Happy 4th!

Believe it or not, this was our 3rd 4th of July in Washington! All three years we have been watching the fireworks on a hill in the North End of Tacoma. They shoot the fireworks off of a barge on the water. It's always a wonderful show, we really love it. Last year we were in Seattle and had a long drive home afterwards, so it was really awesome to only be a few minutes from home this year.
We didn't take any pictures of the fireworks this year. It's really difficult to get any good pictures without a tripod. Instead we took some pictures of the sun setting and of Rally hamming it up for everyone around us.

We also tried a new place for shooting of our own fireworks this year. As we were driving somewhere for dinner we noticed a billboard for a place called Firecracker Alley so I looked it up so we could go after dinner. The place was pretty cool, a lot like the Boom City we went to last year. Thankfully all the stands were set up on asphalt so it wasn't nearly as dusty. It also wasn't quite as big, but to be honest all the stands end up looking the same after a while. We were going to buy a box but they didn't take cards so we just decided to go back the next day. We brought Janke with us the next day and we bought our box.
When we got out to the open area for setting of fireworks it was a little terrifying. It was jam packed with kids, teenagers, and adults pretending they were directing a Michael Bay movie. Unfortunately for us, Mother Nature decided to get a little crazy with the wind effects. Just imagine a bunch of people in a confined area shooting off explosives with wind blowing so hard that you have a hard time lighting a fuse. It got kind of scary. To top it all off, I got hit in the foot with a firework! It didn't really hurt, it was just startling. It felt like somebody threw a ball at my foot.

Our box of fireworks was pretty lame though. There was a handful of really cool ones, but half of the box was full of these really stupid little things that practically exploded in your hand and when they launched they just made an irritating noise with a quick spark. We ended up giving them to some random Indian girl who was scrounging around looking for leftover fireworks. She seemed pretty excited about that.
Meanwhile, the week leading up to the 4th and even until now the neighborhood kids are still launching of fireworks in the alleys, despite the fact that they are in fact illegal in the city of Tacoma. On the actual night of the 4th they were going until the wee hours of the morning. Then when I woke up the next day for work, they were still going! I even heard some more just this morning. Hopefully they stop soon because it is getting kind of annoying.

I hope that everyone had a safe and happy holiday!!!