Happy Birthday, USA!

Ideally, I might've taken their picture together, but that was a dream that wasn't to be realized on this day.

A little story about our 4th: Our neighbors George & Danielle had a little party at their house, and it was a lot of fun. About 8 couples and 15 or 20 young kids. Did I mention that George and Danielle are very brave?

After we left, we were pretty tired. We'd been planning to go to the Brentwood fireworks, but we almost wimped out. Then I told Andy that I'd feel like a bad parent if Will didn't get to go to the fireworks. After all, he is finally old enough to appreciate them, right?

So we drug ourselves back in the truck and drove over to the Crockett Park area, only to find that the park was closed. Apparently it was already at capacity.

Not to be discouraged, we drove into a neighborhood that adjoins the park, and found a cul-de-sac to park in. There were a lot of other cars parked there, and some people out on their front lawns with lawn chairs, so we figured we were in the right place.

With Sophie asleep in the truck, we opened the sliding rear window, turned on the radio, set up shop on Andy's tailgate and waited for the excitement to begin. Will informed us that he was "ready to go home" but we assured him that the fun was yet to be had.

We heard A LOT of high-dollar amateur fireworks, to the point I was constantly paranoid that we were missing the real show. A little after nine, the "amateur fireworks" increased in frequency and volume, as did Will's requests to go home.

After a couple of minutes, we determined that the REAL fireworks display was in full force, directly behind a huge tree from us.

Perfect. But again, we're flexible. So we hopped off the tailgate and stood along the side of the street where we had a (slightly) better view. At this point Will's requests to go home were endless. Endless, yet not escalating. A special talent of 2.5-year-olds (and I bet veteran moms will back me up on this) is that they can repeat the same statement or request OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER about one hundred and eighty six times and never change their tone whatsoever. It's as if they don't even realize that they are repeating themselves, and they certainly don't process your answers. I have tried many strategies and have yet to find a way to disrupt this maddening rhythm, and I fear that prolonged exposure may result in my need for intense psychotherapy and/or fullblown institutionalization.

So while Sophie slept in the truck, Will spent the entire span of the fireworks display chanting the mantra, "I'm ready to go home" and was equally unimpressed by the show.

And next year, obviously we'll be bad parents if we don't go see the fireworks. After all, it will be the first year Will will be old enough to appreciate them!