Blasts From The Past

On the eve of the our nation's birthday, I thought I'd share a few stories from the 4ths of the past. We've had some truly memorable celebrations. Ironically, most of the stories don't revolve around us. We were simply present for the high jinks.

The first tale that comes to mind is one from my childhood. Growing up in Georgia, you had to plan ahead for the 4th of July. Fireworks of any kind (even sparklers) were illegal. Although, if you were like us & picked up fireworks in any of the bordering states prior to the big day, the police weren't on a mission to ruin your fun. As long as you stayed low profile and didn't tick off any of your neighbors, you were pretty much guaranteed a fun, police-free time.

However, you can't blame the neighbors for the abrupt ending to our fireworks show in 1988. Nope, the neighbors had nothing to do with it. The real culprit was the infamous roman candle. Oh, the excitement of watching those brilliantly colored balls of fire fly through the night sky! I'm not sure the things actually come with instructions, but my dad (Grandfather) always stuck them in the ground angled away from us & the house, lit the end, and then stood back to watch the show.

Well, that was the routine until Grandfather came to the conclusion that holding the roman candle would be much more fun. Man, talk about a brilliant idea. That is until one of the candles misfired, and one of the flaming balls shot out the back end, right into my 3-year old sister's eye! Poor Aunt Kelly! Actually, she wasn't really hurt, just shaken up. The experience pretty much scared the you-know-what out of everyone.

After that, my mom (Grandma) permanently banned fireworks from our household. I do remember Grandfather slowly reintroducing them after a few years had passed, but you better believe there were no roman candles. She wasn't happy about any of it, but Grandma definitely wasn't tolerating the return of roman candles!

Fast forward a number of years to 2000, our first year in Wichita. Anh had just started his surgery residency a few days earlier, and given that we had been in town less than a month, we only knew a handful of people. We celebrated the holiday with Diane who we had met while house-hunting. Little did we know, she would become one of our best friends.

At that point, we barely knew Diane though. When she arrived at our house, she looked a little pale and passed on both the beer & wine we were serving. Like I said before, we didn't know her too well, but we knew it wasn't like her to pass on either of those offerings. The woman could drink anyone under the table!

Diane told us that she suspected she had an inner ear infection because her equilibrium was off. She also shared that she had spent the better part of the morning with an upset stomach. Hours later, the truth finally came out! Diane had decided to kick off the holiday weekend by enjoying "a few" beers in her backyard garden the previous night. Inner ear infection...right! The woman was hungover!

For years, any time Diane would complain of a mystery ailment, we would ask whether she had been hitting the bottle again. It was our little inside joke right up to the end. When she visited us after our move to Florida, she arrived with a laundry list of ailments including some balance issues and feeling lightheaded. We teased her, saying she really needed to lay off the sauce. Man, I wish that had been it!

Anyway...back to happier times. Over the next 4 years, it became tradition to go out to our friends', Dwayne and Carol, house. Every year, they invite all their friends over for a 4th of July cookout. Everyone brings a dish and, of course, fireworks. 2001 was when we first discovered the magic of mortar bombs! Forget sparklers and bottle rockets...Mortar bombs are the real deal!

We were having a grand ol' time watching "the rockets red glare" and "bombs bursting in air," when all of a sudden 1 of Dwayne's 2 dogs went charging towards a mortar with a lit fuse. Talk about a freak out, roughly 30 people screamed the dog's name in panicked unison, "Peppy!" Thank God Peppy heeled! That would not have been pretty.

Our first 4th of July in Florida was also memorable. Anh's family was in town, and we decided to go all out! We spent a small fortune on fireworks that year. At dusk, we started the display in front of house, but quickly ended up out back by the pond. The majority of us sat on the back patio and watched as Al and Anh took turn shooting off big mortar bombs that were just a notch below what you'd see at a professional show. We had quite a few spectators.

Each of us took a turn lighting roman candles too. Yes, the infamous roman candles were purchased. We, clearly, were just asking for trouble! All was going well until we let Anh's mom (Ba Ba) have a turn. She lit her roman candle, overlooking the fact that Al was actually lighting the fuse to a mortar bomb right in front of her! The roman candle fired, and the shot bounced straight up Al's back and through his hair at the exact moment that he lit the fuse to the mortar bomb. He was frozen in fear, hunched over the mortar, expecting the next candle shot to hit him when the bomb ignited and shot within inches of his face. Let's just say Uncle Al was not very happy with his mom, but he seemed especially ticked off with the rest of us who laughing hysterically. It was all you could do really! He wasn't hurt after all!

Sadly, that wasn't the last of the fireworks drama that evening. A few minutes later, Al or Anh was lighting another fuse when the mortar toppled over and the bomb launched right at us on the patio. It was one of those experiences when time seems to pass in slow motion. We all screamed and jumped out of our seats, running away from the patio into the yard. I knew the bomb was going to explode on the patio. The only uncertainty was whether it would blow the windows, walls, or concrete to bits. As we all turned around and looked back, waiting for the big bang, we were horrified to see that Kyle was still sitting in his chair on the patio oblivious to the impending danger! I'm sure we were all thinking the same thing, "Oh shit!" just in various languages.

BOOM! When the smoke cleared, our ears were ringing, but Kyle was fine. Right behind him on the patio was a big black spot where the bomb had exploded. The windows, concrete, and Kyle had all survived. Whew! That was a close one!

Gee...does anyone see a theme in my tales. One would think that we'd have learned our lesson by now. Fireworks are dangerous! I guess that's just part of the fun. Happy 4th of July, Everyone! We hope you have a blast, but no close calls!

Preparation

It's under way. We're going to enjoy our 3-day weekend! Tomorrow, we are breaking off into 2 teams to secure all the necessary supplies for our little party. Baylor & I are in charge of the food and alcohol, and Anh & Jax are in charge of explosives. Woo Hoo! We are in for some fun! I just hope we come out of it with all of our fingers intact. I'll let you know how it goes!

By the way, there's still time to opt in. We'll have plenty to share. Even the Kansas peeps could get here in time for the Saturday festivities, but you'd have to leave right about...NOW!

Troublemaker

From here on out, that's how I might refer to Baylor because that's exactly what he is...Trouble (with a capital T). I'm fairly certain that Baylor now understands good vs. bad behavior. He definitely understands the definition of "NO," but that doesn't mean that he minds. Nope, he'll look you dead in the eyes and then do whatever you're instructing him not to, just to see what your reaction will be.

Baylor has a good memory too. He actually remembers who told him not to do what. He'll look directly at me when he's trying to break into the kitchen cabinets. He looks at Anh when he's messing with the computer cords, and he looks at Aunt Nguyen when he's heading over to try to climb the stairs. These are just a few examples, he gets into soooooo much more. Man, this kid is lucky he's cute!

That's a First

Tonight during dinner, Jax turned and asked Anh, "Can I go to bed?" WHAT?!?! Quick look out the window to see if pigs are flying! I can't even begin to tell you how out of character that question is for Jax. Oh, and in case you're worried, he doesn't appear to be sick. I think he's just exhausted. Today was water day at school. I guess that could explain it.

Good Clean Fun

Jax and I made a trip to our dentist's office today for a routine check-up and cleaning. This was actually Jax's first time seeing Dr. C-L. Previously, I took him to a pediatric dentist, but to make life simple, I thought we'd see how he liked going to our office.

Dr. C-L and her staff certainly rolled out the red carpet for their newest patient. Claudia, our dental hygienist, suggested that I go first so Jax could watch and then hopefully wouldn't feel anxious when it was his turn. As Claudia examined my teeth, she invited Jax who was studying her every move to come over and take a closer look. Well, Jax took that invitation very literally. He stood opposite of Claudia, within a couple of inches of my face, and peered into my mouth, taking in every little detail like he was going to be quizzed afterwards or something.

The highlight of the experience came when Claudia was polishing my teeth. She let Jax move from spectator to participant. He was essentially her assistant and placed in charge of suction. Oh, he thought he was important! It was actually hilarious. I had a hard time not laughing. When it was Jax's turn, he climbed right up into the chair, eager to be the patient. Again, when it came time to polish, Claudia let Jax hold the suction. Who knew suction could be so exciting?! Oh, to be 4 years old again!

Afterwards, Dr. C-L came by, took a quick peek at us, and declared our mouths in good shape. We were both rewarded with toothbrushes and toothpaste, but Jax got an extra treat from the treasure box. Not fair! I was good too! Oh well, maybe next time.

Everything Happens for a Reason

As I briefly mentioned in a previous post, we've been dealing with some A/C issues around here. Our house is split into three zones, and only 1 out of the 3 was actually being cooled. The good news was that we weren't living completely without cool air in this ridiculous Florida heat, but the bad news was that none of the bedrooms were within the functioning zone. Thank goodness for ceiling fans!

Actually, it wasn't all that bad. If it had been, I would have forked over the extra money and called the repairman out over the weekend. As it was, we were out and about the majority of the time. So, I figured we'd just wait until today and pay the lower rate rather than cancel our plans and pay more for the luxury of cool air throughout our house. My back-up plan, in case it got too hot, was to have a family "camp out" in the living room. Wouldn't that have been a sight?!

Well, today the repairman discovered that one of our two air handlers had actually frozen. There was a simple fix though. He thawed it out, vacuumed out all the water, replaced the filter, and we were back in the 70's. Yippee!

Although, there was a little more excitement during the visit. Hey, it wouldn't be our house if things went smoothly! As a part of the repair process, the repairman checked the outside a/c units and discovered our gas meter, located right next to them, had a major leak. Great! That was pretty much my exact reaction when he informed me of the news. The repairman used a wrench to turn off the flow of gas while I called the gas company to come out and take a look at my ticking time bomb.

I guess it was an easy fix because the gas technician was here for all of 5 minutes. He couldn't explain why the leak occurred, but assured me that it was rare, and I shouldn't start obsessively checking the meter. He also assured me that because the leak was "before the meter," I shouldn't be receiving a $3000 gas bill next month. What a relief!

So, tonight, I'm actually quite grateful to be blogging from my cool comfortable house that is still in one piece. Yep, today was a good day!

Another Year, Another Chance to Share Our Beautiful Voices

Friday was Aunt Nguyen's birthday, but we've actually made her the center of attention for the weekend. It's a birthday extravaganza! Friday night we kicked off the festivities with a birthday dinner at Roy's. It's an upscale Hawaiian fusion restaurant in our trendy beach district, and they certainly did their best to make the evening memorable. Oh, and yes, we did subject those around to us to a lovely rendition of the classic "Happy Birthday to You!"

Aunt Nguyen really enjoyed her hot, molten lava cake dessert, BUT...Baylor enjoyed it even more!After dinner, we took a little stroll moonlight on the beach. Well, the adults strolled. The boys dug right into the sand. Jax went so far as to make "sand angels." Good thing we did this AFTER dinner!