Even though we set off the fireworks last night, I thought it more appropriate to tell you about them on the actual Fourth of July.

Josh brought a good mix of fireworks.  He, Jackson and I laid them all out before lighting any off.  We had all the big stuff to the left and mortars to the right.  Basically, we’d light something big then load up and light as many mortars (there were five tubes in all) as we could at once.

The first things we lit, though, were Roman candles.  Josh’d went off fine.  Mine had a little mishap, as the bottom fell out of it.  I was standing there holding it out to the side saying, “Uhh, Josh, I don’t think this is right.”  Amanda was all vexed about it, mainly, I think, because I don’t have insurance.  It was fine though; my tube was just shooting balls of fire into the ground a few feet from my feet.

The next mishap was pretty spectacular and would have been the finale if we’d planned it right.  One of the first biggies Josh lit ended up being a box that just shot a bunch of sparks high into the air, but didn’t actually launch anything.  As one might fear, it ended up setting one of the other fireworks off next to it.  It was a larger one, so it was pretty spectacular.  You had the sparks going off closer to the ground then a bit firework shooting itself off into the sky while that’s going on.

There was just one more mishap.  The mortars had all been set up in the box that most of the big stuff came in in order to make sure they were set up on something level.  We were just about out of them when one of them launched and knocked another one over so that it launched right into the box and set off the few that were left in the box at the time.  Amazingly, the box only got a bit scorched.

So, having written all that down, yes, I see where we could have been a bit more careful.  It was a good display though.

Moving on to today, the actual Fourth of July.  Mom and Dad took Milly and Addison out to what Milly called the horsey house.  Milly likes seeing the horses, but not up close.  After that we had a conference call that dad and his siblings set up to wish Baba a happy birthday.  It was a very sweet idea, having all of her kids and (I think) most of her grandkids on the phone at the same time, but it was hard for people to hear or understand each other and it became of a bit confused.  Still, we had a good laugh and Baba appreciated it.

Everyone’s favorite chairs to sit in on the porch were the reclining gravity chairs.  As I sat out there I considered that this would likely become our new Fourth of July tradition.  The porch at Baba and Pap’s, high up and green with iron railings and step wood stairs, overlooking their driveway/basketball court and (before a building was put there) the Tate’s Creek High School football field, would be replaced with my parents’ bright porch next to the swimming pool with a view of horse fields and woods behind it.  The bent metal frame rocking chairs that everyone likes to sit in at Baba and Pap’s would become the reclining gravity chairs that were hardly ever unoccupied this weekend.

Amanda and I left right at 1:30, shortly after Adam and Renee and I think just a bit before Andra and Josh.  Jackson and Addison were staying until Thursday because their daycare is out this week and Mom had the week off.  Tomorrow they’re all going to Wet & Wild Emerald Pointe.  Adam, who starts his new job next week, will be going too.  He said something about wishing we could go too, but I didn’t know they would be going until this weekend, and Amanda would have had to have asked off two weeks ago.  Of course we usually ask off the whole week of the Fourth when we go to Lexington.

We got home at exactly 3:58.  Milly, surprisingly, was asleep before we even got on the Durham Freeway.  Aside from having to keep myself awake to stay on the road, the trip was uneventful.

Back home we unloaded the car while Milly watched Cars.  A little later she went outside to play with chalk on the front porch.  Amanda said she had been talking to her, but Milly was looking away from her.  Our girl turned towards her with her arm held up and said, “Fly.”  What she actually revealed was a mosquito on her arm, just hanging out.  Amanda smashed it and Milly said, “Bye, mosquito.”

After that she went outside with me to help me sweep pine needles off the patio.  She actually did a decent little job of it, all things considered.  She also got in the sandbox for a minute.  We weren’t out long though, because the bugs were terrible.  Amanda had come out and I saw a tiny mosquito on her leg that I swatted.  Then I saw one on her other knee.  Then I saw three more close together buzzing around her.  That’s when we decided to go on in.

Milly took a shower, which she prefers to baths now since she likes playing with the shower head.  After she went to bed Amanda and I watched the season finale of Supernatural.  It saddened us that it appears Cass, possibly our favorite non-Winchester character, has become corrupt with power.

Zach Dotsey