Boom Boda-Bing

Thursday began wet & gray. It never changed much from that either. But there was a silver lining. This was the final formal work day of the week. I was happy for that. I went about my morning routine just as I would any other day. By 6:05am I had already exercised, walked Ykraps and poured my first cup of coffee.

Still on my mind from Wednesday was my daughter Lindsey, who seems to be spiraling further away from center. At my core I am troubled. I left for my run after meditation. It was another good run. I ran four miles.

Back at home, I methodically went about prepping a lunch, which I kept extremely simple. I fried two eggs for breakfast. At 7:40am I headed up for a shower. I thought about wearing shorts but didn’t. Instead, I wore my standard uniform – jeans and a black t-shirt. Mindy got up to see me off. Meanwhile, neighbor Crissy’s son Jake was slated to spend the day with our Jacob. He arrived at 8:00am- just before I left for work.

Work was a little busier than I had hoped. We were staffed rather lightly leading into the holiday, but we managed, and managed well. I worked straight through. I left for home at 5:00pm eager to begin my holiday despite being the on-call. Mindy was off Krogering when I arrived home. And since she was already out, she agreed to pick me up some beer saving me the trip. Glenn, she mentioned, left and headed over to my Dad’s. We’d be going to her friend Tara’s pre-Red, White & Boom party.

I walked Ykraps and chilled a little bit after arriving home. It wasn’t long before Mindy pulled up with the groceries. I helped carry everything in. We wasted little time readying for Tara’s. Her party began at 5:30pm. We packed a small cooler and drove off. Tara lives just five minutes up the road in The Glen. As expected, her house was bustling with activity. Most of the revelers were also heading to Red, White & Boom. We weren’t. Instead, we’d be heading back home. We ate and socialized for about two hours or more.
We left for home just after 8pm.

We had originally planned to hang out with neighbors Crissy & Kenny through Boom, but neither Mindy nor I were up to it. Instead, we were happy to hang quietly at home. The kids were a different story. They ran off for the neighbors almost immediately after arriving home. That happens a lot. As darkness fell, we tuned the plasma TV to the Boom broadcast, and allowed the audio to stream through our surround sound. Mindy called the kids in for a quick bath just ahead of the actual Boom event. However, Jacob didn’t immediately come. Bella did. She was bathed and ready by 9:50pm. Jacob was still down at Jake’s lighting off sparklers with all the other kids. That quickly led to Kenny and David setting off a mini-firework display. Mindy must’ve called for Jacob two more times. He wasn’t happy when she finally insisted he come in just before Boom began, but he did, albeit begrudgingly.

Somehow, Mindy had him bathed and in his PJs just before the show started. Boom began at 10:03pm sharp. The main display lasted 20 minutes exactly, but then, after a brief pause, the finale’ began. It lasted exactly one minute. We were quite pleased with the fireworks and music. For the first time ever, they used music from many different genres, and only had two or three of the stale, over-used patriotic songs mixed in. The fireworks themselves were some of the best I had ever seen. They were very colorful and very unique. It didn’t hurt that they used some interesting camera angles to display them as well. Many shots were from above or directly level with the explosions, a view you won’t ever see from down at the event.

Mindy & I tucked the kids into bed after the fireworks show. Mindy headed for bed a short time later. I stayed up for another hour and one half writing in my blog from Mindy’s laptop.