own the night

It was a good, good Independence Day. It started out with a long, sunny, blurry drive through country that I'm in love with.

{the following three pictures taken by Johanna}

We had our annual mama's-side-of-the-family reunion, which was odd, since most of our family wasn't there, since they're in Poland. 

It was hot, there were lots of babies, there were great-great-uncles to tease them, and we ate cold fried chicken.

I sat very lazily in the sun, comforted my terrorized-by-Lacy-the-dog niece, and watched my cousins whack birdies around and laugh and get hot.

My oldest brother Daniel, with his two daughters. By the way--they're expecting again! : )

Brother-in-law John (I'm staying at their house).

We came home groggy and watched Tangled. At the suggestion, Katie squealed and said "my special movie!!"
 

Then we went to the small-town fireworks display nearby, where we drank milkshakes and ate life-giving elephant ears and waited for the after effects of the gloriously hot day to fade so that the fireworks could get started.

I've never been a "fireworks are fabulous" person, but that's partly because I've never really been to an actual display. I've never been crazy about the ones you light with trepidation on your patio and have to cover your ears because why in the world do the stupid things have to shriek like a banshee, anyways?

This year, that didn't happen, and I loved going to an official display, where you don't have to stress out about making the fireworks happen, plus they are just way more awesome.

I've never taken pictures of any kind of fireworks, so that was interesting to mess around with. Scrambling around in the dark and switching lenses and losing lens caps and crawling on the ground with a white skirt... yeah. Like I said, interesting. 

Basically, I really like fireworks. : ) I love the little wiggly lights that shoot up into the air and finally burst out, happy and glorious.

  Partway through someone behind us turned on "Firework" by Katy Perry. There's reasons I don't whole-heartedly adore that song, but it was an undeniably awesome moment.

 
"do you know there's still a chance for you,
cause there's a spark in you.


you just gotta ignite the light,
and let it shine,
just own the night
like the fourth of july."

Firework bokeh. ♥

The day ended perfectly with a sleepover with Beka on the trampoline, talking for hours and watching the most star-spattered sky I have ever seen. A whole lotta wishing went on last night--we saw no less than twenty shooting stars.