4th of July with fellow Americans and a couple brits.

Another 4th far away from America... but another great year with friends, lots of red/white/blue and fireworks... and thanks for my friend Meredith we had an awesome "American song" play list.

Just love tradition... and remembering that Freedom is not Free.

The past few months Pierce has learned how to dribble a ball... he is so proud of his accomplishment.

 

He can even shoot...his height finally pays off.

 

Here is the honorary grandparent... Asher loves Mr. Greg and his glasses.

 

 

 

 

A great group making more memories.

 

 

 

The kids even got to make homemade ice cream again (in a plastic bag)

A little sweaty... 

The big boys were in charge of setting up the fire works... last year we did them one at a time and got in trouble... so this year we wanted to set them all up and give it one big go... better to ask for forgiveness than permission RIGHT?

It was a great show... that's me and Asher at the bottom... I was holding his ears tight... he was not so sure about what was going on.

4th of July in Korea...

4th of July is always a lot of fun but also a good reminder to our family how thankful we are to be Americans.  Although we have been out of America now going on 5 years we are so thankful and proud to carry an American passport and know that we have a country to call home.  We just love Red, White and Blue and got a group of friends together (some from America and some from other countries) to celebrate!

Here is a picture of Pierce and Kate (I think Kate has filled in the role of Violet in Singapore... these two are cute together).

Where the party happened... at X block in the foreigners compound.  A great place for the kids to play, a BBQ pit for grilling and some seating for the adults.

The men in charge... but I think my man just did a lot of talking and he was like the dog of the party... he ate the hotdogs that fell off the grill so they would not go to waste... :-)

Pierce meeting a new friend (this family just got here last week and this boy will be in Pierce's class next year).

He found some pom poms... oh no... Daddy told him to put those down... 

 

Meredith the hostess with the mostess had her mom here with her and she is a principal and had the great idea to let the kids make their own ice cream... how was this going to work... well it did... not sure of all the ingredients really but put some sugar, vanilla and milk in a small ziploc which then goes into a larger ziploc that has ice and lots of salt and the kids shake shake shake and throw and throw and within 5 min you have homemade ice cream... and it tasted so good... it really worked.  Here Pierce and Andrew are tossing their bag... 

 

Now time for the "roasting of marshmallows"... And Pierce was happy to leave on his helmet bc he would eat and then go riding... come and eat a bit and then off again.  He always wanted to be ready for the action and downhill scooting.

It is dark now and it was time for the fireworks... Mr. Graham gave everyone the rules of fireworks... it was a serious moment. :-)

Even a team agreement that they understood... now we are ready.

Everyone got a sparkler... several sparklers... 

 

Even the moms... man look at that belly... this is the only blue or red shirt dress that somewhat still covered my body... buy wow... that is a belly... 

First Roman candle of the night... wonder what the security guards are going to say...

And the grand finale put them over the edge... we got cut off from fireworks after this one... but it was worth it.. the boys lined the fence with roman candles and lit them all... 

All the adults with sparklers... Pierce was the photographer but he cut me out of the picture on the right... oh well it is probably best that way... but you can see my sparkler :-)

And Blake was getting brave... at first he was hesitant on getting the fireworks going (we were not sure if we were allowed to do them) but towards the end he was getting into it... so he loaded a bottle full of like 50 sparklers and lit them all on fire... after it singed his arm hair in about 1.5 seconds this is where the bottle ended up... not such a great idea babe.

Another great night with new friends... Happy 4th everyone!

The 4th with friends... just like home.

Earlier I blogged about the weekend before the 4th but since the 4th fell on a Monday this year we got to spend the day (not a public holiday) with friends doing things we would normally do in America... it was a fantastic day..

It started out with Pierce dressed in his PJ's from Aunt JuJu and Uncle KW... and he was so proud of his flag that he colored at the Firework celebration the night before that he slept with it... and here he is so happy in the morning showing it off...

Thank you Aunt JuJu and Uncle KW for my awesome PJ's.


 After breakfast we headed to the park with friends... for a day in the sun... and Pierce was very excited to see a canon... can you tell?

Then we got to the sand playground... where the kids got all hot and sweaty and covered in sand... but there is something to be said about watching children play outside... and enjoying each other... and us moms had a lot of fun too.



Then we took the kids and their scooters and went for a little walk along the board walk... So far on the 4th we have been dressed in red, white and blue, played at the park with friend (even with sand) and now been really close to the water... does it get any better...



Then after the park (before nap time) we decided since it was the 4th... we had to have ice cream... so we headed to McDonald's (for the best and cheapest ice cream in Singapore)... yummy.

After ice cream... we decided no nap but instead we would swim and have hamburgers with friends... and watermelon... wow this is just like home.. we are lovin it...

So the Unruhs came over for a swim and then we got the kids on the balcony for watermelon and hamburgers...


The night just could not end (even though the kids were so tired)... so we popped in a movie and let the kids relax while the parents enjoyed a wonderful night together....

We are really starting to enjoy our 4th of July as Americans in Singapore...