Culdesac 4th of July Extravaganzaaaaaaaaa!

I pictured a down home cookout filled with family and friends.  I pictured eating outside and kids splashing in the pool all afternoon and into the evening, where we would then have a small fireworks show in the culdesac.

Well, it kinda happened...:)

We did eat- a LOT.  I have to give everyone credit- my friends are awesome foodies, and the men fired the grills with mucho gusto.

And the kids played in the pool.  Yeah, we were a little weary of the fact that the recent flood-worthy rains had been washing away the sand under the pool, throwing it a bit off balance, but it really wasn't all that bad.  Well, until the kids had been in it a while, and during dinner we noticed that the metal frame of the pool was starting to actually lift off the ground on one side, and the white vinyl of the bottom of the pool was exposed.

Then there were the 3 or 4 streams of water that sprouted from the exposed bottom side.

And finally, worthy of any America's Funniest Video prize-winner, the seam at the bottom of the pool ripped wide open, letting loose a tidal wave of I don't know how many gallons of water, but enough to cover half the yard and strike fear into the baby's eyes who was unfortunately stuck in a pack-n-play in the middle of the rush.

Amidst the chaos, as most everyone stood  open mouthed at the catastrophe, Brandon had the sense to rescue the baby, and Bryan and some other dads thought to unplug the fan and move the bouncehouse out of the now very very soggy yard.  Porter stood at the top of the swingset, bawling at the top of his lungs (not scared, just upset at the loss of his pool!).  Mike sprinted home to get his skimboard to use on the new riverulet between our house and the Larsens'.  The kids played in the mud and eventually got back into the pool, which was still standing, leaning a lot less, and contained enough water to splash around in ankle deep.

And nobody had a camera out.  There goes our AFV prize money.  Angelle did get some after shots, though:

The rest of the evening progressed as planned...kids were dried off, desserts were eaten, and fireworks were lit.  Bryan and Mike put on a good show in the road, and we could also see the city's display over the hill in the distance.

Oh, and then Mike threw the remnents of the fireworks away, neglecting to make sure that they were all detonated and cold.  Leslie noticed a smoke smell in the air, Angelle and I blew it off as leftovers of the local displays...and then our trashcan exploded.

No one was hurt, and surprisingly, none of the littles were woken up.  Lesson learned:  douse the firework remains before trashing them.  Oh, and NEVER ignore a leaning pool.