4th of July Fireworks extravaganza recap

Well, I hope that everyone had as much fun on the 4th of July as we did. Earlier in the week it was decided that we would go over to my Great Uncle Richard's lake houses on Mason Lake over in Western Washington. He and his wife Dorothy are two of the most generous people that you could ever hope to meet, and love to share whatever they can with pretty much whoever they can.

So with that being said, you can only imagine all that we had this weekend. First we will start off with the great lake we were on. Even though it didn't break 70 the whole time we were there, the water was very warm. And where their two lake houses sit you have the best view of the lake.

Richard and Dorothy provided all the food and drinks. You would wake up in the morning, and would be greeted by pancakes, french toast, yogurt, donuts, bagels, fruits, toast, juice, and milk. They even had lunch covered with sandwiches, bags of chips, and whatever kind of soda you wanted. And Dinner was more of the same with pulled pork, pulled beef, and all of the side dishes to go with it.

So it was a great 4th of July. I am so glad that the Sorenson clan (Too bad Courtney and Kelly had to work, they were missed all weekend.) decided to make the 5 hour trek over. I can't wait until 3 years from now when it will be our side of the family's turn to go again. It was truly a 4th to be remembered

Oh wait! I left out one eensy weensy tiny detail...we also had fireworks. Actually, let me rephrase that. We had the hugest frickin' home firework display EVER!!! It was incredible. You know the fireworks shows that they put on over at Gesa Field in Pasco, and the River of Fire Festival in Columbia Park in Kennewick. Well sir, they had nothing on the show I was able to witness over Mason Lake. All up and down the lake, people were lighting off their best fountains and mortars. Of course though, the best ones came from where I was sitting.

So my blog readers, for your viewing pleasure I took pictures of some of the fun little boxes that we got to see blow up. And I must say it was very impressive.

Here goes.

First of all, how many of you out there have heard of a sparkler bomb? I had no idea what all the very excited teenagers were talking about, but I soon found out. You take sparklers, duct tape them together, stick a fuse in the middle, light it, and stand VERY far away. These come in all sizes. The boys decided to try the ever popular 288 sparkler bomb. Yes, that is right 288 sparklers all taped up together. And being the teenage boys that they are, they taped the explosion. So here is the first taste gun powder magic that I was able to savor. Good thing we got there when we did Thursday night, or we might have missed it.

Amazing what has always been thought of as a kids firework can do when they work together huh? And like Mike said in the comments of this blog, they used two cinder blocks to hold this baby in place. And after it went off, well, lets just say there wasn't too much left of either of them. In fact, one peice went through a window of a house 3 doors down. I guess the guy was kind of upset about that, but at the same time wanted to make sure that it wasn't going to stop Richard from putting on the fireworks show the next night.

Now its time to show you what was in store for the show on the 4th. Every one of these are pretty impressive. And powerful. Good thing Dorothy has a brother in law who is like a pyro technician or something to that effect.

First up is Blonde Joke. None of the girls on the box got it though.

Next up we have Oktoberfest...who says Mormons can't celebrate this holiday? 36 shots of fireworks goodness!

Major Riot. Indeed.

Here we have the Wicked Wednesday. How powerful is one of these bad boys? I think anything labeled "500 gram series" has to pack a serious punch!The Unbelievable. And what a cool company name. How awesome would any guy feel being able to hand out a business card saying he works for Pyro King? I am willing to bet even a few ladies out there wouldn't mind either. I know this is called the Firefly, but I think the name goomba is more appropriate.

With a name like Heavy Metal, this one has to be good!

Did anyone out there in blog land even know that they make a 300 shot Saturn Missile? And I thought the 100 shot ones were cool. I was so wrong!

Who needs to go through all the hassle of being a rock star when you can just light off one of these. Did I mention how cool it would be to work for these guys?

This one was my favorite. I love how on a package marked Hydrogen Bomb you have two little stars smiling away, without a care in the world.

And here you have all of them wired together for a great show!

As you can see, we had a great show to watch. Sure we were rained down on with shrapnel from these bad boys from time to time, but it was all worth it.

There was just one more piece to the night, and although I did not go with the people who watched it firsthand (Hey, I have a job to protect after all. I didn't feel like getting arrested.) through the power of you tube I was able to see it, and so can all of you. I didn't get a picture of this "firework" but I was told what it was made of. One part Quaker Oats can. Many parts mortar shells opened and dumped inside, duct tape, and a very VERY long fuse!

So there you have it, the fireworks of the Brinkerhoff Family 4th of July, 2008. If you want to see other pics of the goings on, you might want to check out these blogs here, maybe here, and here. If they don't have stuff up tonight, they will tomorrow!

I hope that you all had as good as time as we did. Long live the U.S.A!