We experienced our first 4th of July in Washington and it was the coolest thing ever. For those of you who don’t know we recently moved to Washington from Arizona so for us fireworks are almost taboo. In Arizona we admire fireworks displays like they are being showered upon us from the gods above and only they know how to control the incredible fire power of these magnificant creations. We risk crowds, mild heat strokes and parking disasters just to ohh and aah over those exploding colored fireballs for a grand totoal of about 20 minutes.

Noone could have told me what was in store for the 4th in July here in Washington. I guess I should have taken a queue from the multiple fireworks tents set up in the area but I thought that citizens respected the “bans” put in place by their city officials but I can see that Renton truly does live “ahead of the curve”.

After buying a modest amount of fireworks from the tent in Puyallup, we carefully planned our escape route home from the launch site just in case the cops showed up and eagerly waited to share Sammy’s inagural 4th of July. Sammy of course is wanting to do fireworks all day Friday and we keep having to remind him that we have to wait for it to get dark. As soon as darkness falls the booming begins. We load up our fireworks and head to the launch site and as we step out the door the street is lined with neighbors and their kids lighting off fireworks. Overhead are huge explosions just showering us with color and we ooh and ahh all the way to the launch site. It does not take a long time for us to light off our fireworks and we were quickly drawn through the park to a fireworks display that puts to shame anything I have ever seen in Phoenix. What awaited us was nothing like I have ever seen before, truly America and family at its best. 

Neighbors lined the streets with their lawn chairs while parent’s and their children flooded into the streets to light off fireworks together. Nothing brings a smile to my face like a six year old pulling a firework out of their pocket and lighting it off. We sat down in the park and enjoyed a show for over 30 minutes. As we left the neighborhood we were invited a few times to take a seat and enjoy the show with absolute strangers.

Of course it was one of the only times I have been caught without my camera and I should know my lesson by now but hopefully my description can help you imagine the experience that we had. We are already planning for next year and are realizing that we will have to start saving money a few months in advance to get some really great fireworks and we can not wait to enjoy another Washington 4th of July.