The Rocket's Red Glare, The Bombs Bursting In Air...

James' older sister Laura came to town for her 20th year high school reunion. She had her main reunion event the night of the Bills' fireworks show. Caleb, Josie, and Gillian came with us to the fireworks. Cameron also wanted to invite Sister Scott from across the street, so she came with us also. The boys helped with the flag ceremony (except Jamey - he couldn't find his scout shirt). Caleb was a very good sport with the kids all attacking him and throwing grass down his shirt, chasing him, etc. The show was spectacular, as always, but at the very beginning a firework shot in to the audience. I don't think anyone was hurt, but we did see them with flashlights for quite a while and I think some of their blankets or something might have gotten ruined. I saw Laural run across the hill to see if they were OK, and she came back to her spot so I assumed everything was fine. I saw a few of my friends from Woodbadge there -- Kimball and Yyvonne, both from Worland, and Brett from Riverton. Kimball and Yyvonne said they both drive out every year for the fireworks show, and then drive back after it's finished (that would put them home at 2 a.m.). I didn't realize what a big deal this is around the state, but now that I'm getting to know people from other places in the state I see that people come a very long way to see the Bills' fireworks show. It is always very well done, and this year was no exception. The rain didn't start coming down until after the show ended. I think Brent prayed it that way. Laural once told me that he prays very specifically about the weather.



Fireworks sure are a big deal in Lander. The 4th of July the skies are bright with fireworks until the wee hours of the night. We drove around from about 10 to 11 p.m. watching all the fireworks throughout town, and drove up to the rodeo grounds where we could look down on the city (Cami, I bet you had a spectacular view from your back window!). It was unreal. Fireworks everywhere -- big, beautiful, colorful fireworks. It's sort of like driving around at Christmastime to see everyone's Christmas lights. We could stand at our house and turn around and see fireworks in every direction. Part of the city was without power (McDonald's was totally black, and the street lights were out all around it), and we kept hearing the fire alarm go off and lots of police and fire syrens. Apparently a house burned down, and also one of Micah's friends from school was hit by a drunk driver and life-flighted to Primary Children's Hospital with a fractured skull. It must have been a nightmare night for the police, fire, and ambulance personnel. We sure hope Micah's friend will be OK. He's the high school principal's oldest child. I also feel bad for the parents of the drunk driver who hit him. He was a young kid (not old enough to even be drinking alcohol) and he's going to be in some big trouble now, not to mention the guilt he'll always feel for hitting a twelve year old with his car. As of last night, Jordan was out of ICU and showing some signs of improvement, so that is good news.



Josie and Gillian told me that the fireworks show was their favorite Lander event. I'm glad they had fun, because there was a lot of waiting before the show started. But it was worth it. And it was fun to see friends. Jacky doesn't see very well anymore, and she commented to me, "I can't see anyone, but I can feel that we're among friends."

Most of these photos were taken by my boys. Can ya tell?

Yeah, I'm sure Caleb wants you to stand on his back, Rebecca.

Here is a video of Caleb being a good sport while he was attacked by his younger cousins. And this is a pretty mild example of how the night went. He put up with a lot. I think he got pretty itchy from the grass they were putting down his shirt. They chased him around, jumped on him, and kept bugging him despite my telling them to stop.