Rembrances of 4th of Julys

I remember a time, in a town here on Long Island, when 4th of Julys were big - very big. Dad was off and we would do some stuff out back (hmm- guess that is where my desire to do stuff outback too emerged!) We would have a big cookout with watermelon and corn on the cob. One year we headed out to Montauk Point for the 4th and we ended up stopping (it was brutaly hot) at Lake Ronkonkoma- the temperature was in the 100's. My grandparents came out from Queens to take care of our dog and we ended up coming home instead and they got to spend the 4th with us the next day in the neighbor's pool! My grandfather got on my brother's bike and rode it- we thought it was pretty cool because he was 67 years old at the time! I don't remember but I am sure the night ended with fireworks. I remember one 4th (perhaps my first one I do remember) when we had just moved out from Queens. It had to be either 1960 or 1961. We had people over but the houses were so close that we also played in the street with the neighbors- it wasn't a block party but it could have been. That night I sat out on my front stoop and watched the fireworks from Mepham High School similar to the ones in the final moments of the final episode of The Wonder Years. What good memories!