Kimberlee vs. The 4th of July

I don't like fireworks. No, I'm not a communist. I just don't particularly care for fireworks. I know I'm going to sound like a grouch here but if I gave a shit, I wouldn't be blogging. *smiley face*

There hasn't been any new big developments in fireworks for how many years? They're always the same. Loud, bright, and sometimes scary. Depends on who is lighting the explosives honestly.

Fireworks shows? I could go without watching them. I mainly go because my kids still like them, so does Hawks and it's a tradition.

As a kid, my family would pile up in the car & drive out to the Orange Show in San Bernardino, CA to catch a glimpse of their yearly show. Even if we couldn't afford to get into the fairgrounds to catch all the action up close, we'd park on the outside somewhere to get a good spot to watch, I'd fall asleep before the grand finale. Later after we left CA,  I was spoiled by big military post firework displays. They were bright, quick, somewhat entertaining & full of great timing. That almost feels like a lifetime ago (really it's only been 4 years).

For the past three years we've gone to Hawks' parent's cabin & watched as all the waterfront folk light off their personal firework loot. Though I'm not big on fireworks, I do enjoy that. Mostly because of the danger factor. Everyone is trying to get theirs off first and everyone competes (probably not consciously) to have the audience "Ooooh" and "Ahhh" over the one they lit.

This year due to a ton of different things, we stayed in Lawrence. We enjoyed the Lawrence Originals foodapalooza in the park, sweated our asses off, walked at least 4 miles total through downtown, had ice cream, stalked friends, geocached, offered ourselves up as mosquito buffets and eventually settled down in the strategically placed Jeep to watch the fireworks display.


You would think with a city as great as Lawrence, that they would at least have an automated display that was well timed or use a professional Pyrotechnician and their team. Being as this was our first year seeing the Lawrence display, I don't have much to base it off of, however on facebook a few friends have brought up the fact that yet again, the Lawrence fireworks show has sucked and you know what? IT DID SUCK! Reoccurring theme Lawrence? May I suggest picking up a phonebook and hiring someone for next year? Oh hey, Rainbow Fireworks? Would ya lookie there. They do backyard fireworks displays to full blown Fourth of July extravaganzas. EXTRAVAGANZAS! Seriously call them because your show SUCKED! I honestly think it was just two guys out there with four tubes and a punk lighting, waiting, lighting, waiting. The pauses were more annoying rather than dramatic & thrill filled.

Another pet peeve: People who take pictures/videos of firework shows. Lame firework shows. Seriously those people that aim their camcorders at the sky & film every little exploding thing. Do you whip out that cd in a few months & watch it again? Do you ever watch it again? Ever? How about that picture? I purposely took that firework picture in the upper right sarcastically for this blog post. I could tell you that it was from 2009 (it wasn't, it was from this year), you'd believe me because how the hell would you know?... because ALL fireworks look the same. Throw your kid in the picture and let the fireworks be a back drop. That would make more sense.

All in all, I'm glad my kids enjoyed it, I'm glad we were together as a family, I'm glad I helped feed some mosquitoes and I'm glad I'm an American.


*clears throat & steps off the 4th of July soapbox*