First Fourth Fireworks

In honor of our 12th wedding anniversary, DH and I decided to take Luke to the Braves game and stay for the fireworks after. This was Luke's first July 4 fireworks show! We've done the laser show at Stone Mountain, but there are very few actual fireworks involved (unless it is the July 4 show). He loved the ones at Disney, which are great, but there is something special about Independence Day fireworks. Up until now, the consequences of taking him out and keeping him up late enough to see them and then get back home simply were not worth it. Even now, everyone is grumpy and irritable the next day, but it is no longer the recipe for disaster that it used to be. The main recent deterrent to trying it has been the weather. It gets downright HOT in Atlanta for July 4th. *I* don't want to spend my anniversary sweltering outdoors with 1000 other people, no matter how much "fun" it might be. And the Braves always have fireworks after home games for July 4, but waiting until after a 7 PM game to start the fireworks isn't much fun either.

When the weather forecast for Sunday was only 82 degrees with no rain, we couldn't believe it. When we realized that the Braves home game started at 5 PM, thus would be over in plenty of time for a reasonable start to the fireworks, we decided to see if they still had tickets. Making the decision to actually do it was a little stressful; we are not the most spontaneous people in the world. But the circumstances were as perfect as they would ever be, so we went on and did it. Not only were seats available, they were *good* seats. So we splurged on Terrace Level seats, which were not only close and almost directly behind home plate, but shaded by the press box! Most excellent! We hopped on MARTA, getting off at the Georgia State station and walking to the stadium instead of hiking through Underground to the shuttle (mistake; was cool enough for game but still too hot to walk that far). We did get to walk past the capitol on the way, though.



We were pretty hot and tired by the time we actually hiked to our seats, but they were absolutely worth it. The press box was directly overhead.



We acquired dinner: foot long hot dogs for DH and me, and two huge slices of pizza for Luke. By then, it was time for the 7th inning stretch, with a tenor from the Atlanta Opera singing God Bless America.



Luke humored me for a picture (can't believe we're at the "Mooooooooom" phase already):



And then we waited. The game was over (we lost), and a 70s tribute band came on to "warm up the crowd" (i.e. kill time until it was dark enough (sometime after 9PM) for fireworks). They weren't bad, but I was only familiar with about 2/3 of the songs they did, and only 1 did I know well. About 40 minutes in, they figured out that the crowd knew more 80s than 70s, which was much more fun! Luke happily played on DH's phone and did a little seat dancing. He even made the big screen at some point. Finally, it was dark enough, and the show began! I couldn't find the fireworks setting on the camera (not my usual camera, remember), but I still think I did okay. Lots of "wow" and "awesome" coming from Luke's seat. A great First Fourth, I think!


Currently feeling: festive