My Half Birthday

When I was a little kid I'd always joke around that I was the only one who had their half-birthday celebrated with fireworks (along with all the January 4'ers out there). It was cool. And I always followed it with a plea for half of my normal allotment of presents. I tried again this year and was swiftly denied. I think I'm now 0 for 18.

Anyways, I've always loved the 4th of July. It's one of my favorite holidays for two reasons: 4th of July parades and fireworks. I love them because they are so timeless. It's not like easter egg hunting and trick-or-treating, favorite pastimes that become less cool and fun as you get older (unless you're me). Of course, now that I think of it, I do appreciate those kinds of things that are usually for the younger audience. After all, one of my favorite moves is A Goofy Movie. Does anyone else enjoy these holiday traditions as much as I do?

I went to my first 4th of July in Mason. It's weird to me that I've never been around for the holiday. It was quite the experience. Practially the whole town comes out for the parade, which is ingredient #1 for a great 4th of July parade (for the record, Northville has a GREAT parade). I loved it. Some of the highlights:

• About 92% of the entries were tractors
  
• I received my own mini flag to wave around from a Colonel
  
• Several "USA USA" chants
• A decent collection of Starbursts and Watermelon Dum Dum suckers, which are infinitely better than the parade staples (Tootsie rolls, Now N Laters, and Super Bubble). I did bring home a lot of those too

One of my favorite games to play while watching fireworks (well, the only game I've played) is to name the fireworks. My favorites are (see if you can picture these fireworks; they're classics):

• Paparazzi (the one with all the flashes of light with no sound)
  
• Gettysburg (flashes of light with sound)
• Death Star (any huge firework, kind of the like the one I posted)
• Weeping Willow (self-explanatory)

I tried to take pictures of the fireworks with my phone, but as usual when taking pictures of fireworks, they didn't turn out. Here's a decent one