After our small but fun fireworks experience last year, I decided that I’d get some of my rich city pals to pitch in some dough to buy a huge supply of fireworks for 2005. My plan worked perfectly and we had a blast. We had enough contributions for “The Big Bang” pack and plenty of other stuff. Click the image to go to the gallery and see us in action. Lots of folks came down from Plano, Richardson, and Allen. We also had relatives from in and out of town (Cedar Hill, anyway) and a few neighbors dropped in too. We decided to have the party on the 3rd, since the 4th was a Monday and like a “school night” for the grownups. People preferred to stay up late Sunday night instead of shooting things off on the 4th proper. Because our neighborhood is outside the city limits, we weren’t the only ones who had the idea for a large party. For three nights in a row, anyone from the surrounding area could sit outside and a party within a mile or so was going on, offering yet another free show. My 16 year-old nephew Cameron had already been staying with us for a week and was supposed to go back to Oklahoma to start football camp. After he realized just how many fireworks we were getting, it was easy to convince him to stick around an extra couple of days. He got to light way more than his fair share of the fireworks, which was probably a good thing, since most of the other nuts in charge were imbibing on a steady supply of Miller Lite. After the fireworks show outside, a spectacular Karaoke show took place inside. Luckily for the bulk of our guests, most of them didn’t stick around for this. For those who did stay, I have blackmail video that I’m saving for when the time is right. Our across-the-street neighbors had their fireworks party the night of the 4th, and were impressed enough with Cameron’s pyrotechnical know-how to put him in charge of their show. Either that, or they were too lazy to do it themselves.
