I've said it before, and I will say it again, nothing makes you more patriotic and appreciative of the good ol' US of A like living in another country. This is the third time in my life that I have lived abroad. Once when I was a child living in Taiwan, once on my mission to Italy and Malta, and now. Each time I had wonderful experiences, and also each time I have grown a new appreciation for America and all of our many blessings we have just living there. I miss it. I do. Do not get me wrong, I wouldn't trade this experience for the world, it has been amazing, but I really do bleed red, white and blue.
I wanted to really go above and beyond celebrating the 4th this year with the boys, especially since we aren't home in the states, so we started on the 3rd by having a "4th of July Eve Party". I made BBQ chicken, Potato Salad, and a classic American flag fruit pizza.
I also printed out these cute Statue of Liberty hats, cut them out and made the boys wear them for dinner. The older boys were a little put off at first, but they came around. I only have a little while longer that I can probably get away with this nonsense with these big boys. Ok now really, what am I saying? I will always make them do this kinda stuff!
My three cute patriotic boys...
I could seriously gobble them up with a spoon!
Tate on the other hand had no complaints, he was eating all of this up, he loves a good party!
Thatcher made this face for like 5 minutes straight to be smart and goofy...
I really don't know where he gets it.
Tagg-a-lagging Liberty...
What's more American than eating BBQ chicken shirtless? Nothing!
After dinner and dessert we went into the family room and had a good ol' American dance party to such songs as "Independance Day" by Martina McBride, "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" by Toby Keith, etc. Tate loves when we have dance parties and if I am being honest so does Tagg, he really loves to show off his "moves". We got some of the funniest videos during this dance party of these boys shaking what their mama gave them!
We also played "Don't Eat Uncle Sam" with Haribo.
Today was just a regular old day in jolly old England, no holiday for Todd and the boys. Speaking of which, a couple of days ago I totally got Thatcher good! I asked him if they had the 4th of July here in England. He was so disgusted with me for even suggesting such a thing and said, "Uh, no of course not MOM!" with a little put off snort. I then replied, "Oh really? Then what do they do between the 3rd and the 5th?" I then laughed and laughed and mocked him which is one of the many perks of motherhood you know...to relentlessly tease your kids! He thought it was pretty funny and has been repeating it several times since.
I was planning on sending the boys to school today, but when I woke up I just couldn't do it! I mean how un-American to go to school on the 4th of July?! Especially in the land that we got our independence from! So I kept the boys home and we did all the typical American things all day long, like lazed around and watched shows and ate junk food. Ha!
Tonight we met some fellow Americans at Primrose Hill Park for a picnic dinner of KFC and fireworks to celebrate our freedom and independence from the country that we are living in now!! Heck yeah! Okay, maybe just a little awkward. But it's all in good fun.
Fireworks are perfectly legal here in the UK and when I say fireworks I mean, FIREWORKS. Not just sparklers and the poppy things you throw on the ground. No I mean big ol' shoot up in the sky kind of fireworks. We bought a package and met our friends at the park for our celebrations.
It was such a beautiful night...and Tate was loving staying up past his bedtime and all fun...
Our annual 4th of July family picture in our Old Navy flag shirts, I really love this silly tradition.
Sparklers on the 4th of July are such a sweet part of childhood...
Tate drinking Sprite and being not impressed with the sparklers.
Thatcher blowing bubbles for Tate, he is such a sweet kiddo.
A rite of passage, boys learning how to blow things up by their Dad. Aghhh...how sweet. :)
The fireworks were a tad bit scary for Taters, so he resorted to sitting in his buggy and eating popcorn for the rest of the evening. Who could blame him really?
We had so much fun doing all the fireworks and seeing all the other American's who gathered at the park lighting off their fireworks as well. A few Brits seemed a little put off with the whole thing, and one lady even came running out upset at the noise the fireworks were causing and worried it would upset her dogs, and she threatened to call the police on us. But we didn't let a few upset Brits ruin our night, we lit off the fireworks anyway and celebrated being independent and being American!
I'll never forget our 4th of July in London, it was such a great day with amazing weather, beautiful scenery, wonderful company and really a lot of fun. We walked home in the rain happy to be in London, but thankful to be Americans! God bless the USA!
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