Kaboom Town

The city of Addison puts on a free fireworks show every July 3rd. We had plans to meet up with a few other Chiropractic families, but the 3rd is not a holiday, so we would be picking Cameron up from school and heading straight there. I was so proud of myself for getting the boys and I ready in patriotic outfits and out the door on time, with camping chairs and a cooler of food packed! 

We swung by the school to pick Cameron up and then hit in-n-out for dinner. We ordered the boys burgers of their own and just handed them to them to see how they would do. Granger ate right through it! Right down to the wrapper, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and all. Nash, on the other hand, pulled it apart and threw away everything but the patty. Big boys. 

It was a little hectic finding a place to park, especially because they limit the number of people that can go inside the park! We managed to score a spot in a free parking garage and met up with our group who had been saving us a spot for a couple hours. It was perfect! Lots of space for the boys to walk around and explore, Cam grabbed a corn dog, we had treats, good friends, and a great show! They started with live music and then airplanes started doing all these flips and tricks above us in the sky. It started to get dark and the planes did a few low arcs over the crowd and shot fireworks right off the plane! I've never seen anything like that before!

Granger made friends with the ladies next to us and flirted his way into some watermelon and a little american flag. Nash kept trying to steal the alcoholic beverages in the chairs nearby, but I don't think he actually consumed any. Ha. 

Nash was sitting on my lap when the fireworks started to go off. It started with a huge shower of sparks trailing across the sky from the plane engine. He would point at the plane and follow it across the sky "Wow wow wow!" 

I don't know what it is about the 4th of July. But I absolutely love it. I feel like there is so much history and legacy tied into its celebration and it makes me feel incredible to share that with my own children. Seeing the current state of our government, and our beloved country, I have never before been so grateful to see so many patriotic people all in one place. As the patriotic music came on, I got a little choked up, singing along to "Proud to be an American." I don't know what this land will be like when my children have children, and I think that's what scares me the most. 

But seeing the wonder on Nash and Granger's faces as sparks lit up the sky, I didn't have a fear in the world. 

After the fireworks show, we loaded up as quickly as possible and headed for our car. We got out of the garage faster than I expected, and then sat in traffic for much longer than I expected. It probably felt longer than it was because Nash was exhausted and inconsolable. We couldn't figure out what was wrong with him! I held a towel up to block his face from the bright brake lights of the cars ahead of us and that calmed him for a bit, but he just kept pulling his blanket back and forth across his lap and throwing it. He was so angry he would steal Gray's blanket and throw it just to make him miserable! I felt his legs and they were freezing. The air was on pretty high back there. I tucked his blanket tight around him and rubbed his legs while I just talked to him. "Oh my sweet Nash, cold toes are the worst. My mama used to rub my legs when I was a little girl to help me relax and fall asleep..." He nodded off almost immediately. It is a major confidence boost to watch my child fall asleep to the sound of my voice. That I don't even need to hold and cuddle him to calm him down. That just being near him is enough. That just hearing me is enough. 

And Cameron and I enjoyed the thick quiet air for the rest of the drive home and talked about the things I can only imagine my parents talked about while I listened to the muffled sounds of their voices and nodded off to sleep in the back of our van so many years ago.