Happy Belated Birthday, America!

At the last minute, we decided to go out of town to Brenham, home of Blue Bell Ice Cream, arguably the best ice cream in the state, maybe the universe. And by last minute, I mean about noon on the 4th of July.

The plan was to go to the Washington on the Brazos state park:

This picturesque park is located on the Brazos River, Washington was the site of the 1836 General Convention which would decide the fate of Texas. Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site is revered as the site of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836. Washington remained a town of some prominence in early Texas until the eve of the Civil War. The park encompasses the site of the historic town (1836).

The park hosts an annual day-long celebration culminating in fireworks in the evening. It features free soda and ice cream, free activities such as climbing walls and bouncy castles for the kids, typical and not so typical foods for purchase, pretty scenery, and generally a good time for people with kids or without.

Oh, and about a thousand degree heat.

Still, given our drought conditions, the mosquitoes were minimal, which was fabulous and there was a slight breeze which helped us deal with the heat. We had quite a (hot and somewhat miserable) hike once we parked, to where the fireworks would be shown. We asked around and were told where to look for fireworks and we planned our base camp accordingly - it was very exciting to get a good spot and we were told to expect the area to fill up considerably once nightfall was upon us.

The boys had fun; Mr Lawyer took them around the park and they did all sorts of fun things. I stayed at our spot with Babybeast who had a fantastic time prancing about in the grass after a soccer ball. She didn't even try to eat the grass even once.

Once it got dark, we sat and waited for the fireworks.

And then we waited some more.

I brought out a couple sets of those glow necklaces that you crack and shake - they went over really well with all three kids.

Finally, well after 10:00, the fireworks began. We (along with several hundred people behind us) quickly realized with horror that we could not and would not be able from our vantage point to see any of them! There was a huge cluster of trees in the way and while not tall, the fireworks were particularly low - and in a completely different direction than we had been advised to expect.

I quickly told Mr. lawyer to hustle the boys over to the parking lot to try to catch what he could, but because we had "stuff" with us that couldn't be left unattended, Babybeast and I remained behind and missed 100% of the show. It was very disappointing since I had the camera ready to try to capture the fireworks and was excited about the potential images, but the boys were able to catch the bulk of the show.

So, the kids had fun - and that's what is really important of course. I am still upset that no one from the park bothered to tell us that we wouldn't be able to see (to the contrary, actually), but what are you going to do?

I'll try to load up some photos tomorrow...stay tuned.