A Happy Way to Celebrate Independence Day + A Fireworks Giveaway!

It's June! If you've been around on the blog for awhile, you know that I always spend the week before Independence Day, sitting in a Fireworks Tent. Next week begins my 8th year, having fun, and sweating it out with friends!

And I have good news! For the past two years, the tent that I work in has offered a giveaway through my blog. This year, it's bigger and better than ever!

But before we jump into the giveaway, I'd love to remind you about why I love sitting in the fireworks tent for a week straight:

The tent I always work with partners with Hillcrest Transitional Housing. It's a ministry in our area that works with families who don't have homes. They help them by providing a place to live, basic life skills education, and the encouragement to find a full-time job. It's a 90 day program that offers a hand up instead of a hand out, because their goal is to get these families back on their feet. They have a 95% success rate, and are doing some fabulous work in our community. It's truly one of the most effective ministries in our area.

As you are buying fireworks this year, I hope you will consider coming to Lee's Summit, MO to purchase from our tent. Hillcrest Transitional Housing does great work, and we'd love to have you partner with us in this!

On top of that, military, civil service, and homeschoolers get 10% off of their purchase. But even better, we've negotiated a special discount just for YOU!

Mention the KC Bloggers code at the checkout table and get 10% off just for reading this post and coming out to the tent!

By the way, if you want to meet me, I'll be there everyday from 2pm-10pm (except for the 28th when I will be there 5pm-10pm). Meeting readers is seriously one of the biggest highlights for me!

This year, you can find us behind the Mid-Continent Public Library at:

• 224 NW Oldham Pkwy
• Lees Summit, Missouri 64081
• 
  
• June 27-July 2nd, open 9am - 10pm
• July 3rd, open 9am - 10pm or later
• July 4th, open 9am - midnight

Just look for the big yellow and white tent!

Now let's talk about the fun stuff....STUFF TO BLOW UP!!

You won't have to buy any extra fireworks to have an amazing display with this $160 set. It has enough in it to keep the whole neighborhood happy...and awake! If you click on the photo, you can make it bigger so that you can see all of the fun stuff inside!

All you have to do is enter below and then wait for us to randomly draw the winner. Please note that if you win, you will have to come pick up your prize at the tent in Lee's Summit, MO. The post office frowns on mailing explosives.

I hope that you will come out, use your KC BLOGGERS discount, and buy from the tent that partners with Hillcrest Transitional Housing this year!

To enter the Lee's Summit/Hillcrest Fireworks Giveaway, please use the Rafflecopter widget below. Winning entries will be validated prior to announcing the winner with an alternate drawn if the entries cannot be verified.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The contest ends at 11:59pm on Friday, June 27th. The winner(s) will have 48 hours to respond to the email to confirm that they received it. All prizes must be picked up in person at the Lee's Summit/Hillcrest Fireworks Tent location. Due to laws restricting the shipping and distribution of fireworks, we are unable to mail the prize. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States.  For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

It's June! If you've been around on the blog for awhile, you know that I always spend the week before Independence Day, sitting in a Fireworks Tent. Next week begins my 8th year, having fun, and sweating it out with friends!

And I have good news! For the past two years, the tent that I work in has offered a giveaway through my blog. This year, it's bigger and better than ever!

But before we jump into the giveaway, I'd love to remind you about why I love sitting in the fireworks tent for a week straight:

The tent I always work with partners with Hillcrest Transitional Housing. It's a ministry in our area that works with families who don't have homes. They help them by providing a place to live, basic life skills education, and the encouragement to find a full-time job. It's a 90 day program that offers a hand up instead of a hand out, because their goal is to get these families back on their feet. They have a 95% success rate, and are doing some fabulous work in our community. It's truly one of the most effective ministries in our area.

As you are buying fireworks this year, I hope you will consider coming to Lee's Summit, MO to purchase from our tent. Hillcrest Transitional Housing does great work, and we'd love to have you partner with us in this!

On top of that, military, civil service, and homeschoolers get 10% off of their purchase. But even better, we've negotiated a special discount just for YOU!

Mention the KC Bloggers code at the checkout table and get 10% off just for reading this post and coming out to the tent!

By the way, if you want to meet me, I'll be there everyday from 2pm-10pm (except for the 28th when I will be there 5pm-10pm). Meeting readers is seriously one of the biggest highlights for me!

This year, you can find us behind the Mid-Continent Public Library at:

• 224 NW Oldham Pkwy
• Lees Summit, Missouri 64081
• 
  
• June 27-July 2nd, open 9am - 10pm
• July 3rd, open 9am - 10pm or later
• July 4th, open 9am - midnight

Just look for the big yellow and white tent!

Now let's talk about the fun stuff....STUFF TO BLOW UP!!

You won't have to buy any extra fireworks to have an amazing display with this $160 set. It has enough in it to keep the whole neighborhood happy...and awake! If you click on the photo, you can make it bigger so that you can see all of the fun stuff inside!

All you have to do is enter below and then wait for us to randomly draw the winner. Please note that if you win, you will have to come pick up your prize at the tent in Lee's Summit, MO. The post office frowns on mailing explosives.

I hope that you will come out, use your KC BLOGGERS discount, and buy from the tent that partners with Hillcrest Transitional Housing this year!

To enter the Lee's Summit/Hillcrest Fireworks Giveaway, please use the Rafflecopter widget below. Winning entries will be validated prior to announcing the winner with an alternate drawn if the entries cannot be verified.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The contest ends at 11:59pm on Friday, June 27th. The winner(s) will have 48 hours to respond to the email to confirm that they received it. All prizes must be picked up in person at the Lee's Summit/Hillcrest Fireworks Tent location. Due to laws restricting the shipping and distribution of fireworks, we are unable to mail the prize. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States.  For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

Fireworks Tent 2013 Recap

It's true that it's been two weeks since Independence Day. I feel like I'm so behind on everything that I want to document here on the blog, but I hate to just let good memories go away, so I'm going to post this anyway. Maybe someday I'll get all caught up again!

We had a really fun group of people working the tent this year. That always makes the week better!

Most of the tent staff (but still missing a few people)

For the first time since we've been doing this tent (eight years!), we had staff tshirts. We looked very official, and I think it helped people figure out who to ask when they had questions.

 Brett, Melissa, and Lauren

Technically, we are the Lee's Summit/Hillcrest Transitional Housing Tent. It was quickly renamed to the Ice Cream Tent. Laurel arranged for us to have a refrigerator/freezer hooked up in the tent, so we made the most of that!

Ryan (he wanted to be in disguise in this photo) and Laurel

This happens every year. After a few days in the tent, everyone starts to go a little nuts.

Left to Right: Lauren, Melissa, Ryan, Brett, Rebecca (me), and Brooks

Horizontal: Laurel

The big difference between this year and previous years was the weather. It was about 20 degrees cooler than any other year we've been out in the middle of that parking lot. It was so incredibly wonderful not to sweat to death out there. Of course, on the flip side, we had seven major storms to contend with. Fireworks and rain do not mix. At all. When rain comes, everyone springs into action and everything gets covered in plastic.

Okay, now watch this short video of what we had to deal with out there! The Weather Channel saw my YouTube video and actually emailed me. Five minutes after I responded to the email, they called and asked if they could run it on their website and in any programming on their TV channel. How cool is that?!

After fighting storms all week, we hit the 4th of July at full speed. We were so busy, no one sat down or had a chance to eat. Brad Munsen from the Lee's Summit Chick-fil-A came into the tent to do his fireworks shopping that afternoon and saw how busy we were. He called me over, asked me how many staff were in the tent, and then returned about a 30 minutes later with sandwiches, nuggets, and sauces for everyone. If it hadn't been for his generosity, no one would have eaten until after 10:30pm that night. It turns out that he also supports Hillcrest Transitional Housing through his business as well. It was awesome to meet him!

And, of course, Sean brought our babies out to see me. I loved that! He brought them out twice, but I only took photos the first time. 

All of the staff helped wrangle our kids since tents don't come with doors.

Brett carrying in the diaper bags. He was such a good sport!

We brought out the kids' lawn chairs, which actually proved to be really exciting for the public shopping in the tent. Who knew that little chairs could catch that much attention?

Daddy bought McDonalds for a picnic in the tent

Abby, Caleb, Elijah, and Ellie

Ellie, Mommy, and Abby

Abby and Ellie

Exploring the Tent!

I think the kids were exploring so that they can help sell fireworks in the future. We still have to work on what they are though. Elijah was very confused why the "Crackers" table didn't actually have any food on it....

It's true that it's been two weeks since Independence Day. I feel like I'm so behind on everything that I want to document here on the blog, but I hate to just let good memories go away, so I'm going to post this anyway. Maybe someday I'll get all caught up again!

We had a really fun group of people working the tent this year. That always makes the week better!

Most of the tent staff (but still missing a few people)

For the first time since we've been doing this tent (eight years!), we had staff tshirts. We looked very official, and I think it helped people figure out who to ask when they had questions.

 Brett, Melissa, and Lauren

Technically, we are the Lee's Summit/Hillcrest Transitional Housing Tent. It was quickly renamed to the Ice Cream Tent. Laurel arranged for us to have a refrigerator/freezer hooked up in the tent, so we made the most of that!

Ryan (he wanted to be in disguise in this photo) and Laurel

This happens every year. After a few days in the tent, everyone starts to go a little nuts.

Left to Right: Lauren, Melissa, Ryan, Brett, Rebecca (me), and Brooks

Horizontal: Laurel

The big difference between this year and previous years was the weather. It was about 20 degrees cooler than any other year we've been out in the middle of that parking lot. It was so incredibly wonderful not to sweat to death out there. Of course, on the flip side, we had seven major storms to contend with. Fireworks and rain do not mix. At all. When rain comes, everyone springs into action and everything gets covered in plastic.

Okay, now watch this short video of what we had to deal with out there! The Weather Channel saw my YouTube video and actually emailed me. Five minutes after I responded to the email, they called and asked if they could run it on their website and in any programming on their TV channel. How cool is that?!

After fighting storms all week, we hit the 4th of July at full speed. We were so busy, no one sat down or had a chance to eat. Brad Munsen from the Lee's Summit Chick-fil-A came into the tent to do his fireworks shopping that afternoon and saw how busy we were. He called me over, asked me how many staff were in the tent, and then returned about a 30 minutes later with sandwiches, nuggets, and sauces for everyone. If it hadn't been for his generosity, no one would have eaten until after 10:30pm that night. It turns out that he also supports Hillcrest Transitional Housing through his business as well. It was awesome to meet him!

And, of course, Sean brought our babies out to see me. I loved that! He brought them out twice, but I only took photos the first time. 

All of the staff helped wrangle our kids since tents don't come with doors.

Brett carrying in the diaper bags. He was such a good sport!

We brought out the kids' lawn chairs, which actually proved to be really exciting for the public shopping in the tent. Who knew that little chairs could catch that much attention?

Daddy bought McDonalds for a picnic in the tent

Abby, Caleb, Elijah, and Ellie

Ellie, Mommy, and Abby

Abby and Ellie

Exploring the Tent!

I think the kids were exploring so that they can help sell fireworks in the future. We still have to work on what they are though. Elijah was very confused why the "Crackers" table didn't actually have any food on it....

Independence Day Fireworks Giveaway!

Yay! It's fireworks season again!

I always look forward to Independence Day! This is my 7th year spending the week before our country's birthday in the big yellow and white tent. I really enjoy getting to do this, and I am beyond appreciative that Sean makes it a priority to let me have the week "off" so that I can go work the tent.

Last year, the Lee's Summit/Hillcrest Fireworks Tent offered an awesome giveaway through this blog along with a discount for an A Beautiful Ruckus readers. I've been chatting with the tent operators over the last few months, and guess what? They are totally on board with letting me giveaway more fireworks this year!

But first, in case you are new to the blog, let me tell you why I love this particular tent and the organization it benefits:

The tent I always work with partners with Hillcrest Transitional Housing. It's a ministry in our area that works with families who don't have homes. They help them by providing a place to live, basic life skills education, and the encouragement to find a full-time job. It's a 90 day program that offers a hand up instead of a hand out, because their goal is to get these families back on their feet. They have a 95% success rate, and are doing some fabulous work in our community. Wonderful!

Odds are that you will be purchasing fireworks somewhere this season, and I hope that you will consider doing so at the Lee's Summit/Hillcrest Tent. All military, civil service, and homeschoolers get 10% off as an extra incentive! Your money will be benefiting something far more worthy than overhead at a big box store....plus, you get to meet me! I met several blog readers last year and had a blast!

So, now that I have you on the hook, let's get on with some fun stuff! Ready??

First, all A Beautiful Ruckus readers will receive 10% off any purchase! Just mention that you are a reader at the checkout counter! Save a little money, and know that you are partnering with a great ministry!

On top of that, you can enter to win one of FIVE prizes!

Four readers will win the Kiddie Assortment Packs! It has snappers, sparklers, poppers, and some other fun things to entertain younger kids!

One Grand Prize Winner will receive the Pyro Blast Fireworks Party Package (or a package of like value) that contains all sorts of items to get even the dads excited! This party package retails for $75! Just as a side note, the lady who won this last year has a husband and four sons...let me tell you who was queen of the house when she brought that home!

All you have to do is enter below, and then of course, come see us at the Big Yellow and White Tent in Lee's Summit! And definitely don't forget to mention that you are A Beautiful Ruckus reader to snag your extra discount!

To enter the Lee's Summit/Hillcrest Fireworks Giveaway, please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. The first two tasks are not optional and must be completed to qualify for this giveaway. If you choose the "anonymous option" to comment, please at least include your first name and first letter of your last name. It's impossible to verify comment entries without names! The additional entry tasks are optional. Winning entries will be validated prior to announcing the winner with an alternate drawn if the entries cannot be verified.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
The contest ends at 11:59pm on Monday, June 21st. The winner(s) will be randomly chosen and contacted by email on Tuesday, June 22nd. The winner(s) will have 48 hours to respond to the email to confirm that they received it. All prizes must be picked up in person at the Lee's Summit/Hillcrest Fireworks Tent location. Due to laws restricting the shipping and distribution of fireworks, we are unable to mail the prize. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States.  For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

Keep an eye out for the Ishum Quads this year as well! They will be making another appearance in their red, white, and blue wagon...although they are a whole year older now. *sniff!* Pretty soon they will be working the tent with me!

Yay! It's fireworks season again!

I always look forward to Independence Day! This is my 7th year spending the week before our country's birthday in the big yellow and white tent. I really enjoy getting to do this, and I am beyond appreciative that Sean makes it a priority to let me have the week "off" so that I can go work the tent.

Last year, the Lee's Summit/Hillcrest Fireworks Tent offered an awesome giveaway through this blog along with a discount for an A Beautiful Ruckus readers. I've been chatting with the tent operators over the last few months, and guess what? They are totally on board with letting me giveaway more fireworks this year!

But first, in case you are new to the blog, let me tell you why I love this particular tent and the organization it benefits:

The tent I always work with partners with Hillcrest Transitional Housing. It's a ministry in our area that works with families who don't have homes. They help them by providing a place to live, basic life skills education, and the encouragement to find a full-time job. It's a 90 day program that offers a hand up instead of a hand out, because their goal is to get these families back on their feet. They have a 95% success rate, and are doing some fabulous work in our community. Wonderful!

Odds are that you will be purchasing fireworks somewhere this season, and I hope that you will consider doing so at the Lee's Summit/Hillcrest Tent. All military, civil service, and homeschoolers get 10% off as an extra incentive! Your money will be benefiting something far more worthy than overhead at a big box store....plus, you get to meet me! I met several blog readers last year and had a blast!

So, now that I have you on the hook, let's get on with some fun stuff! Ready??

First, all A Beautiful Ruckus readers will receive 10% off any purchase! Just mention that you are a reader at the checkout counter! Save a little money, and know that you are partnering with a great ministry!

On top of that, you can enter to win one of FIVE prizes!

Four readers will win the Kiddie Assortment Packs! It has snappers, sparklers, poppers, and some other fun things to entertain younger kids!

One Grand Prize Winner will receive the Pyro Blast Fireworks Party Package (or a package of like value) that contains all sorts of items to get even the dads excited! This party package retails for $75! Just as a side note, the lady who won this last year has a husband and four sons...let me tell you who was queen of the house when she brought that home!

All you have to do is enter below, and then of course, come see us at the Big Yellow and White Tent in Lee's Summit! And definitely don't forget to mention that you are A Beautiful Ruckus reader to snag your extra discount!

To enter the Lee's Summit/Hillcrest Fireworks Giveaway, please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. The first two tasks are not optional and must be completed to qualify for this giveaway. If you choose the "anonymous option" to comment, please at least include your first name and first letter of your last name. It's impossible to verify comment entries without names! The additional entry tasks are optional. Winning entries will be validated prior to announcing the winner with an alternate drawn if the entries cannot be verified.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
The contest ends at 11:59pm on Monday, June 21st. The winner(s) will be randomly chosen and contacted by email on Tuesday, June 22nd. The winner(s) will have 48 hours to respond to the email to confirm that they received it. All prizes must be picked up in person at the Lee's Summit/Hillcrest Fireworks Tent location. Due to laws restricting the shipping and distribution of fireworks, we are unable to mail the prize. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States.  For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

Keep an eye out for the Ishum Quads this year as well! They will be making another appearance in their red, white, and blue wagon...although they are a whole year older now. *sniff!* Pretty soon they will be working the tent with me!

Happy Independence Day!

Oh my word! Was the weather rough this 4th of July or what?

Out of all of the years I've camped out in a fireworks tent, this was the worst heat I've had to put up with. But, the friends who I've worked the tent with every year were there as well, and they made it worth it! We came up with all sorts of sweat-related jokes, which I will spare you the details of, but I have to share the photos that we took when the kids came to visit!

Sean loaded up the kids by himself after lunch on Monday and brought them out to see me. I sure did miss my little quadlers this week! Of course, I did see them when I wasn't working in the tent, but I guess I'm a bit spoiled to get to stay home with them all of the time. 

Daddy Pulling the Kids in their Red, White, and Blue (and Orange) Wagon!

Renee is one of the friends who I got to hang with all week. We definitely don't get enough time together since she lives about an hour from us. We worked it out so that her daughter, Emma, could be there when our kids were. We are hoping that they develop a friendship as they get older, which of course, would mean more reasons for Renee and I to see each other. I guess I have a bit of an ulterior motive, but at least I'm honest about it!

Emma Thought the Wagon was Fascinating! 

Emma wanted to try out the nifty wagon, so we pulled Ellie out for a minute so that Emma could have a turn. We are learning how to share!

Around and Around!

Then we let the kids roam a little bit. With the heat and bit of wind, they much preferred to sit in the wagon.

Scoping Out the Fireworks

They were probably out in the tent around 20 minutes and then they started to get a bit cranky. I can't blame them. Heat makes me cranky too. Being the awesome father that he is, Sean remembered to bring their cups and they guzzled milk like it was their last opportunity for a drink. A quick family photo and Sean loaded the kids up to take them back to the air conditioning.

Independence Day Photo - 2012

Tuesday evening, the grand prize winners of the fireworks package came to pick up their prize! I'm so glad that Natalie brought her four boys and husband with so that we could get a photo! I'm pretty sure that Natalie was the hero at her house this Independence Day!

The Winners! (check out how one of the boys is lunging for the prize his mom won! Haha!)

Okay, this last picture has nothing to do with fireworks but is hilarious enough to share on here. One of the guys in the tent, Kelly, has a really nice big garden. He brought me some fresh veggies for the kids throughout the week. The guy grows the most massive zucchinis ever! He gave me four, so of course, I had to line the babies up for a photo op with them. I love that Ellie's zucchini is almost as big as she is, Elijah is trying to eat his, Caleb is trying to figure out how to fit his whole zucchini in his tummy, and Abby (like always when it comes to food) wants nothing to do with her's. :-) We are definitely eating well this week!

Every year, I'm happy to see the Fireworks Tent come, and I'm happy to see the Fireworks Tent go. My babies definitely were missing me toward the end, and I sure did miss my little family as well. It was nice to eat dinner all together as a family last night!

Which reminds me, I should go figure out what's for dinner tonight...pretty sure it will involve zucchini in some form or another. :)

I hope everyone had a safe and fun-filled Independence Day!

Oh my word! Was the weather rough this 4th of July or what?

Out of all of the years I've camped out in a fireworks tent, this was the worst heat I've had to put up with. But, the friends who I've worked the tent with every year were there as well, and they made it worth it! We came up with all sorts of sweat-related jokes, which I will spare you the details of, but I have to share the photos that we took when the kids came to visit!

Sean loaded up the kids by himself after lunch on Monday and brought them out to see me. I sure did miss my little quadlers this week! Of course, I did see them when I wasn't working in the tent, but I guess I'm a bit spoiled to get to stay home with them all of the time. 

Daddy Pulling the Kids in their Red, White, and Blue (and Orange) Wagon!

Renee is one of the friends who I got to hang with all week. We definitely don't get enough time together since she lives about an hour from us. We worked it out so that her daughter, Emma, could be there when our kids were. We are hoping that they develop a friendship as they get older, which of course, would mean more reasons for Renee and I to see each other. I guess I have a bit of an ulterior motive, but at least I'm honest about it!

Emma Thought the Wagon was Fascinating! 

Emma wanted to try out the nifty wagon, so we pulled Ellie out for a minute so that Emma could have a turn. We are learning how to share!

Around and Around!

Then we let the kids roam a little bit. With the heat and bit of wind, they much preferred to sit in the wagon.

Scoping Out the Fireworks

They were probably out in the tent around 20 minutes and then they started to get a bit cranky. I can't blame them. Heat makes me cranky too. Being the awesome father that he is, Sean remembered to bring their cups and they guzzled milk like it was their last opportunity for a drink. A quick family photo and Sean loaded the kids up to take them back to the air conditioning.

Independence Day Photo - 2012

Tuesday evening, the grand prize winners of the fireworks package came to pick up their prize! I'm so glad that Natalie brought her four boys and husband with so that we could get a photo! I'm pretty sure that Natalie was the hero at her house this Independence Day!

The Winners! (check out how one of the boys is lunging for the prize his mom won! Haha!)

Okay, this last picture has nothing to do with fireworks but is hilarious enough to share on here. One of the guys in the tent, Kelly, has a really nice big garden. He brought me some fresh veggies for the kids throughout the week. The guy grows the most massive zucchinis ever! He gave me four, so of course, I had to line the babies up for a photo op with them. I love that Ellie's zucchini is almost as big as she is, Elijah is trying to eat his, Caleb is trying to figure out how to fit his whole zucchini in his tummy, and Abby (like always when it comes to food) wants nothing to do with her's. :-) We are definitely eating well this week!

Every year, I'm happy to see the Fireworks Tent come, and I'm happy to see the Fireworks Tent go. My babies definitely were missing me toward the end, and I sure did miss my little family as well. It was nice to eat dinner all together as a family last night!

Which reminds me, I should go figure out what's for dinner tonight...pretty sure it will involve zucchini in some form or another. :)

I hope everyone had a safe and fun-filled Independence Day!