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COVID-19: US Mamas

4th of July Festival (to go or to not go)

Good evening ladies! I have a minor dilemma that I could use some input on, ideally from other mothers who have had 2 under 2, especially less than 12 months apart in age. For context, my younger daughter turns 2.5 on June 20th, and my older daughter just turned 3 on February 16th. Yes, they're 10 months apart in age. 😅😭 I want to take my daughters to their first 4th of July festival this year so badly. I love going to festivals and seeing firework shows, and I want my daughters to have fun experiences. There will be free bounce houses, so I know they would enjoy that too. One problem is that, more likely than not, it's going to be extremely hot. We generally try to avoid being outside if the daytime high is going to be 87° (30.5° for those who use the metric system) or higher. I know arguably that could be avoided by going later in the evening but the point is that when the maximum temperature of the day is going to be so high, that heat still lingers into the evening, especially when it's humid.

In any case, this intertwines into the 2nd problem. The fireworks show doesn't begin until 9:15 and it ends at 9:45. It just feels so late to be out with two young toddlers, especially considering the fact that it would take a minimum of 20 minutes to walk back to the car. My older daughter is usually ready to sleep between 9:45 to 10:00 right now, and my younger daughter is usually ready to sleep between 10:15 to 10:30. Being out so late with them would undoubtedly lead to sleepy meltdowns and throwing off their sleep routine.

I'm just so tired of missing out on doing fun activities like this with them, but it just feels like it's not going to happen for another year or two. 😞 By all means I would at least try to make up for it by doing our own fireworks display, but North Carolina has pretty strict fireworks laws, and regardless of what we would be allowed to do legally, our HOA doesn't allow any fireworks. 🙄😡 My husband nor I have any family or friends in the state in which we live, so going to family or friends is not an option. What would you do in my situation?