July 4th Fireworks...

The Garners decided to go see the Columbia fireworks on Saturday night. G was so excited about seeing the fireworks this year. Last year she was deathly afraid of them. This year it has been wonderful to see everything through her eyes and watch her enjoy the whole July 4th experience.

The Columbia fireworks are set off across from the Columbia Mall, so we went to the top of one of the garages located at the mall. When we got to the top level, there was still plenty of room to find a spot to park. People were tailgating all over. We had brought a few "Pop Its" to play with while we waited and shared them with the kids around us. We made our way to the edge of the garage to watch the fireworks and G met two little friends to enjoy the show. It was neat watching them be excited and share it together even though they just met.

The only bad part of all this, we sat on top of the garage after the fireworks were over for almost two hours. Traffic was not budging. The parking lot around us looked like it was Christmas with all the cars. Since we were in a garage, there was no bathroom and guess who needed to go? Yep, Georgia. Bless her little heart! Enough people had left early that we were able to move the car to a corner and block her off. I think I need to see about a travel potty for moments like this. As we sat around for two hours, we had to suffer the wonderful smells of PF Chang. I am now in need of some Chang or Pei Wei, which is owned by PF Chang and serves most of their menu. It just has faster service.

Next year, I think G might be able to handle the crowd and craziness of the DC fireworks. If not, we will need a better game plan to handle the Columbia fireworks.