The Lakeside Firweworks Post

Last night I was invited over to Kim and Monica’s for their annual 4^th of July party. Had a lot of fun hanging out with them and the extended Wolfgang family poolside eating and drinking well. Once the sun went down it was explosion time, and Monica had us covered. She needed help wheel barrowing her resent horsed of fireworks out to the launch pad. If it blows up and makes noise it was in her pile. I had never seen so many fireworks at a private house. They live on an oval lake that has 30 or so houses around it. We hopped over their back fence and down towards the water to launch our fireworks, as did the rest of the neighbor hood. It was really impressive to see some of the displays everyone was putting on. It was almost like a communal fireworks showdown with the neighbors. Fun stuff. I’m biased but I think we had the best of the bunch. Arnold, Monica and I where taking turns setting stuff off then running for cover. We only had a few miss fires, one of which spiraled to about 5 feet away from Arnold and I and showered us with sparks, which was a lot closer than I’d have liked. We also had one box explode on the pad and send pieces sideways allover the place. Gave off quite a bang that actually blew my sleeves back. We finished up with ‘The Beast’ which was extremely impressive. After the show was over Monica gave me this years Phantom Fireworks T-shirt (she gets one every year because she is a vip customer and gives it to someone in attendance). Hung out at the house some more rocking my new uniform and lost horribly to Arnold in a few rounds of pool. I was given a huge to-go-bag on my way out too. As I write this I am chowing down on a heaping plate of backed beans, cheeseburgers and Monica’s famous BBQ chicken. I’m spoiled. Happy Fourth!

The 2008 Post

First positing of ‘08! Happy New Year to everyone. I hope that last year was a good one, and that this one is even better. Sarah and I celebrated with Bruce and Stacey at Mark’s house last night which was nice. We met up beforehand at BJ’s Brewhouse for some (always) excellent food then headed out to the Orlando outskirts where Mark lives. Mark’s house is on a hill (which is a geographical rarity in Florida) that overlooks most of Orlando. We could see all the fireworks going over during the evening at the various theme parks. The most impressive of which where the 12:00 Disney ones by far. Though some of the fireworks Mark was setting off in the back yard where pretty impressive and where definitely the best at-home displays I’ve ever seen. Besides explosives the evening included a five-year-old running headfirst into a closed, sliding-glass door, as well as an out of control pallet fire in the groves next to Mark’s house. So entertaining to say the least.

After toasting in the New Year we headed off to Cricketer’s Arms to attempt to fill Stacey’s need for some Scotch Eggs. Arriving at 1:30 we weren’t all that surprised to find the kitchen closed. But the bar was still bustling and a lot of fun. Had a good laugh with Phil (the owner), that he won’t remember in the morning, and had a nice cap on a fun evening out. Bruce and Stacey are loads of fun, and I know Sarah had a good time.

The Fireworks Post

Last night I met up with the Godzik’s at CityWalk to catch a movie and watch the Universal fireworks display. All the parks go to town for their Independence Day firework displays so you really can’t go wrong if you head to either or. But CityWalk doesn’t require park access, has a movie theater (I was itching for some Transformers) and is right next to the Hard Rock Hotel, which is where we headed to kill time before the big show. Spent dsome time throwing some air-hockey matches to Bruce’s kids in the arcade, had some really good crab cakes at The Kitchen, and the mosied back to the Universal gate to catch the show. The fireworks were pretty impressive. The sheer volume of explosions and colors in the short time span the show ran for was really impressive. Short, but sweet is definitely how I’d describe it. I caught the last few seconds with my camera which you can check out below. Leaving the area was INSANE. There were over 30,000 people surging towards the exits after the last bang, and it was almost scary how packed it got. You could have body-surfed all the way from the JP ride in the back of Islands of Adventure right to your car door… it was nuts. And traffic was abysmal leaving, as you’d expect. I actually stayed back and spent some more time on the strip while the lemmings marched out. Still had to wait my fair share in the parking deck but it would have been ten times the wait had I left with the masses.