Autistic Meltdown

Last nights fireworks = NIGHTMARE!

It started off pleasant enough Bunny wading in the water, Bean sifting through the sand for seashells, Gary hanging out on the blanket with Honey. We had the radio going, pleasant breezes, friendly people (as in tons of kids), gentle waves, good weather. Beautiful sunset, Bunny noticed the moon rising. As the sun went down it got harder to entertain and control them. Whether they were bored, excited or nervous I couldn't tell. I did know that Honey was over-tired though. Once it was time to get out of the water we all tried to occupy Bunny. I suggested she count the docked boats all lining up for the fireworks. She wasn't interested but Bean volunteered; 101 boats. Bean commented on how pretty the lights looked on the boats, one boat in particular had flags on it. Then Bunny started to dig like a dog and just to make sure she offended everyone near us she kicked sand too. So Gary came to the rescue and said 'Hey girls let's make sand pillows'. This kept Bunny and Bean busy for about 1/2 hour while they mounded the sand and then put the beach blanket over it for a headrest. My nasty, sandy, sticky, milk bearded son, who we were hoping would fall asleep in his stroller, now wanted out. So finally I let him out, I tried to keep him close by because the tide was quickly coming in. Unfortunately for me all he wanted to do was explore the sand. I let it go and followed him for 45m while he crawled up to unsuspecting adults, tried to drown himself in the ocean and attempted to eat sticks. I realize this is totally typical 1 year old behavior, it just amazes me how they are always trying to hurt and kill themselves.
When the fireworks began instantly Bunny started growling, screaming, crying all while biting her fingers and hands I looked at Gary and said 'Take a walk!'. He took her and for about 5m my brother, Bean, myself and Honey all watched the fireworks in peace. Then completely unaffected by the big booms and the light show Honey decided to go crazy; overtired. Gary came back and of course Bunny began to flip out even though they had a 'talk' about how to behave. I gave up and said 'let's just head back to the car'.
We got to the sidewalk and stopped. I realized this just wasn't fair to Bean she deserved to sit and watch the fireworks. So I made our whole gang stop to let Bean sit and watch the rest of the fireworks. I told Bunny to turn around and look away if she was scared. I thought maybe not sitting in the sand 2ft from the water might make it easier for her now. It did somewhat but she was already worked up. I didn't care, I let her whimper & growl, smiled at Bean and said ENJOY THE FIREWORKS. I was already so annoyed with the situation that if a stranger made a off-color remark to me I would have b-smacked them. I don't care what Bunny has wrong with her I refuse to give her special treatment and ruin our family events. Maybe I could have planned it a bit better but she has never had problems with the fireworks before!
So in the end I brought bug spray and still got chewed up!
My silver lining is that at least I got her onto the beach finally and she had fun. Bean DID get to watch 90% of the fireworks. I feel like I succeeded...