4th of July - Kansas style

Can you believe the 4th of July was a whole week ago?  It seems like much longer.  Well, anyways, today I'm recapping our 4th festivities except we celebrated on the 3rd since we were crisscrossing the skies on our way home from Kansas on the actual holiday.

First off, purchasing and shooting off your own fireworks in Kansas is legal. Growing-up in wildfire conscious Colorado, the only fireworks I was familiar with handling were snakes and sparklers.  But in Kansas, I was exposed to a whole new world.

There are firework stands in nearly every town...or several in the larger towns.  The stand in Dan's parent's town was called Streeters which I thought was pretty cute.

I picked based on color and interest so naturally I gravitated towards the "Chick Stick" and the "Poopy Puppy."

I also selected snakes and sparklers, because I knew what those were, and a few other interesting ones.  Dan got a bunch of Roman candles and big ones that terrified me. I prefer ones that are silent and colorful, like smoke bombs.

We set some off, just the two of us, a couple of nights and Dan took some plastic dinosaurs and old matchbox cars and tried to blow them up.  Such as boy.

Then on Sunday the third, after church, we headed to Dan's grandma's house where the real celebration was happening.  Of course there was copious amounts of yummy food including this jello poke cake that Aunt Judy made and I helped her decorate.

We visited with family, played corn hole, and shot-off some of the fireworks that didn't need a dark sky.  The cute little cousins especially loved the colored smoke sticks too.  I mean, isn't that pink smoke awesome?

One of Dan's uncles made army tanks out of cardboard containers and the guys set-up a little scene and blasted them up. I didn't participate because they were using those tiny little red firecrackers that do nothing but make excessively loud explosive noises.

It rained on and off all weekend and there was some concern it wouldn't stop.  But it cleared after dark and Dan and some of his cousins went out to the street and put on the show.  The kids (and me) would pick from the huge haul of fireworks on the porch and the guys would set them off while everyone watched.  It was pretty awesome.  Unfortunately my phone wasn't taking great photos in the dark so you'll just have to believe me. They were like professional fireworks in your front yard.

We had a really great time and it was super fun for me to experience a Kansas-style 4th of July with the family.  Maybe they'll still be doing it by the time we have kids?  I would definitely travel halfway across the country with small children so they could experience that fun.