July Fourth - Let the Explosions Begin!

    The day started off pleasant enough, a community pancake breakfast and old fashioned games at Fort Missoula.  Little did I know it would end in with crazed Firework Frenzy.

    Here Sylvia and Greydon realize that they are not the same weight to make a teeter-totter work properly.  Maybe Sylvia didn't eat enough bacon at the breakfast. 

     Sheep and pig petting were also favorite activities.   Here Mattias and Greydon are taking the sheep for a little walk.  Mattias feels bad he missed the 4-H sheep raising experience the older kids got.

      Sylvia also thins we should get some sheep... I don't think she understands that they aren't all as friendly as this little lamb.

    We spent a long time playing several games of jacks outside the old school-house.  Asher and I switched back and forth as the reigning jack-champ.  Greydon improved quickly and was a good sport.

I love seeing my smiling boys.   This was a game called Squish Everyone into the Backseat.  I don't think they will play it again soon.

     Mattias made a killer chocolate cake from scratch, and I decorated it.  We used fresh serviceberries and strawberries from Brad's garden, with cream.  It was delicious!!!!!   (The sparkler did burn out before we finished singing the national anthem though.  We will have to sing faster in the future.)

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      Jesse and Sarah brought out some almost-military-grade smoke cover canisters for the boys to have fun with during the day.

       Little did we know the surprise that they had in the basement. Hundreds of dollars of mega-fireworks they picked up at an indian reservation (from "Pyro Paulie") on the drive here.

      We became experts in artillary shells, "cakes", and Roman candles.   - Although after having a couple roman candles explode in peoples hands... we decided to not hold them for shooting any more.
   

It was like opening gifts at Christmas... Jesse was Head PyroManiac, and Mattias became his loyal apprentice.

Greydon enjoyed opening the boxes, but prefered to sit farther away from the debris fall-out zone  for viewing them.

      Sylvia was also a little uncertain about her first sparklers... but was a pyro champ by the end of the night.   She was able to light off several fountains we had picked out including the very prettily packaged "Unicorn" fountain.  (Sadly, no unicorns shot out when she set it off.)

   Below is the McMullin Pyro Team.  You may wonder where Grandpa Brad is?  Taking Liz to the town show... because they did not realize how truely astounding aflame their front driveway would become in their absence.  The local show paled in comparison to our near death experiences.

Wasn't it Uncle Colin who first  wondered "What happens if you toss a lit Bee in the canal?"   

     The canal in front of the house soon become a whole new venue for the pyro team.  The spinning Ground Flowers were truly magical when Uncle Jesse lit them and tossed them into the water.  It was really beautiful!  It kind of looked like pictures of a nebula that you would see through the Hubble telescope.
     Anyways,  I thought it was even cooler than the war zone exploding over our head.  The team worked their way up to having four people lighting double combos of shells at the same time.  It was very exciting to see if the last person left at the end of the driveway would actually get their fuse lit before the other shells exploded right next to them.

      Everyone ended the night in one piece, and smelling like gunpowder.  The kids giggled on the living room couch past midnight, trying to wind down.  It was a very amazing Fourth of July.