4th Festivities

The 4th of July has come and gone and our flag is now put away for safe keeping until next year. That makes me a little sad, but I remain grateful for the opportunity to show my patriotism for the last few days. Here are some photos taken during the last few days...

We enjoyed seeing so many red, white & blue decorations in the tents and booths.


The Air Force squadron manned a food booth selling BBQ sandwiches, hotdogs and Frito chili pies. Of course we bought our dinner from them. I have such fond memories of making and selling Frito chili pies with the squadron spouses' group in Dover, DE. I couldn't pass up a pie! They weren't prepared quite the same as ours, but they were still good and brought about some nostalgic memories.


M and I attended the base Independence Day celebration. Here M sits and watches the Andalucian horse show.


The horse, with the aid of his rider, and the woman perform a dance together.

Here's a short video clip of the performance...




This is the other horse and rider we watched. M got a little antsy during this show, so we departed the bleachers and headed to a more exciting area...

... the Land of Bounce!

Here's M enjoying the obstacle course. He's the one wearing the red hat...



This was a rather funny and unique way to raise money. People paid to have other people "jailed" for a certain period of time, and I guess the items listed on the sign were available to "detainees" for a price.


A neighbor of mine gets hauled to jail.


The two jailbirds on the right are neighbors of ours. I kept a low profile and managed to steer clear of jail.

We stayed for the fireworks display, but I didn't take any photos. I always find that photos taken of fireworks don't turn out well, not my photos anyway. I just relaxed and watched the fireworks with M and our friends.

The following photos capture my efforts in displaying a little patriotism at home...

I was really psyched to be able to fly the American flag at the house. My hubby was thoughtful enough to locate the flag and prepare it to be flown, although he was unfortunately unable to be here to see it.


I was thrilled that the "God Bless America" door topper could be used on our patio door. The patriotic scarecrow wreath was actually given to us as a wedding gift nearly 14 years ago. It definitely holds sentimental value for me.


We placed small American flags in our Spanish tile window boxes too.

The 4th festivities were full of fun and memorable moments for my son and me. I only wish the other half of our family had been here to share it with us. I hope your Independence Day was spent enjoying family and friends, making some wonderful memories and giving thanks and honor to those who so long ago fought and sacrificed in the name of freedom.

Stars & Stripes Forever

It's the 4th of July and I've never been so happy to fly the American flag. Living on a Spanish military base means we're not permitted to fly our nation's flag EXCEPT for a few days during the first week in July. Funny how simple things like flying a flag can take on a whole new meaning when one's circumstances change.

I'd very much taken for granted my freedom to fly the American flag before moving to Spain. When we lived in the States, we flew the flag virtually every day, depending on the weather. It's just something we've always done. Our home isn't totally complete without the flag. The main reason behind our desire to fly the Stars and Stripes is because we're a military family. Patriotism is alive and well in our home.

Our military base held a flag raising ceremony on Thursday, 2 July. My youngest son and I attended and I'm so glad we did. The other two members of our family were in different parts of the world... one in England at Boy Scout camp and the other in the Middle East on official business. Sure wish they could have been here to watch the ceremony with us.


Officials are in place in anticipation of the raising of the American flag, our nation's symbol of freedom.


Military members were in uniform, standing in formation, waiting to see Old Glory.


I love watching the flag being unfurled. It's always, as it should be, handled with great care and reverence.


They're getting ready to raise her.


There she goes! I already had tears in my eyes at this point. How can one not be moved by the raising of the flag? I can't help but think of the courage and sacrifice of those who came before us, fighting for the freedom we enjoy today.


I felt such exhilaration to see our nation's beautiful flag waving in the breeze on foreign soil. It's a great privilege to fly her here and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to witness this event. As the Star Spangled Banner played, tears just flowed. I always get choked up hearing our national anthem, but it seemed more dramatic and meaningful to me on this day.


Thought we were finished, huh? We attended another flag raising following the official base ceremony, and this time my son participated. Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts joined together for this event, thus M wore his uniform.


The boys posed with the official base flag first. The Scouts were given permission to lower this flag for a short time so they could perform their ceremony, and then it was once again raised.


Saluting the flag


The boys helped prepare their flag to be raised.


The Scouts' flag was considerably smaller than the base flag, but it's equally nice to see it flying.


After the Cub Scouts' flag was lowered, they were shown how to fold it properly.


The Boy Scouts performed their own flag raising ceremony while the Cub Scouts watched and saluted.

Check out the video...



There were six Scouts altogether, three Boy Scouts and three Cub Scouts. M is on the far right. They were a small group for sure, but lots of kids, my oldest included, were at camp, and others were traveling or had recently moved.


M and I pose together.

Happy Independence Day, everyone! Fly your flags with pride today and every day. God Bless America!

Elvis Sighting

NEWS FLASH - The latest alleged Elvis sighting is reported to have been approximately two weeks ago in a little bar in Rota, Spain. Who knew Elvis liked tapa hopping and Cruzcampo?

Potty Time

Are you able to discern when your kid needs to go to the bathroom? Without any words being spoken between the two of you, are you able to figure out that Little Jimmy needs to make a trip to the potty?

I totally know when my boys need to go! Their body language says it all. It's not as if they physically hold themselves... it's their overall body movement. I call it the pee-pee dance.

A couple of nights ago, before going to bed, I asked my youngest son if he needed to go to the bathroom. He said he didn't need to go, and not two seconds later, he said, "Oh wait! Yes, I do need to go."

When the little man returned from doing his business, he asked me how I knew he needed to go to the bathroom. I just smiled and said, "Son, moms just know these things... trust me."

And we do just know these things, don't we?

Summer Reading

I've been reading like a fiend lately and I'm enjoying every minute. During the school year when the boys are busy with homework assignments, sports, Scouts, etc., it's hard to find the time to just sit and read a book for pleasure. I'm making the most of my summer and reading as much as I can.

Right now I'm on a James Patterson kick. I was given several of his paperbacks in a book exchange with my oldest son's teacher. I'm currently reading Kiss the Girls, which is actually one of Patterson's older books. I've seen the movie based on the book too, so I had somewhat of an idea of the storyline from the get-go, however, you and I know that books and movies aren't always the same, and books are generally better. I've noticed James Patterson has LOTS of newer books out, and I'll probably eventually read them all as I really enjoy his writing, however, I'm tempted to stray to another popular series of books that has people everywhere talking... The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer seems to be the rage right now, for women of all ages too. I might have to discover what all the fuss is about for myself.

So... I'm curious... what are YOU reading this summer?

Invitations, Donations & Facebooking... in that order!

Spring and early summer appear to be the season for receiving lots of invitations to lots of different events... graduations, birthday parties, 4th of July blow-outs, change of command ceremonies. You name it... we've been invited.

It's nice to be invited to special events, wouldn't you agree? I'm happy to be included, most of the time anyway. Sometimes, however, I'd simply rather be omitted from the guest list.

I'm really not trying to be petty, but honestly, why do some folks send invitations to people they don't even really know? I shouldn't speak for anyone else, but I will give my own opinion here.

Invitations = Gifts

If I know you or your family very well, then by all means, send me an invitation to your bash. I'll do my best to be there or at least acknowledge the occasion sooner or later. But if I've met you once 10 years ago and barely know your family, please just cross my name off of your guest list. Get a clue! It's not a great honor to be invited to the high school graduation of an old friend who never contacts me otherwise. Trust me, the message to the recipient is so loud and clear, you might as well just include the words "I want a gift from you" on your invitation. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that IS what you're after, right?

Along the same lines are the endless number of people who seem to think it's perfectly okay to hit others up to support them in some charity event in which they are participating. Again... if we know one another, it's okay to contact me to ask for a donation, and I'll happily oblige. Heck, I may even participate myself! However, if you never acknowledge my existence for any other reason, just lose my phone number, email and snail mail address. In case no one has ever told you... that's in poor taste and downright tacky.

Oh yeah... one more thing, while I'm complaining. I'm on a roll! Why quit now? Please don't send me Facebook messages wanting to be my friend if all you're interested in doing is sending me information about your business or your political or religious views. You're entitled to your opinion and I respect that, and I might actually be interested in hearing about it if you were sincere in wanting my friendship to begin with. If I don't respond to anything you send me, you'll know why.

I've obviously needed to express my thoughts on these situations for a while now. Sorry for being so direct, but I do feel much better now.

When life hands you lemons...

... make lemonade!


Life didn't really hand me lemons... I bought some at the commissary after my cousin posted a Facebook message about making fresh-squeezed lemonade. It sounded so refreshing, therefore I asked her for the recipe. If lemonade doesn't say "Summer," I don't know what does! It's simple, but delicious, so I'm sharing it with you...




FRESH-SQUEEZED LEMONADE

Ingredients:
4-5 large lemons
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 quarts water

Directions:
Cut 4 lemons in half and squeeze juice from each half into a 2-quart pitcher, removing all seeds from the pitcher. Add sugar and water; stir. Slice remaining lemon, removing seeds, and use for garnish if desired. I just allow the lemon slices to float in the lemonade. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Yum!

Enjoy! You can thank me later.