Our Little Family's Low-Key 4th of July

July 4th, 2010 was my first Independence Day away from home.  I usually spend my birthday and the evening of fireworks with my family in Florida, so this was a first to try to plan our activities in another city.  Houston is known for hosting the largest land-based fireworks display in the country at their "Freedom Over Texas" festival every year.  This year, the big draw was a live concert by Pat Green, one of Garrett's favorite country music artists.  Although the festival sounded like a ton of fun, we decided it would probably not be the best place for our little toddler.  Throngs of drunk people sweating everywhere...  Yeah, not so much.  Garrett complained a bit about not being able to party like a rock star anymore, but he was a pretty good sport.

In the end, we opted for a low-key 4th celebration in our neighborhood.  Hearthstone Country Club hosts an annual Independence Day celebration at the clubhouse, open to all residents, with barbeque at 7:00pm and a fireworks show on the driving range around 8:30 or 9:00pm.  Unfortunately, the club never updated their website with the specific information for the night, so we missed the barbeque.  However, we did arrive in plenty of time to set up our camping chairs and blanket on the driving range just as dusk was setting in.

The weather was surprisingly comfortable for July in Houston, with a constant breeze in the air and just a bit of humidity.  We listened to the live music playing in the club's outdoor pavilion and Samara snacked on freeze-dried fruit bites and danced along.  The fireworks started when the sky blackened, and we were pleasantly surprised with quite an impressive fireworks show for just a neighborhood celebration.  Samara was a bit startled at first by the loud booms, but no tears - just a few minutes of quiet contemplation.  It didn't take her long before she decided the fireworks were pretty cool, and she asserted her independence by hopping off our laps and sitting alone on her blanket to watch the remainder of the show.  She pointed, clapped, and squealed with excitement as the colors exploded in the sky, and kept turning around to look at Mommy and Daddy, pointing at the fireworks as if to say, "Are you seeing this???"

It was a great family evening, and just the first taste of many more to come.

Here is the slideshow of pictures and video from our low-key 4th of July.  Hope yours was as great as ours!