The 4th was a lot of fun. We rode a Ferris Wheel - I was pretty much terrified throughout - and we had overpriced hot dogs and overpriced water.

Also - the headlining entertainer for the night? (I kid you not) Was MC Hammer.

MC HAMMER!!!

We didn't watch him, but we listened to him from the side of the stage. And he still seems to be all that and a bag of chips. (mmm. chips.) I remember seeing him on The Surreal Life and thinking, "well, there goes his career. We'll never hear from him again."
But here he was, back on stage and jamming out the hits.

Apparently, he is too legit to quit.

Finally the fireworks began, and they had the letter-ized fireworks again! Yay!!(They'd had them 2 years back, then discontinued them last year, and it just sucked. Bringing them back was a vast improvement)
There were also these new-fangled ones that had three different "explosions" in them, where every few seconds the main burst would split into several smaller ones, and then those would split, and then once more. And the splitting ones either made noise, or they were shooting off noise makers at the same time. Regardless, it was pretty damn cool.

This was the first year that Harper actually enjoyed the fireworks. The year before she liked them for the first few seconds, then got bored. And Saren really enjoyed them. At one point the music playing was very orchestrachial. Saren commented, "This sounds like Harry Potter."

Once we got home, I watched Escape from the Planet of the Apes, and the local fireworks were the soundtrack through the night. It was a good day.

Now I'm back at work. Bleah.