We took the boys trout fishing at Rainbow Trout Farm to catch dinner for the 4th of July. Haden got the catch of the day: a whopping 21 inches! Allen had a great time reeling in a real fighter. It was nice to fish near quiet ponds with beautiful fountains, teeming with a guaranteed catch! At one point, Dave put out the fish net to pick up Haden’s catch, and accidentally scooped up another fish swimming by. He put it back, but it was amazing that you didn’t even need a fishing pole to catch one! After we had enough for dinner, we went home and cooked them on the grill, wrapped in foil.
As it got to be dusk, Dave and the boys started setting off small fireworks I had bought at a local stand (they even have a huge display right near the door at the grocery store – so weird!). We had colorful smoke bombs, sparkling fountains, spinning “eyeballs”, flashing strobes, and sparklers. They set them off in the middle of the street, and we kept the girls on the sidewalk, but the sparks and loud crackling scared them. Then we moved back to the front lawn, and cuddled Eva and Amanda on a blanket, but they still started crying whenever one went off, and Eva cried, “I scared!” So I took the girls into the house, and let them watch through the playroom window. A little later Eva saw them playing with sparklers and wanted to try one, so Aunt Nanci helped her hold one and watch it glitter. Soon it started crackling and Eva covered her eyes, but instead of dropping it like we told her, she just held it stiffly away and shrieked “Eeee!”, like a siren. I think the whole thing was a bit much for the girls, but Allen and Haden certainly enjoyed it. Fireworks are illegal in California, so they had never really gotten to set them off before.
It didn’t get dark until around 10, but then the real show began! Our whole neighborhood sounded like a war zone. Thankfully, our dual-paned windows kept out much of the noise and let the girls sleep, but if you went outside, you could hear them going off in every direction. Several neighbors were setting off rockets and star-shells, which are apparently illegal in Oregon. But you can get them in Washington, so I guess everyone had driven across the river into Vancouver to buy them, and bring them back. As I stood out in the street watching, several went off over my head, and I could hear their debris showering onto my neighbor’s roof. Fountains sprayed sparks up to 10 feet high, lighting up the whole street. Smoke bombs, spinners, strobes and sparklers crackled and popped. Flares raced overhead, and M-80’s went off like gunshots. The festivities continued well into the night. I was glad we set off our little ones when we did, not only for the girls’ sake, but because the boys would have been jealous if they had seen how wimpy our fireworks were compared to our neighbors’! Being from California, I wasn’t sure what any of them did, so I just bought a small combo pack. Next year I might dare to branch out a bit more.
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