How I Spent My Fourth of July ~ Red

(Update coming later on previous adventuers)

We had some ppl over and we set out for the fireworks! There were a ton of people already there, but we managed to find a nice spot for all of us --that means 5 guys from, a husband, wife and two kids, plus me mom and dad. We got there (walking, remember) around 9:25. The fireworks were supposed to start at 9:30. 9:30 came. 9:30 went. No fireworks. Know what WAS coming? Lightening. More and more frequent. It was making me nervous. So, at 9:40 (ten minutes after tey were supposed to start) I asked Dad to let me see his phone. It's a blackberry and goes online. So I go to weather.com and see "Severe Weather Alert" and click on it. It says that there is a huge line of sever thuderstorms from VA Beach to Suffolk (that's a HUGE span, all the way across the area) and that it will hit downtown Portsmouth (exactly where we were) at aprox. 9:45pm. YIKES! Right after I finished reading it (aloud) Dad jumped up and said, "Let's go." Still no fireworks at this point, and five minutes to walk home --which meant we'd have to go fast! It's like a ten minute walk normally, I think. And the family with the two kids? Small kids. 2 & 5. So they had to get them in the stoller...plus, they had brought their dog. Cyndi (the mom/wife) was going a little crazy, afraid she'd get left behind. Then she started running..with that stoller, it was funny. So we start heading home (still no fireworks) and the lightening gets worse, of course. And over our neighborhood the sky is particularly dark. We were making people a little nervous I think, because several asked us what happened, where were we going. I was still thining, "Why didn't all the police around here tell everyone!" Finally made it home --9:50. Still no fireworks. The five guys decided to go ahead and leave to beat the crowd (still tons of lightening and no fireworks). Cyndi and Dusty put all of their stuff in the car, then came in for like two minutes while we checked the weather station and news networks for info. By this time it was about 9:55. Finally, 10:00 came and the 10:00 news came on. They said that the warnings had been cancelled ("ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!") but that the storms were still on their way ("Phew!! Now I don't feel like a complete idiot!!"). They also, right after that, announced that "the fireworks at Lakeside Park had been cancelled." (Like people out there are watching TV.) They said that the VA Beach fireworks had started early and only went for twenty minutes... the ones we were going to see are going to be tonight (Sat) instead.. so at least we still get to see them. But the epic tale is not finished yet! At this point, Cyndi and Dusty decided to go ahead and leave... and we opened the door (10:05, give or take) and it was POURING!!!!!!! I mean, SERIOUSLY! So they had to wait a while. We were seeing people running for their cars that were parked on our street... then bumper to bumper cars trying to get out of the neighborhood. Overall, it was just a crazy night. But I'm looking foward to seeing the fireworks tonight.. Lord-willing. If it doesn't storm again. ;)

Untitled Comment

1:23 PM, Jul. 5, 2008 .. Posted by LittleSparow

Whew! Sounds exciting!

Thanks for the comment - I'm sorry I didn't let you know about the award sooner (I forgot. Blush!), but I'm glad you found it. I really enjoy your blog!

Blessings,
Kori