Celebrating our independence and torching the lawn

When we arrived in Oklahoma, I immediately took time to admire all of my husband's mother's festive July 4 decor.  Many of her patriotic paintings are just breathtaking.  She also had some old photos displayed from July 4 many years ago.  One photo of her first two boys as toddlers especially caught my eye.  My son certainly does favor his daddy at that age.  Both of these boys went on to serve in the U.S. armed forces.  My husband served as a naval officer on a nuclear powered submarine, and his brother served in Iraq as a marine.

Late that evening we all went to see the community fireworks.  After averaging approximately five hours of sleep a night during the previous week and after waking up at 5am that morning, I was half asleep during those fireworks.  Our kids fell asleep during the drive to the fireworks and were also in zombie mode that night.  Many of these photos from the community fireworks were taken by my dearest MIL and compiled into scrapbook format by me later after a good night's rest.

Weary travelers before the fireworks event on July 3, 2012

Ready for fireworks

A small sampling from the fireworks display

We spent a large portion of the following day at my husband's brother's home swimming and playing in their fun backyard.  He took the kids to the fireworks vendor so they could select fireworks that we would launch at the parents' house that evening.  The brothers set off some beautiful fireworks in their parents' driveway that night.  It was an entertaining evening until one of the larger TNT 8-shots fell on its side and began shooting fireworks horizontally all around us.  The kids, wives, and dogs ran in every direction.  A pile of leaves caught on fire, so the kids ran inside shouting to Grandpa, "The woods are on fire!"  They have about 8 acres of wooded land, so this announcement sent Grandma, the calmest man I have ever known, running outside with some concern.

The three oldest brothers responded to the fire in different ways.  My husband, the oldest, ran down the hill in pitch black darkness somehow managing not to trip over roots or stumble over rocks or holes in the ground and began stomping out the fire.  The next oldest brother shouted to his girlfriend to go get a shovel, so he eventually got down to the fire to smother it.  Meanwhile, the 3rd born found the water hose and cut on the water to soak out the fire.  Thankfully, by the time all three had reached the fire, my husband's stomping had mostly put it out.  What grand adventures we have whenever we fly out to visit my beloved in-laws.