July the 4th memories

[Road Runner]

I remember going to my aunt and uncle's house in D.C. on a family get together when I was in my early teens.  They had color TV.  It was the first time I ever saw color TV in someone's house.  I remember that a baseball game was on and it looked great compared to B&W. 

A silly memory?  What can I say..., I was a child of the TV generation!    

[Page Turner]

...every summer we visited my Bubbie in Coney Island and they shot off ginormous fireworks down on barges right off the boardwalk every Tuesday and Thursday, all summer long.  You could see them from just about anywhere in Coney Island.  The best and biggest show was always the one on the 4th. That, and the massive gridlock that paralyzed D.C. on the night of the Bicentennial fireworks show down on the mall (July 4th, 1976) . That one was epic.  

[Kirby]

I remember being a little kid up in the Catskills during the summer and we'd have those little sparklers.  We'd wait until it was dark and then run around the yard with our sparklers.  Things were pretty quiet up there, so that would be a real highlight!

[Scrapr ★]

Just was reminded that my Uncle was born on the 4th of July.(not Tom Cruise) So we would go over some & run around with sparklers and eat BBQ

He was the "fun" Uncle

[ChrisL]

My favorite memory is 4th of July 1985 getting absolutely destroyed by a 300 lb drunk Samoan woman.  Took 5 MPs to subdue her and as my partner & I were the first to make contact we got the worst of the beating.  

The MP who came to save us cracked her in the back of the head with his baton, sounded like a home run shot...  She let go of my partner and I, turned and came after him. Didn’t freaking phase her...

Worst fight of my life...

[petitepedal ★]

Small town..always something on the grill..won prizes for costumes at the parade..sometimes we went to 2 parades..there was a night parade 1 town over...floats..we made a couple of awesome floats..a dragon..that puffed smoke, snoopy & his dog house and a clipper ship and the Boston tea party...much fun. Some fireworks..but not every year....

[groupw]

Fireworks are not allowed in the Black Hills where my grandparents lived. But we could look got them at our aunt’s on the other side of the river. We would light a few then go up to Custer for the display done by the VFD. It was and still is quite a nice job. They percussion fireworks would echo forever off the mountains! We would sit on a blanket with another one around us as we sat with our cousins on the hood of Dad’s or my uncle’s car. 

We got to relive that 8 years ago for aunt and uncle’s 50th Anniversary. Our kids were with us to pass on the memory to them. It was a great time!

[Wilbur ★]

I have no 4th of July memories..   

[Kzoo]

July 3rd was my mom's birthday.  July 7th is my oldest sister's birthday.  We would always get together at my aunt's house for a picnic to celebrate the 4th and a couple birthdays.  It was always us (mom, dad and the 4 of us kids), Aunt an uncle and their 7 kids and a good friend of my aunt and their 2 kids (we only ever saw then on the 4th).  They had a huge back yard so there were always lots of games and the men and a couple older cousins playing horseshoes.  Mom would split a couple beers with someone and there would be birthday cake.  I remember vividly the year that Cousin Minnie got a Jart (lawn dart) stuck in the side of her head.  The 3 women there (mom, aunt , and her friend) were all nurses - there was no trip to the ER.

I don't remember going to fireworks on the 4th ever.  We saw them for some other occasions. 

[TrentonMakes]

I only remember going to see fireworks once when we were kids - I might have been 12 or so.  My mom was sick so my dad took my brother and I to the place where he worked, a pharmaceutical company on the top of a hill right across the river from Albany - great view of both the skyline and the fireworks.  Not long afterward security became a real issue at those places and that was the last time we watched fireworks there - but it's a nice memory.

When my wife and I were dating I had my college buddies spend the long July 4 weekend at my apartment.  A night of mixing margaritas in pint glasses left me in bad shape and apparently I made an ass of myself.  My [now] wife left and I didn't notice - spent a few days in the virtual doghouse..... that's not such a great memory.  But I've gotten back to the point where I can enjoy margaritas in her presence again.