Weekend Recap
Mama loves fireworks.
Call me an un-American, terrible parent, but this weekend was the first time our kids ever saw fireworks. Well, sort of. In years past, I’ve let them watch the Independence Day recap on The Today Show the next morning. They thought it was cool and so did I since we didn’t have to fight crowds or noise or traffic or bedtimes. Still, it’s not the same. This year I decide it was time to initiate them.
We dressed, packed and drove, then spent twenty minutes (literally) trying to find a parking space. Once we did, we had to walk at least ten blocks to get to the field. There we sat on our little blanket (just inches from the families around us) and waited with hundreds and hundreds of other people. We waited over an hour. The kids were great! They begged for light-up necklaces and other such silly tokens while we watched the line to the funnel cake truck perpetually be 40-people long. Bonus: I learned was a zeppole is. Well, kind of. The truck advertized it and Rick looked it up on his iphone, then we decided whatever it is, it’s not worth $12 for three pieces. I mean, it’s just fried dough – right?
Anyway, after getting the kids properly prepared for the noise …
(Yes, those are hooded sweatshirts tied around their heads. Next year we’ll bring real earplugs.)
… the show began. It was great!
That is, until ash started falling from the sky, coating all of us. We all smelled like sulfur by the time we got home.
Even with the crowds and the messes and the noise and the ash, I loved it. Every minute of it.
Mama loves Zach’s stories.
As we walked the ten blocks back to our van, I asked Zach if he liked the fireworks. He said that, no, he didn’t because they were way too loud and hurt his ears. He also thought they were a little scary. Then he said that he did like the one part “when the stuff on the bottom and the stuff on the top crossed over like an ‘X’ because they looked like pirate swords. I think they were fighting and I like fighting.” I have no idea what he was talking about, but he repeated the story at least four times over the weekend.
Mama loves finding these.
Can you see them? Two little tiny green tomatoes! I’m so excited. Yes, I realize that sometime between now and when these beauties are ready to harvest, some creature (probably the wretched Peter Rabbits or the behemoth groundhog) will eat them up, but right now my heart is filled with hope that one day before the summer is done I’ll be able to taste the fruits of my labor. Wouldn’t that be lovely?
Your turn! What are you lovin’ these days?
Posted on July 7, 2009, in activities, Mama Loves. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
OK, WOW! I just can’t live a year without trekking my kids to fireworks! But, perhaps you need some pointers….and next year come with someone more experienced! First of all, I LOVE the sweatshirts on the kids heads! A bit compulsive, but cute! Now, #1, you buy the light sticks from the dollar store or Five Below – I got a package of 50 for $5!!! Plenty for all! Of course, they will still want you to buy the “light saber” but you tell them “make your own from your 50!!!” Second, go to Garden State Plaza mall. They set them off at a park adjacent to it. When you come to our house to park first…then, walk….when you walk to the roof of the parking garage – you look straight ahead at the fireworks to save the strain of your neck. Also, the sound is quite a bit deadened – thus removing the need for hooded sweatshirts strapped to your head (a choking hazard, no doubt!) – and your kids can run amuk in an empty parking lot having tons of fun – something a very responsible parent normally would never allow! AND, as you are walking back to our house where you parked your car – you can personally laugh inside (audibly would be too rude!) at the LINES of cars honking and beeping and you can look into the cars (cause you are walking and they are sitting) at complete frustration of parents listening to overly tired, fussing children in the backseat while the parents think “Was it worth it?” Until next year………
Standing invitation for you guys to come with us next year!
LOL. Okay, the sweatshirts were tied around their HEADS, not their necks!
I thought I was pretty clever considering my lack of preparation.
Secondly, yeah, I clearly should have consulted you first. We may join you next year! We had a ton of fun, but I think I could do without the neck-ache and ash.
LOVE fireworks – I’m the one that drags everyone down every year to watch them. This year, we found a parking space and ducked under the yellow tape right by an empty field. We soon found out that the yellow tape denoted the “no spectactor” zone because the fireworks were being launched from behind the row of trees on the other side.
To say it was loud would be an understatement.
To be right underneath the exploding colors? Delightful.
Yeah–I definitely don’t love the bunnies eating everything in my garden. So much for the green beans. And the peppers–gone to some mysterious bug.
I’m feeling MacGregorian these days.