4th Party of 2008

Lots of fun. If you missed this year, here are some photos and videos to give a taste of what went down (or rather up). For those of you who made it, thanks for coming. There was almost 90 of us. It was great to spend the evening with you and share good food and crazy fun and make new friends. We dispensed only a minimal amount of burn gel, and although one of our own trees caught on fire (and someone's chair), none of the neighbor's yards did.
See below for details.

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Part of the Massive Fireworks

Nothing Beats a Sparkler in Your Hand

Casualty

This chair went completely up in flames. Fire extinguisher was ready though.

For All You Women Who Secretly Hate Barbie

This group of pre-teen girls erupted in cheers when Barbie was brought out for her doom.

Bruce's Final Cooking Show

Bruce asks inaugural "watermelon-destroyer" Bill Moore what he'd like the show to start with.

Not the fish, please. This part of the show was a real crowd pleaser--in the category of making people squirm in their seats.

This piece of "cooked" fish came just short of Trisha.

Eye-level fireworks.

Something Gets Cooked

Bruce Reenacts The Cooler Incident

Bruce shows the crowd how he once experimented with blowing up an old cooler. The first step is the keep the lid closed using something handy, like, oh, your butt. The second step is to keep the lid closed until the fireworks are finished, which Bruce didn't do. What Bruce didn't reenact was how he did manage to destroy a cooler.

Jello, Spaghetti and Whip Cream Only Go Together in One Way

Where Do We Put the Explosives

Kent Severe and his clan started hauling armloads of fireworks in a steady stream that went on and on that would have impressed the Queen of Sheba.

Meanwhile, The Guys...

Like at every party there are some guys who'd rather see whats under the hood. Everyone likes Jeremy's 'Stang.

Brother and Sister work together to make the swing work

Network of Friends

The conspiring Kent and Carey from Paula's past.

Mark and Suzanne from St. Matthew

Paula and Trisha from the BISD.

David (JM's college buddy) and Yao flew in from Washington just in time for the party.

Melissa found a friend almost as cute as she is

Hope for the Future

Adopted as babies from Russia and China, Dasha and Annie instantly became best friends at the party. Thank God for the Americans who brought them here and brought them together this day.

Blog Introduction

If you are going to attend one of those Peckham's 4th of July parties, at the very least, you deserve full disclosure. Here is a an archive of past parties. It will give you an idea of what you are getting into.