Fireworks in Louisa

On Friday, Rob drove up to Centreville to pick me up and take me back down his way. It was great to have a break from the driving for a change and I relished being a passenger, relaxing as the landmarks swept past. We stopped in Orange to grab a late lunch at the Hornet's Nest and I enjoyed the huge burger above while Rob woofed down meatloaf.
Later, we headed over to Louisa where the firemens fair was taking place with fireworks later in the evening. We hopped onto the Big Wheel snapping photos from the top. And I mean snapping as I now only have the iPhone as my backup camera so I was not expecting big results. But I was pleasantly surprised as most turned out OK and although could never be blown up into large prints, were fine as snapshots with some editing.

We met up with Lance, Nicole, Hilary (their nanny), Declan and Ripley and wandered round to watch Declan ride a few of the attractions.

 Here he is with Mom Nicole on the Dragon. He'd been on the Slide previously and was gradually building up his confidence. He even managed hands in the air on his second spin on this ride. Daredevil!

 Lance with Ripley who smiled the whole time and didn't show an ounce of fear at anything, whether it was bright lights or loud noises.

 Declan spent a lot of time on Rob's shoulders brandishing a sword with blue lights.

 The fireworks started and we were amazed at how close we stood to the firing zone. As rockets zoomed upwards, debris fell down and landed like fallout onto us standing below, so much so that a few times I was unable to look up because there were so many cinders floating down. Declan was a little nervous at first but once he realized his flailing sword could eliminate the bangs and prevent the firework trails from reaching us on the ground he was happy to sit aloft on Rob's shoulders and protect us.
We parted company soon after the display and sleepily headed home, aware that timing had been perfect. As we approached our car, rain started sprinkling from the sky and before we'd been on the road for 10 minutes, the heavens opened and the storm broke.