Happy Fourth on the Second

This year, the Fourth of July was celebrated on the Second of July. Even though I knew this in advance, I felt like it kind of caught me off guard. 

Usually I gather up our supplies a day or two ahead of time. Not this year. Here it was the day of the fireworks and I hadn't even bought any glo-sticks(!). 

So that afternoon, me and apparently the rest of the town, shot over to the Dollar Store for whatever was left of their pathetic, depleted glo-stick inventory.

Then back at home, after dinner, and after making popcorn, I packed a backpack with said popcorn - along with hand wipes and a blanket and suntan lotion and bug bracelets and flashlights and water bottles... and glo-sticks(!). Then, off we (as in "Sam and I") went.

It's always a dicey question of how early to leave to get to the field. You want to leave early enough to get a good spot but you don't want to leave so early that you spend any more time than necessary baking in the late afternoon sun. 

Plus (and it's a big "Plus") - the less time you have to spend around that crowd, the better.

Sam and I got there in what seemed like a little too early to me - which may or may not be due to our exceptional walking skills - but it worked out ok. Sam (and I) met up with some friend(s) - so that was nice. 

And as the sun finally went down and it got closer to "showtime", Helaina was able to join us for a bit. That was also nice.

I don't have too much to say about this year's fireworks - certainly nothing that I haven't said before. But I will reiterate the following: People ruin everything.*

Exhibit A:

 

The other thing I'll mention is,  I have no idea why I take so many photos - or any photos - of the fireworks. I must have hundreds of them on my computer already- and I rarely, if ever, look back on any of them. Still, even though I'm fully aware of this, I took more photos again this year! What is the matter with me???

Oh, and also, one more thing... After the show was over, when I was digging in the backpack for the flashlights, I discovered that I forgot to take out the glo-sticks. 

Anyway...

Here are a few of the sixty-or-so photos that I took this year. See if you can tell the difference from those taken in previous years...

*This is not limited to fireworks.