4th of July Extravaganza....

So... in case you haven't noticed before, I'm not a big fan of the state of Iowa. There are many, many reasons why I have this negative attitude about this state, but I'll not bore you today with my rantings and ravings. I'll just tell you about the one that effects us most today.

Iowa is one of those states that has a ban on firework sales. You know what you can buy here to celebrate the 4th? Snap-pops, sparklers, and snakes. Let me repeat... snap-pops, sparklers, and snakes.

I'm not sure what kind of celebrations many of you have on the 4th, but where I'm from it includes lots of family, lots of food, and LOTS of booms and pretties. You really get a lot of booms and pretties from snap-pops, sparklers, and snakes.

Pair this lack of excitement with the fact that the only place that puts on a fireworks display near us is the Boone racetrack, which you have to pay $25 a person to get into, it's a pretty lame place to be for the 4th. The display at the track is also very lame in itself. They don't shoot them very high, probably so that people who aren't in the track (i.e. didn't pay money) can't get a *good* show, and also because the show itself is not very well choreographed.

So I thought I'd take the time to show you a bit of how we celebrated America's Independence here at our house, in the lame state of Iowa.