Independence Day

Celebrating July 4th in another country is always interesting. It's a big deal to us, but the rest of the country just goes on as normal because the holiday means nothing to them. So everything off base is just business as usual, and because most of this base is run by Portuguese, a lot of stuff on base was open normal hours too. So in the morning we ran around and did some errands and a little shopping and sightseeing off base. The base celebration started at 4pm and had bouncy castles and food booths and that kind of thing, there was live music and of course fireworks at 10:30.

We let Colin bounce his brains out for a while, then pigged out on yummy stuff like burgers, nachos, kebabs and lumpia. We did skip the fried Twinkies and fried Oreos though, gross! I thought it was totally ironic that the medical squadron was the booth selling the fried sweets, shouldn't they be promoting healthier food choices? Anyway we ate and then headed home to rest up and relax for a while. Closer to 8:30 we went back to the festival and let Colin jump some more. Our neighbor made a very good point to the event sponsors that the alcohol tent was WAY too far away from the bouncy castle heaven/kid area. The parents stuck with all those tired, bounced out kids need the drinks the most and shouldn't have to walk across the festival to get them! Once it got dark they started selling light up, glowing, flashing toys in all shapes and sizes. I knew as soon as I laid eyes on the flashy light saber thing I'd be coughing up some cash to keep my kid happy. Thankfully it only set me back 5 bucks and Colin was thrilled. He and Daddy played with their light saber swords while waiting for the fireworks...

I was impressed Colin made it all the way up to 10:30 without being too devilish and awful. He was tired by the time it was all over though and was eager to get inside and get in his bed once we finally made it home. The firework show was very good, one of the better ones I've seen. It went to music and was very well done.