It’s weird to say- this was Caroline’s 3rd July 4th celebration. Time is just flying by. Each time has had it’s own special memories…
7/4/15– Caroline’s first time, and our first time trying to watch fireworks at Joe’s course. No fireworks were ever seen (Mama was totally disappointed), but we still had a great time chowing down on bean dip and chips. Caroline was about 8 months old and she loved being out at night for the first time, and loved the food!
7/4/16- It rained all day! We were thrilled because that meant Daddy got to come home from work and spend the day with us. We headed up to Frederick for the country stage music and fireworks. As we were driving I found out the (rain or shine) festivities were all cancelled! We had everything loaded up in the car with nowhere to go. Oh well! We went to the parking lot in Germantown where we’d able to view fireworks later (if they also weren’t cancelled). We had HOURS to wait. It was something crazy like 5 pm. We hung out at a playground, and cranked up our car radio, and had a picnic in the rain. Such good memories. The fireworks did happen and Caroline really could have cared less about them LOL!
7/1/17- Caroline’s 3rd 4th of July celebration
It rained 0.5 inches at the golf course. Not much, but was enough to make Daddy’s day at the course a little less stressful, a tiny bit shorter, and the next day would be shorter and easier as well. It was a chance for Daddy to come home and take a quick rest, before heading out to fireworks. We took it! Our other option was to go on the 4th at a different location, but it was not going to rain that day, and was going to be a hot, dry day. We chose to take advantage of our half inch of rain as a result.
It was such a good time. We left here around 8 pm. We picked up donuts, and headed to the Gaithersburg fireworks celebration. We’d never been, so we weren’t entirely sure where to park for the best viewing and the least crowds, but I did some research and it worked out perfectly. We showed up at Morris park at about 8:30 and had an hour to kill before the fireworks would start. This place was PERFECT!
We were one of the first ones there, so we got great front row parking. We backed in and sat in the back of the truck. This park was not where the main festivities for the day were, so it was not crowded. There was a great little playground at this park that we enjoyed for the next hour. Caroline, of course, loved being out after her bed time, and thoroughly enjoyed the playground. Daddy caught fireflies for her to see (although I had totally forgotten to bring the bug house Caroline had made at Home Depot earlier that day). It was a blast.
I will ALWAYS remember the donut incident, however. Let me explain. I bought 6 donuts. 6. There are 3 of us. That means I should have expected 2 donuts at a minimum (Caroline wasn’t going to get 2 full donuts). When we arrived and parked, my husband immediately wanted to eat donuts, because he had milk that was going to get warm if he didn’t drink it. I was NOT ready for my donuts. So, I ate half of one donut and set it back in the box for later. Caroline did the same. Let me also remind you that I’m 14 weeks pregnant and STARVING. If I don’t eat every couple of hours, I’m getting sick. I was saving my donuts for later in the evening. The next thing I know, my husband is walking towards a trash can and throwing away the donut box!!! Not only did he eat 4 donuts, he was throwing away my half eaten donut, and Caroline’s half eaten donut. I had no words (well that’s not true) LOL! I will forever give him a hard time for eating my donuts and throwing them away.
A little after 9, we left the playground and headed back to the truck. We had glow necklaces on, and Caroline loved our new game… tossing the necklaces and she’d retrieve them. She was laughing and having such a good time running around.
Then the fireworks started and I was soooo excited for them this year. I couldn’t wait to see Caroline’s reaction. We’d talked about all the fun colors earlier that day, and she’d brought up the Daniel Tiger episode where they go to see fireworks. I really wanted her to enjoy them and couldn’t wait. The first minute or so went great. She guessed what color would come next, and we ooed and aahed.
Then she was done. “Take me home, please. It’s too loud. Take me home. I want to go home”. So we went home. She was hating the noise. It was scaring her and in general she hates loud noises, so it was no surprise- I just hadn’t anticipated it. We left without getting to see the fireworks last night. She seemed intrigued as we drove and she could still see them at times, but she did not want to hear that noise again!
We’ll be back next year for sure. This night was fabulous, even without getting to stay for the fireworks. Next year, Caroline might start to really like them. We’ll see! I’m so thankful for the family time that we got last night, however. I am also in love with the location we found for viewing fireworks. Everything about it was perfect and just made for the best evening.
7/4/17- We weren’t planning on doing any more festivities this year, but we ended up with a special night anyway.
As expected, Daddy was working super late on this hot, humid, sunny day. I decided last minute to grab dinner and bring it out to the golf course. Caroline and I were tired, but we’d rather spend our time with Daddy, than at home without him. So we made our way to the grocery store to find some dinner to bring along. We grabbed chips and bean dip (making this a tradition), potato salad, fresh (hot) sourdough bread, swiss cheese, salami, and turkey. For $23 we had a great dinner and enough for an extra lunch or two. Then we headed out to the course. We rode around with Daddy on his cart as he watered greens in the heat of the day. Then we ate. It was good to see him. Caroline chose to ride home with Daddy, since we had two cars.
That night, I was expecting lots of noise from fireworks in our neighborhood. I figured it would scare Caroline, since she had hated the sound a few days ago. I had cancelled going to fireworks with my MOMS club this evening since I knew Caroline wouldn’t enjoy them. When I started to hear the first booms, I took a look at the video monitor. Caroline was sitting straight up and listening. I didn’t wait for her to call me, I just went in to comfort her. I explained what they were. Suddenly she was beyond excited and wanted to see them. I didn’t think we’d see much, but let her look. Luckily, a few of our neighbors were setting some off. Caroline was THRILLED, and loving it! She was saying all of the colors and just having a blast. I stayed up watching for more with her until almost 10 o’clock. I was so happy that she was enjoying the fireworks. She asked if we could go to them, which also made me happy. “Not this year, but I promise we’ll take you again next year”, I told her. We had such a special night together, while trying to whisper so we didn’t wake up Daddy (even though we did anyway). I was really glad to have such a special night with her.
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