4th of July

We spent the 4th of July weekend at home with nothing special planned. On the evening of the 3rd, we decided to do some "baby" fireworks at our house. We sat outside in the alley next to our house and started the show. This was Gwen's first time doing fireworks. She was really exicited. She and Joe lit sparklers and were having a good time, until Gwen turned toward Joe with it and burned his hand. He reacted, and said "No Gwen! Daddy has owie." The she realized that they could hurt. Following that we lit a really big firework on accident, and it banged and popped a few inches from our lawn chairs, causing everyone to react with surprise. At that point, Gwen was scared and didn't want to see anymore "fire." When we tried to get her to do some more, she started crying and getting upset. The following night, Joe and I took her out on the rhino to a canal bank by my mom's house to see the big firework show, and she was scared of the same thing. She actually turned her head away, said "No fire, Mommy," and cuddled up to me and went to sleep in my arms. She never does that! So fireworks weren't a big hit this time, but we have more left, so we might be able to coax a better reaction from her if we don't burn ourselves or threaten our own safety.