Monday, July 4, 2011

4th of July

One of the jokes my fifth graders liked to tell went something like this:

5th Grader #1: Do they have the 4th of July in England?
5th Grader #2: No, dummy, that's an American holiday.
5th Grader #1: Haha! Yes, they do. Every calendar has a 4th of July, they just don't celebrate it there! Hahaha!

Yep, that's a fifth grade joke for you! So, I guess that brings us to....Do they have the 4th of July in the Netherlands? Yes. Do they celebrate it? Well, we will! {Not as funny as the original, I agree.}

Happy Birthday America!

I have always been grateful to live in the "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave." I am grateful to my family and friends who have served in the military to help protect and preserve our freedoms, especially my brother Matt. I am grateful for all the opportunities that just happening to have been born in the U.S.A. has afforded me.

NOT living in the States has really opened both Jay's and my eyes about just how good we have it. Sure, no country is perfect, and the U.S.A. is far from it, but we consider ourselves lucky to call it home and will return from living over here with fresh eyes and a new perspective.

In honor of my country's birthday, I have been freshening up my history knowledge by listening to this class on the American Revolution. It is through Yale University's Open Course program. Over the last couple years they have taped (Is that an antiquated term?) full classes...like the whole semester...and you can view them for free online. They have a wide variety of classes to choose from. Isn't that cool? Anyway, this professor is passionate with a capital P about this time period, so her lectures are fun and full of really interesting new details.

Also to honor our country's declared independence, we will cook something very American for dinner. I think we'll have hot dogs.

**Update: The grocery store didn't have any hot dog buns, so we did the next "Most American" eating experience we could think of....fast food. We celebrated our land and our freedom at Burger King. Happy 4th of July!


Tot ziens!


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