The goal was to see fireworks. It is a simple goal and I thought a very attainable one. Allison’s sister (Bridget), Bridget’s boyfriend (Ben), Ben’s brother (Gerald), Bridget’s friend (Cassandra), my wife (Allison), my son (Caleb) and myself only wanted a nice evening in which we could look up at the heavens and see the miracle that is fireworks and celebrate the independence of our wonderful country from the oppressive and diabolical British.
We had a 3 step plan.
Step 1 in our grand plan was to go EARLY to the venue. We wanted to find the best spot, have a lovely picnic, play a few games, and then sit back for the fireworks. Step 1 went adequately. We left our home at 4:30 in the afternoon. The temperature was a sweltering 134 degrees. When we arrived at the venue, we paid the $10 ($5 per car) and parked about a million miles from our final destination and trekked across a levee, a field and a road and found a lovely tree that offered shade to our weary souls.
After we hauled half of our earthly belongings across north Texas, we set up our chairs, our blankets, our fan (for the baby), our ice-chests, and our picnic basket. Then two cattle/horse trailers pulled up and parked what seemed like 3 feet from our noses. I could just see our perfect precious picnic being ruined by the putrid permeations from the poo factories that were in cattle trailers. Thankfully once the little horses and the big old bull were unloaded from the trailers they were taken around the corner and we were not subject to the devastating effects of their bowel movements.
Below are a few pictures of our neighbors at the “fireworks fiasco”…
Step 2 in our grand plan for fireworks was to survive the heat and have a little fun. Below are a few pictures of step 2 in action.
The happy family...Caleb, Daddy and Mommy…
Happy Caleb…
Not so Happy Clown…
Caleb staying cool (#1)…
Caleb staying cool (#2)…
The happy brothers (Gerald and Ben)…
An even happier Caleb...resting from the heat...
The happy crew playing “Cranium” (left to right: Gerald, Bridget, Ben, Stephen and Cassandra)…
Below are a few pictures of Bridget and Gerald sliding down the levee on cardboard. I like to call this white-trash surfing…(this is in no way a slam on Bridget and Gerald).
Step 3 in our grand plan was to sit back and watch the fireworks. We did sit back, but where were the fireworks? I’ll tell you where they were…they were waiting on the minor league baseball team to finish losing their game that was over FOUR HOURS long. We finally gave up waiting on the precious fireworks and packed everything up and headed to the car around 11:00 PM. That is after we waited six very long hours peering up in the sky, begging for a glimpse of fireworks. We even waited at the car for a little bit hoping that the baseball game would finish and we would get to see the show. We finally pulled out of the parking lot around 11:20 and listened to Caleb SCREAM all the way home. It was NOT a fun ride back to the house.
Even though we did not get to see any major fireworks, I still had a nice time. Although, I don’t think I will ever do that again. I should have realized that anything that is dependent on “sports” never works out in my favor.
