Today is not a day meant to be worked! Today is a day for recovery! But, alas, no. Here I sit, at work, grumbling to myself that I am here and not outside with my other family members recovering from the holiday weekend fun and games. I should be in the lake, floating along beside them soaking up some Vitamin D. Them recovering from headaches. Me recovering from a severe lack of sleep.
We did have a great 4th holiday yesterday. My beach family all got together at our usual meeting spot (aka my cousin's house- who conveniently lives by a lake). It was a wonderful day of swimming, laughs, drinks (water for me puhleez), and very very LOUD fireworks set off by my pyromaniac family members. Good time to mention: two very funny potentially-could-have-ended-in-disaster things happened yesterday.
One. My husband is too a pyro. Very much the norm in my family amongst the men. You think I'm exagerrating... no. So, last night. There we are. All lined up along side of the road next to the house. The Giant has walked out (beaming with excitement) holding a HUGE "shooting roman candle" firework in both hands as it is THAT big! Imagine- (because I tried to google it and found nothing worth depicting) a 2.5 foot long (maybe even 3)- 6 inch wide cylindrical tube with a handle at one end for grip. So here he comes marching towards the road ready to show off this beast. cousin Kevin lights the end wick. The Giant points this beast of a firework towards the sky as you hear the crackle of the wick getting closer to explosion. Everyone takes two steps backwards for safe measure. It lights. Beautiful colors stream out of it! Every shade of the rainbow. Sparks are flying all whichaway. A pair of headlights turns the corner coming straight towards us. Everyone starts yelling out "Cop!" (Insert important part where exploding/shooting fireworks are banned in the no-fun state of VA). Yes, that's right. There's my husband standing alongside the road holding the beautiful beast as it's starting to truly display its beauty, and here comes an officer of the law. (Now I have found out that my husband was blissfully ignorant to the fact that this cop was there only 3 feet away from him because he was too busy trying to avoid the flaming sparks and what was about to be the biggest burst of fireworks of the night). However, as I said, we were not all as ignorant. What do you do when you're all in your lawn obviously part of the banned festivities? There's no running or hiding or denying. Couldn't even do the whole just look the other way and maybe they won't see you. Nope. We all held our breathe... the cop slowed his trooper car just to give us all the once over- and continued his drive through the neighborhood! It was an immediate sigh of relief from all of us- followed by the loudest burst of group laughter. Followed by the LOUDEST burst of shooting beauties imaginable!! Perfect timing?! Just out of eyesite from Mr. Copper himself as he cruised around. THANK YOU LORD! The last thing we needed was
another fireworks ticket for this group- with my husbands hand involved- again! Phew!
Two. Not only are the men in my family pyros. So are the dogs. Most of them anyways. One in particular. Smokey. My cousin Kevin's big black lab that is OBSESSED with fireworks, even though he lost some of his hearing a few years back due to a firework that exploded- while he had it in his grasps. *Please note anyone that does not know my family- we are animal lovers- so I don't say that jokingly or to give the impression we are
Michael Vick'ers (dog abusers). It was a total accident!* OK so knowing how much Smokey loves fireworks, we attempt to keep him inside during the festivities. For his own protection! But he always seems to find a way out. Sometimes its comical. Like, in the story above- as the Giant held the beast roman candle towards the sky- and the cop drove by- there's Smokey- jumping right at his feet to reach the shooting fireworks. Jumping higher than me, so its a good thing the Giant is so giantish or Smokey would have had a fair shot at that one. But, so not all of our fireworks were banned ones. We had a TON of the ground spraying beauties too. You know- the kind that are in perfect reach of a fireworks obsessed dog- especially when they are exploding! No fear for this dog. Runs right up to it- while in mid explosion sparks flying every direction- grabs the bottle- flips it on its side- proceeds to jump all over it (yes while sparks are still flying)- oh important part being knocks the dang thing over on its side FACING US! Stupid dog. Not once. Not twice. Lets just say I lost count how many pretty shows Smokey destroyed because we all yelled "Smokey!!! Drop it!!! LEAVE IT!! SMOKEY!!!" too many countless times. Despite the fact that these cascaders were laying sideways and shooting onto the pavement instead of the sky, it still made for a pretty and very memorable fireworks display. Pretty sure the color of the pavement won't be the same for a while though.
The whole night, I was horribly worried about Peapod. I wondered if the loud fireworks were scaring her. I kept my distance from them most of the night just in case. Sometimes I got too bothered at the thought of it scaring her so I went inside for breaks. She never kicked or punched though so I wonder if she slept right through the booms (which were seriously loud booms!). However, she must be making it up to me today because she has not stopped moving or punching once today. Its been all day long. She is very very active! And apparently I have preggo-brain recently because I have mixed up all of our important dates this week. I thought Wednesday was my yucky glucose test. Nope. Its tomorrow at 3! :( I have no idea what to expect but I'm hoping it goes well. I've heard mixed reviews on the orange drink I'll have to drink. Let's hope I don't throw it up. And, the Giant's PAST test is not Thursday at 7am. Its Friday at 7am. Boo!!!! My mistake again. I don't know what's wrong with me. I usually keep things really scheduled well in my head. Not anymore. So, keep us in your prayers if you think about it. Two big things this week. THEN the biggest of all which I have NOT messed up schedule-wise. We go to Wilmington Friday to see my sister!!! And my brother-in-law, and my mom, and my dad! (I'm just as excited to see you all too- I promise!) BUT WOOHOO!!!!! The only reason I could ever justify riding in a car for FIVE hours right now. Big Week!!
** I'll post pictures tonight when I get home from the weekend. Sorry for the book read- picture books are always better**
