The Colliers Down Under: Stars and Stripes forever....

Spending the 4th of July in another country is a bit odd. There were the obvious differences:

1. Not a National Holiday, so the kids were in school and Dustin was at work =(
2. No fireworks...and you cannot shoot off your own, so no sparklers even.
3. I was in long sleeves and jeans instead of sweating my bottom off.

Now just because there were differences does not mean the day went uncelebrated. In fact, many moms told me Happy 4th of July....I thought that was nice. In fact I was asked by Addie's teacher to come in that day and make something "American" for the kids. I was a bit stuck as to what to make because anything that was truly American I could not make in 25 minutes, i could not get the ingredients here, or contained Peanut Butter...which is not allowed in school. I really wanted to make Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches for the kids cut out in star shapes, however I did not want to get the teacher in trouble for me bringing a banned item to school ;) So took my mother's advice (as I always should!), and made a white cake decorated as the American flag with strawberries and blueberries. Turns out my version of white cake was a bit different than they are used too, so they really enjoyed helping decorate the stars and stripes of the cake.

While they were eating their cake, I told them about PB&J sandwiches....there were intrigued that we eat "jam" with our peanut butter on bread. They usually eat PB with honey if not plain.

Morgan's class did not even really talk about the 4th. She knew what the day was, and we decided to start our day off by singing the "Star Spangled Banner" on the way to school....twice. We then recited the Pledge of Allegiance just to make sure we did not forget it!

Instead of celebrating that day, the previous Sunday, we attended a picnic hosted by the American's Women Club. Not knowing what to expect, everyone was pleasantly surprised and had a great day. It was held at a local park and had hotdogs, hamburgers, COKE, Budweiser, ice cream, activities for the kids, and more. They also had several choices of American candy....hubba bubba, Reece's Peanut Butter cups, and the elusive Krispy Kremes. It was incredible how many people love those doughnuts. I was not a huge fan of glazed doughnuts back home so I could not see spending $25 for a dozen here.

We spent the day with two other families from Houston. Their kids and our kids ran around jumping, playing, running....just being kids enjoying the gorgeous weather.

While we were not in the country to celebrate the Independence of our country, we did remember the day and how lucky we are to be AMERICANS. Next year though I am smuggling in some sparklers....