Thank you, ancient China!

Last summer, in the new neighborhood, while Ross was gone to Australia, the Fourth of July actually terrified me.  There were so many fireworks being blasted off on my street and the circle next to me,  that I honestly thought my house might burn down.

The fact that a home in my old neighborhood did burn down because of some delinquent fireworks lighters last summer didn't help calm my nerves.

Anyway, last year I was up until almost 1:30 in the morning pacing, checking on my boys, and praying for the stupid aerials to stop so I could feel calm and go to sleep.  And then?  The fireworks went on for the next three days, but only until about Midnight.

Flash forward a few weeks to the 24th of July Pioneer Day celebration and it wasn't quite as bad.

Now, this year, I'd been warning Ross for weeks to get ready for the barrage of fireworks this July.  I'd been lamenting about how bad they are and how mad it was going to make him.  Well, we missed the fireworks on the 4th because we stayed at my parents house to light a few small ones of our own and by the time we got home, the neighborhood was mostly quiet.

That led me to believe, foolishly, that last night, the 24th would be pretty calm.  With the general ban on fireworks in areas across the state, plenty of big celebrations lighting off the big stuff I figured we were safe.  We got the boys to bed at 9:00, did our end of night routines and as soon as Ross and I climbed into bed around 10:30, the fireworks started.

At one point, I seriously thought that there was gunfire on my street.  I jumped, I started, and I cursed the bombardment for over two hours.  The light shows in my neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods were still going on, with hooting and hollering, until almost 1:00 am when I finally drifted off to sleep.  For a few hours, my neighborhood actually looked like a war zone from a movie with loud booms, gun shot sounds, and bright flashing lights that felt like artillery bombardments.

What's the point?

I'm a grumpy old woman and I despise fireworks.

It's totally cool to light off a few small things in your driveway to terrify your kids before they go to bed.  I like the "danger" of sparklers and to see the excited fear in the faces of my kids who are nervous they might light their jammies on fire.  I do not think that the same things shot off at Sugar House Park should be lit three houses down from me in someones front yard.  And, in a neighborhood full of small children like mine,  who are on year round school schedules that start back at school today, it's pretty inconsiderate to be lighting of those gun shots booms at Midnight, let alone 1:30 in the morning.

Now, when my boys are obnoxious teenagers I might change my mind.  But when my boys are small, delicate little flowers, I am not a fan.