Red, White, and Blue

Well, it turns out Tayla didn't come over (she went to bed early to get some much needed rest as they are all going to see Dora live today!) and Bella was a lil bummed about that but the night was a success!

Bella and I had dorky hats and had made one for Tayla too but Binds ended up wearing up.

The fireworks were on my hat!

The salads were great (and even BETTER today, as macaroni salad gets better the next day) and I had everyone try THOUSAND island on their burgers inpsired by my much missed IN n OUT! (Everyone liked it!)

All in all, I had a great 4th, great American food (I got my moms recipes-if you can call it that, as to what to put in the salads, since I like hers the best!), great drinks (we should've had bud, right?) and everyone wore Red, White and Blue! They did ask if they had to do anything special before dinner... seeing as on the last American Holiday they celebrated they all had to go around the table and say what they were thankful for. I replied, "yup, you have to say why you like me since I'm the only american here".

Oh, and it took Carl a good hour after he got home and the others got here of noticing everyone was wearing RWB and American flags to figure out it was the 4th (I think it was mentioned in conversation). He was like, "I wondered if were having an American welcome party" or something to that nature, it was pretty funny. I guess he wasn't informed of the purpose behind the dinner, just that we were having one!

Independence Day

This 4th of July, I say (well, write) louder than any other, that I'm PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN.

I celebrate this day in our history when we made our declratation of independence from Great Britain with a different level of appreciation after a year abroad.

I've always taken for grantded our given rights and Constituion that most other places do not have. The reason we declared our freedom was because of taxes. That turned into the Constitution and the Bill of Rights that is the foundation of the United States of America that I am PROUD OF.

I now appreciatte what America has and has to offer and even more so after seeing that so many other places have so little.

I never understood why people wanted to come (well, go) to the US until I got out and started to see the rest of the world.

It makes sense. We have the freedoms, the opportunity, and the chance for anyone to have their American 'dream.' People around the world believe that 'if just they could get to America they too could have their American dream.'

I did and do have lots of issues with the US and its policies but that is the same all over the world. I can be sure that my time abroad has opened my eyes and made me feel a special kinship with my homeland that I did not have before.

I celebrate this 4th of July with my Kiwi family, the Muir's. I made good 'ol American style Potato and Macaroni salads to go with our burgers (well, I'm not eating one!) And obviously we're covered from yesterday with dessert! Just like a summer bbq we'll have friends here too, Sue, Brett and Tayla are coming over to partake in all things American. (or to make fun of my cooking, not sure which!) I hear everyone is wearing Red White and Blue... so if thats the case I'll post pics tomorrow (and of all the food!) I'm excited that they're celebrating with me (they celebrated Thanksgiving with their first nanny) and letting me experiment with my new found cooking on them!

Here's a dorky pic of me and some American stuff I found at the car show.. I got pretty excited.. but everyone was laughing at me!


HAPPY 4th EVERYONE... BE SAFE. Don't DRINK AND DRIVE! And don't forget what it means to be an American and be PROUD of what we have (even if gas prices are horrible, I promise it's worse other places!)