Memorial Day Fireworks

Memorial Day weekend has come and gone, so summer has officially kicked off. I can’t believe it’s June already (although officially, it’s not June for another 24.5 hours). My cousin Andrea is visiting from Germany with her 12 year-old daughter Annkathrin. They both wanted to go to Disneyland and were prepared to drive down to LA by themselves before Sonya and Karsyn graciously volunteered to go with them and play host.

Sounds like they hit Hollywood, complete with a visit to the Hollywood Walk-of-Fame and Mann’s Chinese Theater, Disneyland and Universal Studios. We didn’t have a car big enough to accommodate six people so Ryan and I got to stay behind.

We did a little lounging on Sunday and watched racing all day. The Indy 500 in the morning and the Pepsi 600 in the afternoon. Yes, we watched all 1100 miles. We did a little grocery shopping and a load of laundry just to make it feel like we accomplished something!

"Oakland COliseum"

By Monday, I was convinced that I had wasted a perfectly good three-day weekend without doing anything fun (although yes, I do consider watching cars racing each other fun), so I decided to take Ryan to the A’s game.

I tried calling a few people to see if they wanted to tag along, but everyone was busy. My sister didn’t even bother to return my calls, which drives me absolutely ape shit, but what could I do.

The A’s were also putting on a fireworks display after the game, so I figured Ryan would enjoy it.

So, we left the house at 4pm for the 6pm start with hopes of landing a decent pair of tickets from a scalper. If dogs are “chick magnets” then two-year-olds are great ticket magnets. I was walking around the parking lot at the Coliseum for 5 minutes with Ryan in tow when I came upon a family that was about to walk into the ballpark. I asked if they had a pair of extra tickets that they were selling. Low and behold, a single seat right behind home plate in the lower deck for $20.

"Oakland COliseum"

We were early enough to checkout batting practice, so Ryan got to see that for the first time. He was impressed, let me tell you. The uncanny thing about Ryan is that he can sit through an entire 3 hour sporting event and not give me any grief. It’s incredible. He sat and enjoyed the game, gabbing the whole time.

I had told him about the fireworks, so every third questions was, “where fireworks coming?”, as he pointed above the outfield bleachers. “Right there,” I would say. This was usually followed by an “Oh!”, as if I was telling him for the first time.

Either this kid is really excited about fireworks, or he has the short term memory of a turnip.

Anyhow, the A’s stank it up and lost 6-4 to the lowly Kansas City Royals, but we still had the pyrotechnic show in store. After waiting 40 minutes for the Coliseum staff t clear out the bleachers and get some folks down on the field, the show began.

"Oakland COliseum"

With the little guy sitting on my lap for the show, the first set of blasts went off. I could fell him wriggling with discomfort as the shockwaves of the initial blasts caught him a bit off guard. By the time the fifth or sixth firework had detonated, he was a blabbering mess. Loud fireworks scare the crap out of two year olds. I learned this lesson with Karsyn, but apparently I have the long term memory of a turnip.

Within three minutes, we were scrambling for the exits, Ryan crying all the way to the main gate. By the time we made it to the car and got buckled in, the show was over. He seemed to enjoy the last few shots from a distance, but it was late and we had a jump on the 30,000 people that stayed for the show.

Headed for home and he was fast asleep by the time we got to the San Mateo Bridge.


The one firework I was
able to photograph