We had an excellent 4th of July weekend, even though it may have been on of the firsts in years where I haven't been out on a boat, or in a pool, or on a river, or involving the water of some kind. But regardless, it was a great time. The weekend started out with a fun BBQ get-together at our neighbors house. We have an excellent neighborhood that consists of about 7 (childless!) couples who love to get together often and usually take turns hosting everybody. This time it was Jim and Andrea who hosted and it was the usual neighborhood group, plus a bunch of friends from Andrea's work. Since she is not in the same squadron as Dereck and many of our friends, it was fun to meet new people.
Saturday was the big 4th of July celebration on base (even though it was on the 3rd for some reason). They had a large hanger decked out with decorations, a giant stage with live music, free hot-dogs, burgers, and all the fixings, and lots of games for the kids. There was a pie and cake contest that was excellent (we got to eat the entries after judging was done) and thought my friend Chelsea's pie didn't win, I thought it was fabulous. Its nice to have friends who are such talented bakers! We enjoyed the festivities and hoped to win some of the awesome raffle prizes (which included a laptop, a snowboard, and 2 round trip tickets to anywhere in the states!!!) but of course, we didn't win. It was fun to watch the winners run up on the stage though!
Come sunset, we headed over to the squadron building to continue eating (I ate SOOO much food...ugh) and drinking and preparing to watch the fireworks. The building was opened for all of us to sit on the roof for the best view! Here are some photos of everybody up on the roof:
Dereck and me in our Red White & Blue outfits!
Dereck with some of our friends: Chelsea, Adam, Cari, & Julie
Friends out on the roof before the fireworks!
We all had a fun time drinking and hanging out waiting for the fireworks, and it was worth the wait. The show lasted about 25 minutes and had the beautiful scenery of the C-130s all lined up in the flightline to compliment the beautiful bursts of light. I didn't take any pictures of the fireworks but I found a great one online to share with you. So here is the finale! I did NOT take this photo, but found it online at the Yokota AB website:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!!
It was amazing to us how even though we were thousands of miles away, living in another country, we felt the same pride and love of our country as we did on past 4th of July's where we were actually in America. Perhaps we even felt it more, knowing how far away we were. We love Japan and we are enjoying living here, but there is nothing like the good 'ole US of A!
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