was mentally deciding against trying to make s’mores, because our coals had burned out when I saw that our neighbors had a fire pit! And marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate, and even skewers! It was on. We brought over our marshmallows, dark chocolate, graham crackers and our sad short 4 tiered skewer. That was alriiight.

And the neighbors aided in my brother getting even drunker. ahem.

The fireworks are more thrilling for the kids than the adults, but saying ooh, and ah is its own brand of entertainment. Then Mel lit something that gave a loud boom, and we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by colorful sparks. Like really close. As in, ‘that just missed my foot!’ Everyone’s frozen smiles turned to indignation. Variations of ‘that was not awesome’ circulated through the crowd. Curtis called for the show to end, and the kids lit several more fireworks as the ‘finale.’

Curtis called for everyone over 12 and under 18 to clean up. And all the inebriated adults sprung into action and cleaned up in under 5 minutes! While the 12-18 year olds jumped around and played! And some of them persisted in lighting and throwing things. So that was great.

Then Chanya woke up and my evening was over.