Every summer, the week before the 4th of July, the Village of Bloomingdale holds their festival complete with the most amazing fireworks EVER! Last night was our 6 time seeing them–and again, they did not disappoint! What was nice, however, was wandering through the carnival portion of the festival to get to the street where we would sit and watch the fireworks. (So close that you literally could feel the static electricity from them with the hair on your arms…so cool!) But as we walked through with the lights of the rides, the noise of the games and the smell of cigarette smoke from every side, I was right back at Lagoon in Farmington, Utah!

Lagoon was the epitome of summer for us growing up. It’s where we worked. It’s where we socialized. It’s where the boy I was madly in love with worked. It was the live all end all of human existence to my 16 year old self! I haven’t been back to Lagoon since I was pregnant with Blakelynn, standing (with that same boy I was in love with back then…me married & MOM and him…still just him) watching my two little boys riding the rides that I had once worked. We were moving to Chicago the next day–so this was one last evening out with the grandparents before the move. It certainly wasn’t the same as it was 14 years earlier…but it was still a bit homey!

Last night was nothing like it really, but the closest experience I have to it here in Chicago–and it was fun to close my eyes and try to remember it all!