Something weird has happened to my mom as she's gotten older. When I was a kid, she was all about going and doing and crazy fun. Now? She really doesn't do a whole lot. I mean, she goes to parties, she still loves to entertain, etc. But she really has no desire to go see fireworks downtown anymore. She's perfectly happy watching them in our back yard. I think it has more to do with her responsible fear of drunk drivers and getting mugged and all that.
But I'll be darned if I'm going to miss a proper fireworks show on 4th of July. As a kid, my parents took me every year to see them downtown (er... uptown? downtown? the natives call it downtown, so I'm sticking with that...). We'd spend the day at my grandparents' lake house with the cousins and aunts and uncles and their respective friends. My grandparents would leave for the mountains after lunch, and we'd enjoy full freedom of the boat, jet skiis, and jumps off the highest part of the dock. After playing all day, we'd caravan to the middle of Charlotte, back when they shot the fireworks off a skyscraper. We'd find an empty parking lot and hang out until the show began.
Now they shoot it off at the local community college stadium. There's a big festival, which we went to a couple years ago.
This year, I invited my little sister to tag along with us, since we were her only hope of seeing fireworks. In an effort to keep Noah from crashing in the car on the way down, I hooked him up with some cookies he helped me make that day (per his command).
They built a new Target about 3 or so years ago with a fancy parking deck. So we parked next door at the Wendy's (we got stuck in the deck last year) and hightailed it to the top floor. Only one car was up there (I'm assuming a worker who just hung around all day), and they took the liberty of playing the radio's Independence Day music that was timed perfectly with the show.
Noah wasn't quite sure what to think. He wasn't afraid of the fireworks at all, but his face had us cracking up the whole time. He seemed slightly put off. No whining was involved at all. Just weird expressions.
"Daaaaad, why are we out here??"
"This is so stupid. What the heck am I doing out here? I want to go to bed."
(please excuse the wet hair pulled back and no makeup look I'm rockin')
"Seriously. Don't these people have homes???"
Then the show began.
And he realized why we were hanging out on top of a parking deck with a hundred strangers at 9:30 at night.
"Ummm.... dad? Should I be concerned?"
And yeah. That's cookie remnants you're seeing on his face.
Don't judge me.
He was totally fascinated.
He was also very interested in the crowd's response, turning his head every so often when he heard an extra loud "OOH!!" When he did this, Brad would point to the sky and say, "Look, Noah!" In which Noah would respond by pointing right along with him...
I would like to take a moment to point out just how flippin' HUGE my kid is. I mean, I know Brad's no giant (he's 5'8"), but still. In these pictures, Noah's head is above Brad's and his feet are hanging around mid-thigh on Brad. Wow is all I have to say.
Once Brad's arm got tired and almost gave out, he put Noah back in his stroller to finish out the show.
We really did have a fantastic time.
Until Noah woke up at 6:30 the next morning.
But you already heard/read about that.
God Bless America.
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