Tuesday, July 5, 2011

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.

25 comments:

  1. Gorgeous post. I loved every bit of it!

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  2. I adore fireworks. :) Lovely pictures- my camera never takes good fireworks pictures!

    There's something magical about sitting on a blanket on the ground on a hot summer night and watching fireworks. This year we went to a new display (the one we usually go to was canceled). It was really good, but not as fun as usual since it was super crowded and we ended up standing up on a wet deck to watch them.

    ~Kristin

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  3. YOu've got some amazing firework shots, but I really love the first shot for some reason. I can feel you moving.

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  4. loving this set of pics, thanks for sharing.

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  5. Awesome photos Polka Dot! :) Sounds like you had a great 4th of July!

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  6. Great pictures. My forth was pretty good too.

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  7. Love this post and the pictures! I especially love the pictures of all the people watching the fireworks. So neat :)

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  8. I've never really liked fireworks either. We went to the Oregon City ones when Joshua was a baby...boy were they the lamest ever! There were like three big ones and then the Grand Finale which lasted 10 seconds and that was about it. I don't like feeling like I'm being herded around with a bunch of other people just to stare at some lights in the sky. But your experience sounds like it was great! Maybe we'll have to hang out with John and Johanna some year... :-)

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  9. Beautiful post, as always. Great photos. Firework photography is really difficult! It sounds like you have a great big, warm, and loving family (Even if most of them are in Poland!) so nice :)

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  10. I saw my first shooting star the other night :) It was pretty amazing...

    I love the photos!

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  11. Looks like you had a great time, beautiful!! Nice shots of the fireworks!

    ::hugs::

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  12. For what it's worth and for your first time photographing fireworks, you did a pretty swell job! Happy fourth to you too!

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  13. Your nieces are adorable, the fireworks are gorgeous (I've always been a big fan of "fire bubbles" as we tend to call them), and it looks like a wonderful memories made. Thank you for sharing, Polka Dot dear!

    Love & Blessings,
    Näna

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  14. sounds like you had waaayyy too much fun. :) thanks for sharing the photos!!

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  15. Ah I loved this post! Your photo's are amazing! Being English I don't celebrate Independence day but it looked like you had fun!
    I love your blog!
    Iris xox

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  16. Sounds and looks like a fun time!!! My Dad's birthday is the 4th so we've always had quite the shin dig every year!

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  17. What kind of camera do you have? Mine totally fails at fire works :(

    God Bless,
    Chris

    Hellomynameischris1.blogspot.com

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  18. The wiggly kind are my favorites, too. :) Those and the after-shock-sparkly ones.
    Pretty much the best day ever, I would agree.

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  19. looks like a fun night! Cool firework shots!

    ~Charis H

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  20. Hey again! Just wonderin' how you get your blog post title in the 'middle'... or does it just happen to be that way? I've been trying to figure how to do that with my post titles, but can't figure it out. :P Just wondering if you knew!

    thanks so much!
    --acacia

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  21. Hey again! Just wonderin' how you get your blog post title in the 'middle'... or does it just happen to be that way? I've been trying to figure how to do that with my post titles, but can't figure it out. :P Just wondering if you knew!

    thanks so much!
    --acacia

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  22. whoops -- sorry... don't know how I posted two of the same comments.

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