Random 4th of July Memories

1. My Dad use to order a big box of fireworks from some company. It would arrive 2 weeks before the 4th d sit on our back porch freezer. I would go out there at least 3 times a day to look through the box, but none could be set off until the 4th. We usually had neighbor kids walk down to our house on the 4th to watch the "big" display.
2. Sparklers were always done after the rest of the fireworks were gone and Dad always lit them with a blowtorch. Everyone knows that it's hard to light a sparkler with a punk and Dad knew this would be fool proof :).
3. On Independence Day 2007, Dad loaded the picnic table into the truck to take to the town fireworks display. I made fun of him saying "Dad, it's pretty normal for people to bring lawn chairs, but a picnic table is a little over the top". He said he wanted to make sure there was room for all the grandchildren to sit. And there was :).
4. When I was around 12, my friends and I use to make bottle rocket shooters out of wrapping paper tubes and duct tape and have bottle rocket and roman candle wars in the park.
5. One 4th of July, my cousins from Illinois came to my Grandmas and we all celebrated Independence Day out there. It was fun for them because they had never set off fireworks before.
6. In 1995, we were at my parents setting off bottle rockets in the afternoon when we kept seeing debris in the sky. Come to find out a tornado had touched down in Moberly and the debris were pieces of shingle.
7. One year my brother and I were setting off bottle rockets when a spark dropped onto a package of bottle rockets. I expect we looked pretty funny hopping around while they were randomly taking off.
8. Most 4th of July's growing up were spent enjoying food, family fireworks. The one year that the food wasn't enjoyable was when I had strep and all I could really eat was applesauce.
9. Setting off firecrackers under tin cans and in water are the best forms of fun. And only babies light firecrackers on the ground. You have to hold em and throw em ;).
10. I love the smell of fireworks.