Fourth of July

We, along with three other families in our small group and a group of student volunteers, celebrated the Fourth of July on a secluded beach on the Black Sea. I wouldn't say that we celebrated the signing of the Declaration of Independence exactly, but we made up our own festivities with swimming, cooking out, exploring, and s'mores over a bonfire. No fireworks, no patriotic songs, no BBQ pork, no red-white-blue decorations, etc. It was more like an excuse to have a party on the beach :-) For G and I, I doubt that we'd even notice it was a holiday if someone hadn't gotten the idea to go to the beach for the afternoon and watch the sunset with s'mores over a bonfire.

The beach we went to was similar to the one we went to at Easter (see post here). The water was clear, shimmering blue and green in the sun, and the calm waves were very nice. I especially enjoyed swimming, which gave such a buoyant relief from my big belly. I vote the sea to be better than the pool for prenatal swimming. A had a blast swimming, playing in the sand with other kids, floating on the raft, and enjoying her very first s'more. She was one tired, salty, sandy little girl when we finally went home after the sun set at 8:45 pm. G had fun, too.

All in all, it was a good Fourth, even though it didn't feel like the Fourth. It occurred to me as I type this that it could be years before A experiences a genuine Fourth of July celebration in the States with fireworks, parades, horseshoe/cornhole games, BBQ pork, thick layers of bug spray, watermelon seed spitting contests, in-your-face red-white-blue decorations everywhere, etc.

Sunset on the Black Sea: love the shades of purple

I hope you all had a good Fourth.