Oooohhh... ahhhhhhh

Highlights from the inaugural Cameron Fireworks Spectacular,

brought to you by The Cameron Brothers.

Never before have I seen two adult males so giddy with anticipation as Jeff and his brother James last week. When we stopped by James and Jenny's house mid-week, the two of them retreated to the garage to gaze upon the vast pyrotechnic paraphernalia. I'm sure there was giggling involved.

When Jeff and Tyler went over Friday afternoon to help with some party prep, the anticipation was too much and they lit a couple of things. From what I was told, the explosion was so loud and unanticipated, they nearly peed themselves laughing.

Friday night arrived, and it might just as well have been Christmas morning for them. They spent the better part of two hours in the garage preparing the great display. They lit the first fuse at 10pm -- family and friends (and random neighbors) were dazzled beyond belief for nearly an hour.

But... you know all those big-money fireworks displays you see, with explosions creating multi-colored sparkles in the night sky? Know what you DON'T see? The freakin' shredded paper carnage that ends up in the fall-out zone. And Saturday, James and Jenny's house (and their neighbor's!) was the fallout zone. I hadn't realized how much clean up there would be... until hearing about it after the fact. So, a HUGE apology goes out to James and Jenny for our absence in the clean-up process. Next year, we're so there.

And before you get the wrong impression that we're a bunch of midwest rednecks with nothing better to do than set off explosives to celebrate a national holiday (see prior post), let me assure you we're NOT. Extreme safety was priority number one from the first sparkler to the grand finale. It's just that everyone has "their holiday," whether it's going all-out decorating for Christmas or Halloween, cooking at Thanksgiving or hiding more colored Easter eggs than should be allowed by law. The 4th of July just happens to be the Cameron boys' holiday of choice.

And no one can mix it up with educated political debates and explosives like they can.