Maximizing Mayhem on the 4th of July

Similar to years past, the family spent the July 4th holiday basking in the Cape Cod sunshine, sand, and saltwater. For too many years to count we (the family) have hosted an annual multi-generational Independence Day party that culminates in Orleans town fireworks dancing and exploding over the harbor and front lawn of the family residence. It is always a delightful day and friends come from far and wide to partake.

For the first time in ages, this year’s party was overrun with children under the age of ten. The children ran amok, repeatedly scaling our 100-year old apple tree, then hucking the apples they'd knocked out of the tree over the fence at the neighbor's guests. They snuck too many sodas, gorged on hot dogs, ketchup and homemade creamsicles, and generally sought and succeeded in maximizing mayhem. At nearly 8 months, Oliver was awestruck by the older children. He's an intense dude, always studying the people and objects before him, and only later revealing whether or not he has warmed to them. That day the other children introduced the concept of chaos to him and study it he did. Now we can only hope that the lessons and takeaways he learned that day fade like those drifting ghost clouds left behind by the fireworks.