Fireworks!

Yesterday the skies were clear and we went to our city's "Starburst" festival.  It was really really fun.  To the kids and I it is a big deal and there are a lot of preparations that seem sort of silly probably to anyone else but us.  First off, we walk the mile and a half to the event because parking and the subsequent traffic when you leave is insane.  This means our wagon needs to be cleaned and loaded with all our gear.  One has to find the fleeces because it always gets chilly, sweatshirts for everyone, and silly games like soft balls to throw and paddle balls, and bubbles. Gotta have bubbles.

Then there is the picnic supper. T here must be food. Copioius amounts of food.  Part of which is always a big batch of home made cookies.  As KC says, "it is just tradition!"  There is a small keg cooler that holds our beverage and I pack plastic plates and cloth napkins that are rarely used, but that too, is tradition! LOL  (hey some year we might realize we don't have to eat like we were raised by wolves, just because we are eating outdoors, right?)

The gates open at 4:30.  We get there about 5:15 ish.  It is early but allows us to get a spot we really want. This year it was especially important that we did this because they changed the venue slightly and this was traumatic to Chet, and oddly, to KC as well.  They really needed time to settle and see how the space worked so to speak.

The early evening usually has a magic show for the kids which they love, a bunch of musical acts and oh goddess, face painting.  Face painting with lines that stretched from the Northeast of our country to the heartland!  LOL  Well not that far, but we were in line for an hour and fifteen minutes!

But it was all worth it. Rob met up with his friends that he skate boards with. (they called him while we were walking down to the venue)  He hung out with them for a couple hours, checking in with me hourly as I requested.  Then he met up with the 2 boys he shoots hoops with and they hung out closer to our location for awhile. Then I told his friends I was kidnapping Rob so he could play ball for a bit with KC and Lissa before it got too dark. They were good about it.

KC is struggling with the fact that Rob has a lot of friends and that increasingly (as it should) his world is beyond that of immediate family.  I feel for the little guy, but I am also happy for Rob. I was also happy to see that my son walks comfortably in the world with other black young men and does not seem to have any issues fitting in regardless of the group he is with.  I don't particularly think I can take credit for this. Much of this has to do with Rob's very friendly affable nature.  However I have worked hard to make sure that Rob didn't feel a need to "act white" if you know what I mean.  At any rate, his skateboard friends are all other black teens, his basketball pals are white, and the youth group friends at church, are a mixed bag, some of whom also are adopted and/or come from non traditional family dynamics.

The actual fireworks were amazing and we were all transfixed.  Lissa handled it well; she has a bit of sensory issue stuff and we had talked about how it would be okay to put her hands over her ears if she wanted to but that they would look really really pretty in the sky.  She did great. KC was ooohing and ahhhing with each new display, Chet was amazingly silent.  (Chet is like me and super talkative!)

The getting out of the park area was the hardest part. The gates are narrow and really only 2 people can fit abreast comfortably. There were according to the local paper about 5K people there.  I was glad that we had decimated the food we brought and that the littles were in the wagon as it was late and folks are always less kind at the leaving of an event. Going in, everyone is happy and cheerful. Leaving, they are tired and push!  I was impressed that Chet handled this well. That kind of thing is typically very hard for him and he was really stellar holding it together, even when he saw a couple of young girls just about knock me over to get by our wagon.

We finally made it to the street and then made good time hauling the wagon with sleepy littles and the rest of us trekking right along to the car which was about 1/4 mile away. Kirsty had joined us after her work was done and found a parking space a goodly distance away.  It was a good spot and not hard to get out and into traffic from that location, the way it would have been if she had parked closer. AND I didn't have to pull sleepy kids in the wagon all the way home as in years past!  But it was still a very very late night for the kids and I have warned all that we will have early beds tonight!