Independence Day 2012

I have always struggled doing a 4th of July post. Not because of the day itself, which I always enjoy. But because my firstborn shares a birthday with this all important patriotic day and I have always tried to figure out how to separate the two. Strangely enough, this year it was easier than most because we celebrated his birthday on the actual day with a party, which I will post about later after his final birthday festivities tomorrow.

Which frees me up to post about festivities for Independence Day.

In the past we have had Noah open his birthday presents in the morning of the fourth but generally not done much else for his birthday on the actual day, other than bringing a birthday treat with us to the fireworks with friends.

This year, since we planned to have a party on the day, we decided to forgo fireworks at the park altogether, instead deciding to purchase some small driveway variety, figuring we'd be too tired to go to the park and watch the big display after a day of partying.

But plans changed, and as I have been learning over the years, when plans are changed and we go with the flow, we usually have a lot of fun.

As Noah's birthday party was coming to a close, a friend mentioned that they were meeting some others and asked if we be joining them. Although we were tired, it was so nice to hear that they had been planning on us joining them all along and all four of the kids (Noah and Aaron and K and her sister) started begging so that we couldn't possibly say no.

So, after almost four hours at a local party place, we packed up the party stuff, ran home to PEEL our hot sticky sweaty clothes off, packed up our fireworks (which we thought we would have time to do before walking over to the park), grabbed drinks, and headed out to K's house. Yes, this is the same girl "K" whom Noah has been close friends with since they were five. We got there and reintroduced ourselves to some others there whom we had met a couple of years ago. Steve and Aaron made the mistake of settling into the couch for a few minutes and I had to take a picture of how incredibly whipped they both looked. Due to Aaron's nagging begging  polite requests, we did pull out a small variety of fireworks in their driveway before walking over to the park.

Some things never change. As the first big boom sounded, Aaron assumed his annual position of ears covered and slumped down in his chair, hiding from the noise. Steve settled into his chair and promptly FELL ASLEEP until the fireworks started. Actually, I think he probably slept through some of the actual show as well.





And Noah settled onto a blanket, next to his friend. I hope these two will always stay friends, even with all the crazy social pressures that they face in the coming years. This would be a good friendship to get them through the tough teenage years ahead. I hope they never give in to the comments of others and try to turn their friendship into anything more than what they are comfortable with. I wish everyone else would leave them be and let them enjoy each other without trying to "label" it. This is my hope.

It was very late but fun night after a very long day.

So the next day, we still had a pile of fireworks to light on our driveway. Being that we were all still pretty tired from the day before and neither boy had the patience to await until dark this time, we lit the fireworks up pretty early.


A few interesting things came out of our Day 2 celebrations in our yard.

Number One: Noah is still as much of a pyromaniac as ever. He even managed to figure out how to light his sparklers in the middle and make two sparks go out in either direction. He BEGGED us to let him light the bigger ones this year since "Now I'm TEN" but we told him that was a milestone for when he turns 13.

Number Two: Aaron actually held a sparkler this year. I couldn't believe it!











Number Three: Aaron learned that if you touch a burned out sparkler before it is cool, you will sustain burns that blister on three different fingers within a minute and need to spend the next hour with your hand in a bowl of cold water.

Number Four: We can figure out way for Aaron to NOT hide from night two of fireworks. After finding him hiding inside the house watching from the window, I convinced him to cover his ears with a pillow and then he could join us. He was thrilled with the idea and even made a game of it. I wonder how old he will be when the sound doesn't cause drama for him anymore.




So here we are...another 4th of July has come and gone. We are learning that sometimes a change in plans can be the best plan of all.

Tradition is a wonderful thing.

So is trying something new :)