Growing up, I loved watching the fireworks on Fourth of July. My aunt and uncle live in the foothills overlooking Denver and we used to go up to their house and watch the fireworks over Denver and all across the Front Range. It was magical to be above or eyelevel with the fireworks at times but we also got to lay out on their front lawn and look up at the display put on by the amusement park that is next door to their house. It was always a time for family togetherness and a time I cherished and looked forward to each year.
Now with my own children, I am always excited to share the magic of fireworks with them. While Honeybun didn’t get to enjoy fireworks her first year (she, after all, was less than a day old and we were still stuck in the hospital) she did get to experience it all just after her first birthday. We watched the displays over the beach from my Nana’s house (now my aunt and uncle’s house) and also introduced her to some of the more tame at-home fireworks.
It would be another three years, though, before she would get to experience Fourth of July fireworks again. And poor little Sugarplum was nearly two before she got to experience it, shortly after we moved back to Florida.
We spent the past two years watching fireworks at my parents’ house, straining to see the them over the trees but enjoying the displays nonetheless and last year we introduced the girls to sparklers which they weren’t too sure about.
This year we’ve been struggling with deciding what to do and where to go. We aren’t much for crowds (especially the parking part) but haven’t been at our house for Fourth of July before.
Then last night, something magical happened. The Seminole Casino just down the road from us did a large display and we got to see it all! And we didn’t even have to leave our back porch.
Doodle was mesmerized by his first real display (last year he was so little and nursed through most of it!) and we even got the girls up out of bed to watch. Fireworks still make me excited and giddy inside. They still feel magical and I love seeing the magic in my children’s eyes as we create our own family memories.
