Fourth of July Fireworks

(I know this one comes a little late, but we've had a super busy month, what with moving to Michigan. I'll try ot get caught up now that we have all our utilities turned on.)

We started our Fourth of July rather early. Chris bought several large fountains from a roadside stand and we headed out to the front yard after dinner. It was still several hours away from sunset, but we thought if Jonathan got too tired for the real fireworks, at least he'd have seen something for the holiday. Chris moved the cars and set up the fountain in the street, which Jonathan, Alex and I sat on the stoop.

Those things are louder than the ones we remember from our childhood! The first fountain started off pleasantly enough, with a shower of sparks, but soon started popping off loud little explosions. Jonathan got up from his seat and edged behind me. After the first fountain was over, he started begging for us all to go inside. We reassured him, but ultimately, he decided he would be happier watching from inside the house, with the glass door between him and the pyrotechnics.

Later that evening, he still seemed wide awake, so we made plans to meet Nathaniel, Cynthia and Sam at Pantops, a mountain on the eastern part of Charlottesville. Nate had a strong recommendation from a friend that this was a great place to see the fireworks. Cynthia told me she'd have glowsticks for the kids. Nate's friend must have spoken to a few other people - there were about five hundred when we got there. The glowsticks were a great idea, and we managed to pick them out from the crowd.

Jonathan and Sam amused themselves easily while we waited for the sun to set. Sam would shout "Beep Beep Jonathan!" and he would fall all over himself in gales of laughter. The adults spent the time looking around over the city. The view was terrific and we could see small bursts of fireworks from Staunton, Orange and Ruckersville. We all thought we could see McIntire Park below us, but as the minutes after the scheduled start time slipped past, we tried to work out the park's exact location.

Suddenly, we could hear loud bangs and flashes of light filled the sky, but we couldn't see any fireworks. Did I mention that Pantops has been heavily developed in the six years since we've lived in Charlottesville? There was a nice new brick office building just downhill from our perch. Turns out that was blocking the view of the fireworks. So five hundred people got up en masse, gathered their chairs and blankets, and sprinted down the hill. We managed to find a bit of space on the edge of the parking lot and saw the rest of the show. Jonathan oohed and aahed with each one and Aelx alternately slept and chewed on the edge of the Bjorn. The drive home was super-easy and all in all, we were glad we had skipped the crowds at the park.

Happy Fourth of July!