With hindsight I should have saved some of those chocolate apples for Guy Fawkes Night (and yes it IS Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night, not Fireworks Night, grumble grumble) but never mind. Truth is, actual bonfires seem few and far between these days, something to do with health and safety regulations making it so difficult for people to organise them. It's years since I last was kids sat out side the local shop with a Guy asking for a penny. And it's a shame I think. Although to be honest my lot are probably still a bit young to be out in the cold and damp for that long. Jack would be fine with it, but Tom would whine and Georgie isn't good at staying up late enough to enjoy it. But I would love to take them to a proper bonfire, with a Guy on top, and eat hot-dogs and toffee apples, then watch fireworks before stomping home quick to avoid the inevitable rain and warm up with a hot chocolate before bed.
Anyway, I'm rambling. I wanted to take the kids up to the Castle to see the fireworks display over the weekend, but I was ill all Friday and Saturday so we missed them. Instead, the Hubby bought some to have at home actually on the right night! It's the first time we've had fireworks of our own since the kids have either been too young or we've been away to my Dad's in France at the end of Oct and start of Nov. I was a tad nervous... my Hubby is quite well known to maiming himself in strange and unusual ways, and our garden isn't 8 foot long so the advice on the fireworks to not set them off any closer to the house than that got ignored!
But I will give the man the credit he is due! No one got hurt, nothing got set on fire (although it did almost happen twice when two of the big poppers hit the willow tree - one bounced off the branches back to the lawn and the other shot backwards instead of up and almost set fire to the leaves round the roots! Good job it was backwards and not towards us!). Oh, and one of the rockets just vanished! But the kids and I sat on the back steps and watched with an appreciative "Ooooo!" and "Ahhhhhh!" and even the occasional "Wooooow!"
Then we got the sparklers out. I love sparklers! It's not Guy Fawkes without a sparkler! Georgie got tucked safely inside well away from these though. Jack loved his, but Tom had a meltdown, panicked, started waving it at people in the hope that they would take it off him, almost set fire to me, and then Jack, and then himself! Finally (ok, it was all of 3 seconds, felt like 20 minutes!!) he dropped it in the bucket of water and calmed down. It think it might be a couple of years before we let him try that again!!!
The kids had fun, Hubby feels like a good provider/entertainer for his kids, and I'm thrilled no one got hurt! We've learned a lot though, like Tom is no where near ready for sparklers, and before we try this again we're going to HAVE to cut the willow back a bit and finally get rid of the conifers (that we've planned to shift for years) so that we WILL be able to get the fireworks a minimum of 8 feet away!
Anyway, I'm rambling. I wanted to take the kids up to the Castle to see the fireworks display over the weekend, but I was ill all Friday and Saturday so we missed them. Instead, the Hubby bought some to have at home actually on the right night! It's the first time we've had fireworks of our own since the kids have either been too young or we've been away to my Dad's in France at the end of Oct and start of Nov. I was a tad nervous... my Hubby is quite well known to maiming himself in strange and unusual ways, and our garden isn't 8 foot long so the advice on the fireworks to not set them off any closer to the house than that got ignored!
But I will give the man the credit he is due! No one got hurt, nothing got set on fire (although it did almost happen twice when two of the big poppers hit the willow tree - one bounced off the branches back to the lawn and the other shot backwards instead of up and almost set fire to the leaves round the roots! Good job it was backwards and not towards us!). Oh, and one of the rockets just vanished! But the kids and I sat on the back steps and watched with an appreciative "Ooooo!" and "Ahhhhhh!" and even the occasional "Wooooow!"
Then we got the sparklers out. I love sparklers! It's not Guy Fawkes without a sparkler! Georgie got tucked safely inside well away from these though. Jack loved his, but Tom had a meltdown, panicked, started waving it at people in the hope that they would take it off him, almost set fire to me, and then Jack, and then himself! Finally (ok, it was all of 3 seconds, felt like 20 minutes!!) he dropped it in the bucket of water and calmed down. It think it might be a couple of years before we let him try that again!!!
The kids had fun, Hubby feels like a good provider/entertainer for his kids, and I'm thrilled no one got hurt! We've learned a lot though, like Tom is no where near ready for sparklers, and before we try this again we're going to HAVE to cut the willow back a bit and finally get rid of the conifers (that we've planned to shift for years) so that we WILL be able to get the fireworks a minimum of 8 feet away!
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