Anticipation

Weekend Photo

The 4th of July.  One of my favorite holidays.  I hope someday Steven will share my enthusiasm for it, but of course it's hard to explain the concepts of our independence and patriotism to a three-year-old.  My best approach for now is to make the day as enjoyable and memorable as possible, so maybe as he gets older he'll realize how special it is.  I couldn't think of a better way to accomplish that this year than Symphony on the Prairie. 

Cameras unfortunately were not permitted, so I smuggled my tiny compact digital to steal a few shots for posterity.  This is one of an amazingly patient Steven, who--although surprisingly well-behaved, and even appreciative, throughout the 2 hour symphony--was constantly anticipating the close-range fireworks show, along with four huge artilery cannons featured during the 1812 Overture.  

In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have warned him so early that those cannons were going to be ridiculously loud.  Maybe a 30 second warning would've been sufficient, because every time I turned to look at him this is pretty much what I saw.  But once the cannons and fireworks actually began to fire away, his hands were at his side and the look on his face was pure joy.  Success.