Happy Fourth of July!

Mr. F and I stayed up passed midnight (this is highly unusual for us) playing Rock Band with Nichole. It was awesome. Before I get some shut eye, I just wanted to wish you all a HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! [P.S. If you like these patriotic balloons, you can find them and more at BalloonManiacs.com!]

When we wake up, we're planning on getting some barbecue items together, getting a run in around Lake Union, and meeting up with friends to watch the fireworks! There's a neat Seattle Times video that shows how amazing the fireworks preparation is on Lake Union and the story behind the funding this year! I also had no idea that "Time magazine has called the Family 4th at Lake Union one of the Top Five fireworks displays in the country"! [The following photos are from the fireworks display above Gasworks Park on Lake Union last year, taken by my pal, Janelle.]

 There's also more cool fireworks facts on family4th.org:

*How high up a firework will fly depends on its size. The spherical shells used in the Family 4th at Lake Union range from three inches in diameter (roughly the size of a baseball) to 10 inches (slightly smaller than a basketball). A simple rule of thumb in calculating how high a firework will ascend before it explodes is 100 feet of altitude for every inch of shell diameter, so a 10-inch shell explodes 1,000 feet in the air.

*The easiest color to produce in pyrotechnics is thought to be gold—a straight mixture of charcoal and black powder. In fact, gold coloring was the first visual effect fireworks ever had. However, gold can also be one of the hardest colors to perfect.

*What makes the weeping willow effect in a firework? Charcoal burns longer than explosive black powder's other ingredients. It is bits of charcoal—like the glowing embers in your barbecue - that drift slowly down to create the weeping willow effect.

Last year the fireworks were phenomenal in my parents backyard, this is my Dad falling asleep even though the fireworks were loud enough to set car alarms off. It was way past his bed time!

What are you doing to celebrate Independence Day?