I love fireworks!! So, this past holiday weekend, I did not miss an opportunity to enjoy, not one, but two events. One on Thursday evening and another on Friday. The Thursday event was Kaboom Town which has frequently been ranked in the top ten of outstanding fireworks displays. http://www.addisontexas.net/events/KaboomTown/
When the children were young, Kaboom Town was a family adventure. We packed a cooler, plenty to eat and our lawn chairs and planted ourselves in a KMart parking lot across the street from the main festivities. We tailgated with lots of friends and it was a blast. You had to start early to get the best vantage point and I clearly remember the year where we were so close it looked as though the sparks would rain down on us.
During the six years I lived in another city I got homesick the night before each July 4th and longed for "the good ol' days." The first year I was back in town, I joined several friends and my daughter with her new boyfriend as we spread a picnic and shared cold drinks. Texas in July brings its own challenges to stay cool. We had a great time but swore we would remember where we were that year and try to get closer in the future.
This year was a bit different. My son was in town and he and my son in law (aforementioned "new boyfriend") had played golf all afternoon and were in no mood to sit in the heat waiting for the sun to set. I was not to be deterred so my daughter, bless her heart, packed up the baby, food, drinks and yours truly and off we headed into the sunset.
The news that night indicated that over 350,000 were in attendance at Kaboom town. Can you imagine the crowds??
The KMart has long been gone so we were guessing what might be a good location. Naturally, my daughter wanted to avoid as much of the traffic as possible. But, we kept creeping closer and closer until we finally found a nice big parking lot with several other families already set up and aimed toward the event.
Out came the lawn chairs, in festive red, white and blue, of course. Then the baby's Pack N Play, mini-playpen, toys, July 4th pinwheels, cooler, food, drinks, radio ... we were set. This particular fireworks display is set to music on one of the local stations. I could just feel the anticipation in the air.
Finally, at 9:30 PM, the fireworks started. You know how we knew? We could see the glow of the display in the distance, directly behind the building that blocked our view! We had parked too far away and the rockets red glare was too low on the horizon.
You should have seen the scramble in that parking lot as we all rushed to try and secure a better view. But first ... throw the Pack N Play in the back, collapse the chairs, shut the cooler, grab the stroller and baby and run! The whole display is only 30 minutes long so time was of the essence. Across the parking lot, over the curb, across the street, hop the the other curb, dodge the construction of the building in our way, round the bend, don't stop in front of others who have better seats staked out and still .... not a good view. A row of small, decorative trees lined the street!! They've got their nerve trying to beautify the area!
Keep in mind I am still recovering from knee and ankle surgery so I did my best to keep up and not fall down. Three generations of thrill seekers. A one year old, her mother and grandmother. What a trio! I kept repeating, "Unbelievable!" No, my daughter chided, "Believable!!"
We finally found a small break on the horizon and I spent the next few minutes trying to help the baby see the fireworks in between the trees. She did not quite understand why Nana had spent that time teaching her, "What do the fireworks say? Boom!" Yeah, right, Nana! And, we thought this would be a photo op, the baby with the fireworks lighting up the background. Instead, we have pictures of Baby looking at her mom as Nana points to nothing in the distance.
By the time we walked back to the car, we ended up stuck in traffic that lasted over an hour.
Let's just say, my son and son-in-law were grateful they had passed on the experience. And, you can be sure that the next night when I went with some friends to another fireworks show we knew exactly where the fireworks were based before we settled in.
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