This is probably the equivalent of shouting my age from the rooftops, but one of my favorite movies when I was a teenager was Red Dawn. Cheesy, I know, but hey, this was back when Patrick Swayze was a major heartthrob. :P

For those of you who have never seen the movie, the US is invaded by the USSR (this was made at the height of the Cold War) and this group of high school kids, including two brothers, goes on the offensive to save their town. The Russians have typical military hardware, the kids have only their wits and what they can scavenge, steal, and create.

I hadn’t thought about that movie in years, and yet celebrating the 4th of July this year made me recall it vividly. It wasn’t the plethora of “fighting for humanity’s survival” movies that I had been watching (Independence Day, Armageddon, etc). It wasn’t the patriotic reminders surrounding me of how America’s forefathers fought for their freedom.

It was my kids.

Specifically, my kids blowing up fireworks.

This was our first year doing fireworks. In California, they're a big no-no (fire risk and all). Needless to say, we kept to the simple ones but the boys were still enthralled.

If there’s a surprise invasion and the neighborhood kids have to mount a guerilla counter-attack, my kids will be right in the forefront. Not because of any kind of moral certitude, but rather, they like to blow things up. Add in the thought of creating ‘traps’… It’d be Lord of the Flies meets Home Alone.

They weren't satisfied merely setting them off. Instead they created elaborate designs so they could light one firework and that firework would light the next, and so on. And they’re curious. They want to know what happens when you mix different types of fireworks, if it would ‘increase’ the effect. What would happen if you stuck half the firework in an anthill before lighting it. If the display would be different in the rain, when it was darker, etc. Some of their fireworks launched little army men with parachutes into the sky and they tried to position their fireworks so the men would land in an area that was conducive to the “rescue team”.

They saved their “snaps”, little wrapped poppers that make a noise when thrown or stepped on and put them in the driveway so “when Dad drives over them he’ll get surprised”. I shudder for the hypothetical enemy.

Most of all, it was just interesting to see them working together so well for a common goal. They pooled their allotments, shared suggestions and ideas. There was a lot of, “Oooooh, yeah, let’s do that,” and “If we do this instead it would...” overheard. Since they weren’t allowed to light the matches themselves and the actual fireworks only with supervision, I was able to quash a lot of the more outrageous schemes. But it was still fascinating to see them playing so intently together.

Unless I happen to be the ‘enemy’. Then I’d be scared. After all, they’ve already started a wish list for next year’s fireworks purchase. :D