Patrick's Birthday Ride

It was Number One Son's birthday and he'd requested a short "ride with dad" as part of his special day's events.

Patrick, or Thing One as my loving wife calls him, had a pretty good day....got to pick what to eat at mealtimes, got the Lego set he wanted (way overpriced in my opinion but it was his birthday money), and he and I went out for a ride in the coolness of the evening near sunset.

We rode out to the local undeveloped culdesac area (which I guess in a sign of possible better economic climate, is finally being developed) and we sat to watch the sunset.  We were trying to catch that "brief flash of green" that sailors report seeing when the sun sets.

Patrick gazes at the setting sun

Pointing out some fireworks to me

Not known for his patience, then again what boy is, Patrick did great waiting with me for the sun to set and mostly kept his focus on the horizon.  We'd occasionally see fireworks as folks who couldn't wait till darkness set off their illegal fireworks in the distance.

As darkness fell, we could barely distinguish some green where the darkening blue of the sky and the warm yellow glow of the sunset mixed but nothing really stood out for us.  The mosquitoes came out with the oncoming darkness as well and I kept moving the rig about the area to try and lose them but it was not a winning proposition.

Finally, the sun and its remaining light disappeared and darkness fell on us.  Patrick and I headed back home in the dark and got to our culdesac in time for the neighbor's display of fireworks which was setup in the middle of the culdesac.

At its peak, this one firework had stuff flying up to about 20 ft high from the center of the culdesac!

The finale fireworks, was pretty impressive and probably illegal here in Colorado but both my sons and the neighbors who were outside to witness it seemed to enjoy it.  My number two son Miles is already trying to convince me to go on a road trip to Wyoming next year to "procure real fireworks".