And the Fourth was a Bang!

Ethan and Mike in the Pool

Independence weekend continues even though it is now the 5th of July.

Last night the family witnessed a close and personal fireworks display after a thoroughly enjoyable day. The weather was awesome. Sunny, low humidity, and a great pool day.

The water was warm, the breeze was cool, and the fun was endless.

Everything about the day was focused on getting to the evening, when, after dark, the fireworks display was set to begin in the yard. And a great display was planned. Nice aerial rockets and mortars, roman candles and fountains.  

Poppop with Ethan, Jax, and Lucas with Sparklers

The fun began with sparklers in the yard as dusk was falling along with a seemingly endless supply of bottle rockets left over from last year. The sparklers were the hit of the evening with the kids--and we definitely need more of them for next year. The sparklers and bottle rockets helped extend the fireworks display to over an hour.

We had intended to get some video of the fireworks--but, we all watched and enjoyed them rather than taking video or pictures. 

Cinderblock Remnants

We did have our first major firework malfunction. One of the mortars got stuck in the tube and blew up. We also had the one of the multiple launchers fall over and launch a firework toward the crowd. So the evening was very exciting. The aftermath of the mortar explosion was sobering and reminded me that our safety precautions probably prevented injuries--well except to the cinderblock which was destroyed by the blast. Those are my feet looking at the pieces. OK--it was an impressive blast, and the cinderblock prevented flaming balls from going everywhere.

But the show went on and a resourceful neighbor helped craft another mortar launch tube so we could launch the 10 remaining mortars.

I almost want to go buy more so we can do it again tonight!

Let's just agree it was a bang!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD