Guy Fawkes in Welly went ahead!

It was a scorcher of a day and then… the clouds rolled in about 7pm. With the big Guy Fawkes show scheduled for night fall at 9pm it looked like a wild southerly was going to jeopardize the fireworks – but no – they went ahead! Not that we saw them – we were all tucked up in the warm with the children fast asleep. The closest we got to see the big show was the pics on Twitter from some brave Wellingtonians.

The girls were up just after 6am this morning and it was going to be tough to keep them happily awake till night fall – but they were so determined to see some fireworks. With the dark clouds rolling in we decided to go for it and light some fireworks early – it was dark enough for the children to be excited. We lit the brazier as our pseudo mini-bonfire but didn’t get round to making a ‘Guy’ to burn. No matter, the girls were more than content to watch the firewood they’d so diligently gathered burn.

Memories of my childhood watching fire balls swung through the old Oak trees in Hartley Whitney to light the giant bonfire flooded back. Wrapped up warm, with the smell of smoke, the heat of the flames and gloved fingers dancing sparklers round in the crisp, autumn air.

This was Alice’s first Guy Fawkes night…

She giggled with excitement at Charlotte and Sophie dancing through the window with their sparklers.

Reaching out to touch the twinkling light, but safe from harms way…

Dan arrived home just as Frances was lighting a firework. The taxi driver got quite a scare as he drove up the driveway! With Dan’s arrival we had our ‘Mr. Fire Starter’! The girls had rolled up newspaper and gathered the wood in anticipation. Dan did the mandatory cave-man fire dance as the spark took and lit the wood.

Charlotte and Sophie took it in turns to choose a firework from the ‘Boom Box’ and watched with awe and wonder…

Snugged up and sat in the boot of the car, with Frances giving Alice a cuddle…

And to top the evening off we had fruit and marshmallows in melted chocolate on the fondue. Mmmm….

And the children were fast asleep by night fall 🙂 Happy Guy Fawkes!