4th of July ... 2005

I got to reminiscing about the 4th of July activities and decided to post about a few years ago when the Smith family got together in 2005. Marie did a good job with the details of the traditions in Caliente (you can click on her link from my list of family and friends). Our tradition, as children, was to sleep out on the night of 3rd and wake up at 6:00 A.M. to the dynamite blasts and the fire sirens (which are actually old air raid sirens). Well, this year, I decided it would be fun to have all of us sleep out on our parents lawn this year, like we did as kids. I had long forgotten how cold the nights still got there (and as most of you know, I am the biggest wimp when comes to being cold). About 12:00 or 1:00 in the morning, I decided I was to cold and was about to go finish the night inside. I then had the realization, that it was MY "bright" idea to sleep outside in the first place and if I copped out and went in where it was warm, I would get severely chastised, so I decided it would be best, for my own welfare, to tough it out.
Here are a few pictures from that weekend. I have chosen not to show any close-up photos of the adults for fear of retaliation!

Is this what happens when you get woke up by dynamite at 6:00 in the morning?!!!