Home for the 4th

I remember how to do this!

After driving through almost nonexistent traffic on the 4th of July, we made it home from Greenwich in a near-record nine hours. Unbelievable. If you have ever driven up or down the I-95 corridor, you know the traffic is normally unbearable. It was a rare treat to be able to drive home without delay. We actually made it home in time, and with the energy, to enjoy our own 4th of July. Parked at the end of driveway....

After settling in, we drove up to a local fireworks stand, only to find everything BOGOF (buy one get one free). The Little Nguyens, eager to repeat the amazing display of pyrotechnics from last year in Nebraska, were quite disappointed when we wouldn't let them select any huge, erupting fireworks. After talking the First Little Nguyen down from a ledge, he chose a few he thought everyone would like (that met our criteria for a safe, family fireworks display!). Although we crushed his visions of a fiery Fourth, he was satisfied in the end when we came home with a sackful of explosive devices. In a growing boy's world, if it explodes, the party is made, right?After throwing some dinner on the grill, we finished up with the requisite American apple pie (thank you, Harris Teeter, since I didn't have time to bake!!) before heading out to the end of our driveway to prepare for the breakthtaking mini-pyrotechnics. I do have to say, Chi and I felt like MacGyver when we realized we had forgotten pucks with which to light the fireworks, and we fashioned our own from a wooden skewer! WHEW! Of course, we had to re-light it every time we wanted to ignite a firework, but thank goodness for the Tangelo Mojito (?) scented Partylite votive from the 16-piece votive sampler I won at a recent candle party. It provided a constant source for reigniting the skewer. And did I mind using a $4 votive to light our homemade puck? Yeah, like I want the frangrance of minty oranges wafting through my home... Racecars....ready for a pyrotechnic race!

Amazing...or frightening. I am not quite sure how to describe the First Little Nguyen and his enthusiam for fire! While the Second Little Nguyen was cautious, his older brother was flamboyant and boisterous in his approach to fireworks. When we would light one, he would scream, "Oh, yeah, baby!" in typical Uncle John fashion, the testosterone level nearly palpable. The First Little Nguyen was instantly a little man. He wrote his name in cursive with sparklers ("Betcha didn't know I could do that, Mom."), cheered for the racecars speeding their way down the cul-de-sac in a stream of fire ("Check that OUT, Dad!!!"), and shouted back at the shrieks the fountains were emitting ("Oh YEAH!? You want suma THIS?!"). Sometimes, he just needs to whip out the badass, doesn't he? Thank goodness most of our neighbors were out of town. Our sweet, docile little boy turned into a heap of manliness. Again, it was amazing...or frightening...certainly eyebrow-raising. I can't decide which of the former, but definitely the latter. I suppose it's just the natural builup of hormones in little boys. I don't know. But, anyway, his enthusiam was admirable....gotta love that! The photos don't even begin to capture the...amazing display of ferocity. Sometimes I feel like he is a wild animal in a polo shirt...feral...running away from domestication.

Writing in cursive...
A sparkler...amazing every time
...every single time...
Since we left Greenwich shortly after 6 a.m. and drove the majority of the day, we were all pretty tired by 9 p.m. Although it was a short fireworks display, it was the first one we have had here at our own house. We have always been somewhere else or gone somewhere else for our July 4th celebration. I have to admit, it was kind of nice to sit in our own lawn chairs at the end of our own driveway, doing our own thing, watching the ferocious tiger we call the First Little Nguyen and his little brother. The four of us on the Fourth.

Happy 4th of July!

The video isn't that exciting, but the commentary is like something from MST3K...