Fireworks and Stargazing!

My Dad came in to town over the 4th of July weekend and we all had fun playing games, watching shows and of course doing fireworks. These are the pictures from Saturday, the 3rd of July (we celebrated on Saturday here in Utah because Sunday the 4th is church day)

Ramin, Chris and me on the front porch holding our fun super sparklers :P

Ramin and Chris look on at their handiwork - we had a lot of little fireworks to blow up in the street

Setting up more for more explosions

Chris was proud of this one, I can't remember the name of it but it was weird - just look at how weird it looks!

Chris is helping Dad and me light our sparklers - my face is kinda crazy here!

Wooohooo we had success!  ...and lots of smoke

We used most of our sparklers to flush out the ever growing ant pile near the mouth of our garage

Chris and Ramin unpack more fireworks as Dad steadies his American Flag!

So that was our fun filled 3rd of July! For the actual 4th of July we all headed out to Skull Valley in the middle of nowhere near the Dugway Proving Grounds. This was a trip Chris and I had wanted to take for a long time as we remembered a similar trip Dad took us on when we were little. He packed us in the car along with his telescope, we picked up some KFC and headed to the middle of nowhere. This time, Chris had his own huge telescope and Dad would be guiding us from his memory on the trip (from almost 20 years ago!).

We packed up our truck with blankets, drinks and other supplies, including the telescope. We headed over to Tooele and ate some KFC of course. From there we drove across the mountains into Skull Valley. We looked for good places to pull off and found a perfect place! Next to a huge rock/cement creation.  We spent a good 3-4 hours out there until it got really dark and we observed all sorts of planets, stars and galaxies with the telescope. We had lots of fun and plan to do it again.

Don't mind that last picture, Chris and Ramin always so that silliness kind of thing :)

We had a great trip with Dad, I always love when he comes out. We may end up taking another trip to Phoenix around November but we're not sure just yet how things will turn out.