Celebrating the 4th in Ameri-Pan

While both Dave and Amree and ourselves live outside the US, our experiences are much different. Becca kept commenting that it didn't really feel like we were in another country in most ways, but in some ways it did. Before long, she coined the phase "Ameri-Pan" (for America-Japan). And she was right. Living so close to the navy base, and especially on the base provides a much different experience than what we are used to. No one really stares at you (because there are so many Americans), there is tons of familiar things available (especially food), and because of this it just has a bit of a different feel to it.

Because I had been up most of the night with Dave and Amree, I spent much of the morning napping. After lunch we headed out to a park with fountains and an old Japanese navy ship. We explored the ship, found a great playground, then headed to the base to eat dinner with Dave. We then finished our day off with ice cream and fireworks. What a terrific 4th!

Nothing better on a hot day than playing in a fountain.

I particularly enjoy Josh's pose (of course my boy is sporting a gun), but what is Becca doing?

Becca and Josh were pointing at a sailboat in the water, but umm T, where are you pointing?

My favorite quote of the day. . . Tori came running over to me and grumped, "Mom, that little girl just stole my machine gun!"

Josh practicing with the guns. Such a boy!

Eating Baskin Robbins while watching the fireworks

Our princess couldn't resist dancing because as she said, "The fireworks are so beautiful, I want to dance with them."