Fourth of July ... fun?

For the fourth of July we joined my friend, Rebecca, and her family for a picnic at Rebecca's aunt's house. Her aunt lives in a very well-to-do neighborhood and has a beautiful house. Sierra had a blast with all the kids and their toys! Then, as it got darker, the folks in the neighborhood started lighting fireworks. I explained to Sierra they would be loud, but she was still pretty startled when the first whistler one went off. She wouldn't take her hands off her ears. She ran to the back yard a couple times, but Rebecca or I would get her to come back out to the front. She braved it for a minute and even decided to try and hold a sparkler. So, Rebecca tried to give her one (bottom 2 photos) and she totally flipped out! She wiggled between Rebecca's legs and ran off, fast!

I caught up with her, she had gone inside. Rebecca's dad said she came in breathless, saying something like "it was too close, too close!" She told me she was done with the fireworks and I believed her. She allowed me to go back outside without her. Twenty minutes later I decided to go check on her and I went inside to find no one was there. Then I heard a muffled.."mommy! Mommy!" Sierra was locked out on the back porch! She was soooo freaked out, she was bawling, tears streaming down her face... she had a seizure...once that was under control she was crying and saying, "they all left me." I can only assume she went out there without anyone seeing her and when they came out the front they locked the back door. Anyway, after that we left.

On the way home she said she liked the fireworks and that she had a good time. We watched more fireworks, in the car, as we made our way home. Then we watched them from the backyard until Sierra proclaimed, "I'm tired, time for bed."

Next year, we're going to just watch them from the backyard!