The 4th Festivities

We always enjoy the 4th of July here because we can essentially celebrate it in the same way we would in America.  Holidays here in general can be a bit disappointing, what with the lack of family and 80 degree Christmas parties, but Independence Day is all about warm weather, grilling with family and friends, and perhaps some lawn games.

Yesterday the McNeals came over for the day and we were joined by a couple of friends, James and Meg, from Mwanza.

We played some cards while the kids swam.  We listened to bluegrass music while grilling good old fashioned hamburgers.  We even had our second annual July 4th bocce ball tournament.  

We ended our day with a lot of eating: hamburgers, baked beans, pasta salad, onion straws, watermelon, and of course, star shaped, red, white, and blue cookies with ice cream (Holly's our master baker -- she even made the sprinkles from scratch).

Baylor didn't want to go to bed, but we finally got her down in her holidayesque pajamas after several hugs and kisses.