Omaha Independence Day

 We greatly underestimated how much Nebraskans love Independence Day.

On July 3rd, we went to a bbq and stayed out until 9 pm (which is very late for our kids) so for the 4th, we thought we would just let them light off sparklers and poppers. Because of daylight savings, it doesn't get dark until 10 pm and we didn't want to keep the kids up until 11 pm for the fireworks. (We're boring like that.)

So we put Lucy to bed and then we went out for our "fun." The girls were so scared at first. Jonathan made the comment that things would be so much different if we had boys. But I was terrified of fire works when I was their age, so I understand. 

Eventually we got into it and the girls had a blast. But we realized sparklers are much more sparkly in the dark.

After we got the older girls in bed, we watched a show and then it started sounding like a war zone outside. We went out onto the porch and was awed by the amount and intensity of the fireworks here. We had neighbors shooting off commercial fireworks! It smelled like there was a forest fire burning. It was unbelievable. And it just kept going and going. At 11 pm, we put in ear plugs and went to bed. 

I don't remember it being like that when I was teenager living in Nebraska. I was shocked the girls didn't wake up, and I am glad they didn't because they would have been scared. 

Maybe next year we will keep the older girls up for it, now that we know what happens in our neighborhood. 

The older I get, the more I am grateful for a free country.

God bless America!