The Gathering Place

Our house/driveway/yard/section of the street has become the informal gathering place on the 4th of July for all folks on the block who don't make the hike to DC or Baltimore. Last night we went out around 8:20 pm after the thunderstorm passed. First it was the neighbors down the street, then the neighbors next door, then across the street, then around the corner (Matt's reading specialist for 1st grade) and before we knew it, there were 25 kids and adults at our house. Next time I guess I should have some food and drinks available!

With everyone bringing their own fireworks along (including one large illegal aerial from Pennsylvania that rained sparks on our house), the finale kicked off at 10:35 pm! The boys got to bed at 11 pm, and Mark and I crashed at 11:30. This is the latest we have ever let the boys stay up. Luckily, they took a nap yesterday afternoon and again today, so they made a nice recovery. The boys are very comfortable with the sparklers this year and had a good time playing with the other kids. The neighbors brought out a large citronella candle so the kids could light their own sparklers.

Just so my brother isn't the only one in our family to create a fire hazard... I will mention that we had a little post festivity fire in the street. In the haste to get everything cleaned up at 10:45, the guys put all of the spent cannisters (minus the last 3 or 4 that were still hot) into 3 large garbage bags. Mark had planned a trip to the dump today anyway because Wednesday is our trash pick up day and there wasn't any trash pick up because of the holiday. The three garbage bags were left at our curb and 10 minutes later our doorbell rang. It was our neighbor Mr. Pete from across the street and he was holding a fire extinguisher. Apparently one of the trash bags had caught fire and he came over to put it out. No big deal, glad we didn't have our SUV parked nearby! The worst part is that while we were picking up, we were sharing the story of Corwyn melting his van in the driveway...

Here are a few photos, enjoy!

Andrew in his best light saber fighting pose!