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| Here you can see us sitting back at a safe distance, enjoying the prettiness of the fireworks overhead. |
I knew my day wasn't done when I rubbed my eyes back open from my prolonged late afternoon nap. I slept well after the first half of my candied day and didn't even wake up with a killer candy hangover as expected. With the sweets and bunnies behind me it was time for the barbecue half of my day.
Juleaster is a lesser known holiday, especially to me, but it's the wonderful day when banks and post offices are mysteriously closed while all their workers rejoice in the freedoms afforded to all Americans by our founding fathers, mothers and great-great uncles. What better way to shout "I am free!" than by gorging on potato salad, potato chips and other more varied foods, such as French fries.
We all celebrated our freedoms in different ways. Dominic chose to tear off his diaper and run around bare naked, Patrick did it by pointing and laughing hysterically, and I myself did it by climbing all the way up to the very top landing of my toy room bookshelf.
We each got in our own kinds of trouble for it, Patrick least of all because his choice was determined to be "only natural" though I'm filing an appeal that climbing to dangerous heights and nude frolicking are no less natural than laughing about it.
As the sun set and our tummies finished filling we went to the window to see the show of fireworks. We couldn't actually see any, though I kept insisting the airplane flying by must be fireworks, you know, since it was lit up in pretty flashing colors. Instead we headed out to find us some good, wholesome, family, illegal firework fun.
We ended up at a school playground where all kinds of lawbreakers had all kinds of combustible expressions of freedom.
There were four camps at each corner of the playground, each group was lighting off their own variety of amazing displays. We never got anywhere even remotely close to them, staying all the way back on the steps of one of the temporary buildings* a good, safe distance away.
We could see everything from where we were and it was a beautiful, amazing, terrifying thing. We clapped, cheered, yay-said and jumped up and down. We clung to each other and our handlers, and within a half-hour we had seen enough.
Dominic was the first to say "car", which surprised all of us. The parents asked me if I wanted to go home and I seconded the motion. Patrick had been covering his ears the whole time so it was harder to get him to hear the question, but he ayed the motion and it passed unanimously.
We went home and quickly made it to bed and to sleep, but it was a great day and very, very fun. If you live in America and you haven't yet taken part in fourth of Juleaster (or as it's more commonly known, "Fourth of July") festivities, it's something you should think about checking out. Not right now though, wait until next year. I'm told the parties have all wound down and from a quick check of the local newspaper's What's Happening section, it doesn't look like there's anything else coming up anytime soon.
I wish I could give you more information, but I think it's a floating holiday and I don’t think the technology yet exists to predict the coming of a Fourth of July. I'm sure the scientists are working on it so don't feel too bad, just keep an eye on the night sky and be on the lookout for explosions of every glorious color.
* You know what temporary buildings are, right? They don't have a real foundation and are prefabricated and transported whole. They're basically mobile homes without a kitchen, but they're only for temporary use for a time period no longer than thirty or forty years… You know the kind, "temporary."
