Fans of the Fourth

This was the girls fourth 4th of July, so we thought it was finally time they get to see some fireworks. They'd seen pictures of them in books and such, and we'd talked to them about how loud they'd be, but I don't think either of them knew totally what to expect.

Lily the American Cutie

We prepped them for a late bedtime by delaying nap until 3 pm and waking them up around 5.

Madeleine and the soccer ball.

We went to the celebration at the NC State Fairgrounds. I hadn't been in probably 15 years, so I didn't know what to expect either. We put some food together for a picnic. Back when I was in school, they set off the fireworks from the grandstand, but now they do it out by the lake in back. We turned in by the lake off Youth Center Rd. I would have driven farther down, but Eric pointed out the the further down in we went, the longer it would take to get out.

So we parked across the way from some college-age kids playing drinking games. Excellent. The girls kept asking why one guy didn't have a shirt on and what game were they playing (who could drink the fastest). We played some with the balls we bought and then walked up to the main fairgrounds to see what kind of activities were going on. We took a bathroom break over there and then headed back to our car around 8:30 pm or so.

The fireworks started abruptly at 9:15, and Madeleine just about jumped in my lap. She and Lily cowered at my side. Madeleine asked, "When can we go home?"

But I took her up on my lap and helped cover her ears. She got used to the noise after a while and begain to enjoy herself. Lily sat on Eric's lap, and we started talking about what shapes and colors we saw. It made it bearable, and they were excited about them again.

It took about 40 minutes to get out with the traffic the way it was, so the girls didn't hit bed until almost 11 pm. They were beyond exhausted, but I'm glad the crying didn't start until we got home.