Independence Day
pamelamyers | July 4, 2015
Every year Mark and I say we are going to go to see fireworks with Sam, and it never quite works out. She is always way too exhausted to stay awake late enough. For the last few years, we have been setting off fireworks of our own at home. Now, of course, they are nothing like the kind you see in the sky — you can’t buy anything too big in Pennsylvania, but this year I bought some of the more expensive ones and we were actually a bit surprised at how big they were. Some of them threw off huge sparks and were really amazing to look at.
We invited Sam’s best bud, Julia, to come over to watch with her. Julia came over early, before dark, so that they could play for a while before the show. The kids rode their bikes up and down the driveway and had a blast. Does Julia’s bike look familiar? Yup, it’s Sam’s old bike. Julia didn’t have a bike of her own, and not long after Sam got her new bike, she decided to give her old one to Julia. It wasn’t exactly the plan…We brought Sam’s old bike to Julia’s house to they could ride together, and Sam came home and announced that she decided to let Julia have it. I think Julia’s mom wasn’t too sure about the whole thing, but honestly, we were just going to sell it for next to nothing at the kid’s consignment place I frequent, so, better that Julia have it, even if it is a bit small for her. They love riding together. And Mark and I love Sam’s generous spirit. She has already told us that when she outgrows her current bike, Julia can have that one too.
We have the kids practice riding through cones all the time. It is good for them to practice steering, and they have fun on their “obstacle course”.
After bike riding was done, it was time to get the 4th of July show going! It still wasn’t dark, but we gave the girls a ton of snap caps and they had a blast hurling them at the ground and making noise.
Next up, the ever popular sparklers. I loved those when I was a kid. Sam and Julia kept pretending they were magic wands and turning us into frogs.
On with the show! Mark started setting off the fireworks. Sam and Julia crack me up. They stand there the whole time with their ears covered.
For some reason, the smoke bombs were one of their favorites. They liked guessing what color the smoke would be and then running around like maniacs in the fog.
All in all, it was a great night. The kids had fun, and it was a successful holiday, once again!
