4th of July 2018

Ahh... Summer break!

That time of year when I think I'm going to be able to play catch up on the blog because I'm not running backwards and forwards between school and kid activities all day. Ha! With three kids home all day (and still plenty of kid appointments and activities to attend) I think I'm even busier than usual. But I'm making it a priority to catch up on the blog because I have a ton of fun stuff to share with you all.

First up let's take a look back at last week's 4th of July celebration...

As usual, we spent much of the holiday at the festival at Berkeley Marina. We ate corn dogs, went on pony rides and bounce houses, made animal friends in the petting zoo, watched some fun performances, and soaked up all the red, white and blue spirit of the day. Oh, and took a ton of silly photos! 

Fourth of July 2016

This past Monday we celebrated our fifth Fourth of July since we moved to America. I still can't believe that we've been here for almost five years! All three of my girls have now spent more time living in America than they have in Australia. 

Like we've done in the past we spent the afternoon at the festival held at Berkeley Marina. Before we headed down to the marina the girls played construction workers and built the White House. No, not out of Lego or blocks, but out of cookies! I couldn't resist when I saw this White House cookie kit at Trader Joe's. Just like a gingerbread house for Christmas! It doesn't look quite as nice as the real thing but it sure does look tasty!

Fourth of July in Australia

This year we celebrated Fourth of July with a big party at my parents' house in Adelaide, South Australia. Even though we were out of the country we still wanted to celebrate America's birthday with our little American girl. Plus it seemed like a great excuse to throw a big party with friends and family!

Despite the fact that it's Winter here in Australia, we were lucky to have a great day weather wise. Not quite the Summery weather we're used to for Fourth of July, but the sun was shining and the rain stayed away. Perfect for a back yard party.  

DIY: Hand Coloured Wired Head Scarves

I've been feeling a little behind the ball lately when it comes to crafting and getting creative. Trust me, I've been trying but the combination of the two big girls home ALL DAY and Mathilde keeping me up at nights is starting to get to me. Ok, it's not "starting" to get to me, it's been dragging me down for weeks.

When Fourth of July rolled around again for another year it really hit me just how behind I've been getting with my crafting. Usually I'd be working on something red, white and blue for the girls to celebrate the day with but there was none of that this year. No hand print flags, no fireworks crafts, no confetti rockets... Ok, I did set the bar a little high last year! Anyway, after a few hours away from the kids on the eve of the Fourth (time off to take a diabetes test - all clear), my brain was feeling a little less frazzled and I came up with a relatively quick and easy craft project to work on with the big girls to show a little American spirit. After all, I couldn't let my American daughter's first ever Fourth of July go past without making something red, white and blue.

So here it is, my quick and easy craft project: Hand coloured wired head scarves.

Happy 4th of July (just a little late...)

It's a little late but here's a look at our 4th of July for this year.

Now that we actually have an American in our family it felt so much more important that we celebrate 4th of July - not that Mathilde had any idea what was going on of course!

Like the last few years (which you can see here and here) we decked ourselves out in red, white and blue and headed down to Berkeley Marina for the 4th of July celebration. We ate festival food, the kids played on bouncy castles and obstacle courses and we soaked in the sun as we took in the sights and sounds of the celebration.

Ava and Lola love giving their little sister big cuddles so there was plenty of love being heaped on Mathilde as we sat in the sun. And maybe just a little fighting over who was going to hold her. Mathilde enjoys the attention from her big sisters but her absolute favourite thing at the moment is standing up with Mummy. She locks those little legs of hers and holds her arms up in a triumphant "hey, look at me!" pose, usually with a pretty big smile on her face. It's absolutely adorable how proud of herself Mathilde looks when she "stands".

Happy 4th of July 2013

Happy 4th of July!

I can't believe we're already celebrating our second 4th of July here in America. It doesn't seem that long ago that we were celebrating our first.

Today we celebrated in much the same way we did last year. We headed down to the marina here in Berkeley for junk food and carnival rides at the 4th of July festival before heading home to watch the fireworks from the roof of our building.

Here's a look at our day of red, white and blue fun...

Hanging out at Berkeley Marina

Hand Print Flags for 4th of July

Another 4th of July craft today...

Back in November the girls and I made hand print turkeys and we've been eager to make something similar ever since. Searching through Pinterest for 4th of July craft ideas I came across just the thing: hand print American flags!

Ava's hand print flag

Hand print flags

These flags were really simple and lots of fun to make. Anything that involves covering your hands with paint is always fun!

Kid Friendly Fireworks

4th of July is almost here again. Just four more days away.

We had originally thought that we'd be spending this 4th of July holiday in Canada waiting for our new visas to be issued. As it turns out, the recent floods in Calgary (where we were booked in for our visa appointment) caused the US Consulate to close down for over a week - right when our visa appointment was booked. For now we're waiting to hear back from the consulate with a new visa appointment. Unless the consulate can squeeze us in early this week (and we can manage to rebook flights, accommodation and car hire at such short notice), it looks like we'll be here in Berkeley to celebrate 4th of July. 

In preparation for celebrating 4th of July the girls and I spent this afternoon up on our roof deck creating some red, white and blue crafts.

Our projects for today: kid friendly fireworks...

Ava with one of her fireworks creations

Happy 4th of July

Yesterday was our first 4th of July here in America.

We spent most of the day at the 4th of July celebration at the Berkeley Marina. The girls went on pony rides and bouncy castles, we ate corn dogs and drank strawberry lemonade, we watched kites flying and bands playing and generally had a nice day in the sun.

The girls with their American flags and pinwheels

First up we hit the food stands for corn dogs. Much tastier than expected.

Two corn dogs please...

Mmm... hotdog on a stick!

Ava eats her corn dog

Lola attacks the corn dog!

After lunch we soaked in the sights - and a little sun - while the girls played on the grass.

Berkeley Marina

Lola seemed to enjoy pushing Ava around in circles - again and again and again...

Ava and Lola 

Spin that pinwheel

The girls were so excited when they discovered that there would be pony rides. However when it actually came to it Lola freaked out and refused to get on a pony! I wasn't surprised; I'd half expected this reaction from Lola. She had never seen a real pony up close before. As far as Lola was concerned ponies are small, brightly coloured creatures that live in the mythical land of Equestria. Hmm... that could be My Little Pony !

Ava ended up taking Lola's turn and had two rides on different ponies. Lola in turn, was happy enough to walk along side of the pony. Of course, afterwards Lola would not stop talking about her "poby ride"! That's right, she calls ponies "pobies"!

Pony ride!

Pony ride number two

After pony rides it was off to the bouncy castles. Lola was pretty excited to go on a "Bob Bob Pear Pants" bouncy castle - that's Sponge Bob Square Pants for those of you who don't speak Toddler. Ava went on a bouncy obstacle course and a giant bouncy slide.

Sliding down the obstacle course

Bouncy obstacle course

Bouncy climbing

Lola was pretty excited about the bouncy castle

From the Marina we headed over to nearby Cesar Chavez Park where there was plenty of kite flying up on the windy hill. The girls loved playing with their pinwheels and little flags in the wind.

Flag waving

Lots of kites and lots of wind

It was pretty windy

Ava and her pinwheel

Lola and her pinwheel

In the evening we went home and watched the fireworks around the Bay Area from our roof top garden - along with what seemed like every other person in our apartment building. It was a little busier on the roof than it had been on New Year's Eve when there were only about a dozen of us watching the fireworks.

As always, the fireworks were pretty. Lots of red, white and blue. This time round there were fireworks to be seen in almost every direction. We could see the fireworks displays at the Berkeley Marina, Pier 39 in San Francisco, Oakland, somewhere on the Marin Headlands and various other locations.

As always it was pretty cold up on the roof so we rugged up in jackets and beanies. Ah... Summer in the Bay Area!

Kaboom!

So pretty

Pretty again 

Blue and white

Red, white and blue

These ones were pretty spectacular

More red, white and blue

Very bright flashes

A bit of everything leading up to the finale

The finale

More of the finale

Happy 4th of July!