Fireworks

Every Fourth of July, we in America celebrate our independence with fireworks. Some states allow you buy your own and others force you to go see a professional show. Either way there are all sorts of booms and colorful explosions for a few weeks. We don't always go and see a show, but this year we saw the best one we've ever seen.

We're currently in the middle of a bit of a road trip visiting family and friends. On Tuesday, we started that trip by trekking up to New Hampshire. I figured we'd want to bring our kids to go see some fireworks, but what I hadn't planned on was driving an additional two hours round-trip to Portsmouth to do so.

I accepted the suggestion to drive further out to see a better show instead of waiting until the next day to see a lesser one close by. However, after 7 hours in the car the last thing I wanted to do was drive for another two hours.

We arrived about an hour before it started and walked the couple blocks to find a place to watch them from. Did I mention it was still above 90 degrees with the humidity and we had a collective five children to keep and eye on? Needless to say I was uncomfortable from the heat and on edge with the amount of people around.

Those feelings went out the window once the show started. It wasn't because it was the best show we've ever seen. It was because Ben was the happiest he's ever been in his entire life. He's not a huge fan of loud noise, but this didn't seem to bother him. He was too busy jumping and pointing at the flashes in the sky. The pure joy and excitement he displayed made the whole trip worth it.

We would have driven another nine hours just to see him that happy. If you're ever near Portsmouth, NH around the 4th, definitely take the time to check out their fireworks show. I can't promise your kids will be excited as Ben was but the show was great for everyone.