Born in  AZ, grew  up in  OR, lived  in AZ  for the  past 10
years. Where I was in  AZ, all fireworks were illegal. Where
I grew  up in OR, anything  that exploded or was  aerial was
illegal.  The extent  of my  fireworks experience  is things
that sparkle on the ground or  in your hand, and things that
whistle.

(The secret part of this story  is that my older brother was
a pyromaniac,  and that we  would modify any of  these small
fireworks  that  we  could  for a  bigger  thrill.  Crimping
piccolo pete's for  an explosion, taping up  cracklers for a
bang, and taping things to  arrows- we lived in the country-
for aerial fun.)

Fast forward to the past  few days when they started setting
up  the fireworks  stands in  mid-Missouri. It  appears that
just about anything is legal here. Roman candles (which I've
only  seen in  movies  like "Flight  of  the Navigator"  and
"Galaxy  Quest"), bottle  rockets (why  my cousin  in Oregon
could always seem to get somehow), and all manner of cannons
and bombs.  They even  have "adult snap  caps," which  are a
larger and louder  version of the tiny paper  snaps that you
throw on the ground. If it zips, flies, spins, and explodes,
they have it.

My youngest son is a bit  of a pyromaniac. He's ten, and for
the  past  2-3  years  he  has  wanted  to  experiment  with
chemistry and  fire making. I  think I've written  about his
hobbies before. We bought him  a chemistry set online, a lab
coat, and goggles. I also showed  him how to make char cloth
and  start  a  fire  with  steel wool  and  a  9v,  or  with
ferrocerium[1].  I've  tried  to  help him  keep  these  two
hobbies compartmentalized. One  of his chemistry experiments
was to  dissolve  different  metals in  acid  and  burn  the
resulting  powders to  see  what colors  he  could get  (his
idea.) We keep it very, very tame.

Last summer, we  were in Oregon for the 4th  of July. Oregon
doesn't have big  fireworks still, but they have  a lot more
than Arizona.  My son was  in ecstasy.  This year, he  is in
absolute  rapture. We've  visited  (and  bought from)  every
firework stand in town. Our city has an  ordinance that says
you can't  use fireworks in  city limits except  between 1pm
and 11pm on  the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of  July. He is literally
counting down the minutes today.

Children  are  such  a  beautiful  thing.  Watching  him,  I
remember my own  feelings about fireworks when I  was a kid.
We  lived in  the country  and  could get  away with  almost
anything, but my  mom always made us wait  until the evening
of the 4th to do fireworks.  I remember the waiting  and the
anxious  anticipation. I  love to  see  that in  my son,  it
transports  me back  in time.  This year,  it's particularly
joyful,  because I'm  also getting  to do  some things  I've
never done  with these larger  fireworks. I admit, I  too am
counting down the minutes.

[1] gopher://gopherpedia.com:70/0/Ferrocerium