July 4th- the Holiday that (Almost) Isn't

We didn't come to Peru with any illusions that the United States' independence day would be a celebratory event.  We are only in Peru for one 4th of July and so it's not a big deal to miss it.  (Besides, the Peruvian independence day celebrations are the end of this month, so it's kind of like we'll still get an independence day celebration a few weeks late.)

There is an expat community here, but we didn't have any specific plans and there wasn't a general 4th of July party to attend.  We thought about trying to have something, but we had a big garage sale on July 5th, so that put the concept of running two large events back to back as something that should not be attempted.
I made star shaped sugar cookies and picked out the red, white and blue stars from a set of sprinkles.  Coupled with red and blue frosting (I forgot to keep any of the frosting white....oops) we had a child friendly patriotic hands-on event.

Our patriotic cookie activity

We never said we were professionals but they slipped down quite easily

Our pictures are not high quality this time around-
there was more happiness than depicted here.

Miss Sugar-kins had happy faces the whole time.

I managed to cobble together a patriotic ensemble for Little A (who promptly destroyed the pants with a diaper explosion after refusing to get her picture taken).  I thought about and decided against bringing any clearly US themed clothing with us (reasoning that we were in another country and it wasn't necessary to advertise from whence we came, and I couldn't justify the space for something we might wear once or twice).

The best picture I got before the diaper incident.
Red and white striped shirt and jeans with stars.

What I wasn't expecting is that people at M's school would not only know it was our independence day but do something to celebrate it!  M's teachers gave her gifts (a paper US flag from her English teacher and a bookmark and purse from her classroom teacher).  Another mom who is a Peruvian married to an American gave her a cupcake with a US flag stuck in the top.  And many people wished me happy independence day when Little A and I went to pick up Miss M.  Unexpectedly nice.

Miss M's muffin that was given by another mom at school

We missed the fireworks display, fun events in the park, and especially grilled food (we don't have a grill here and it's basically impossible to buy a good burger from restaurants here) but we look forward to celebrating next year shortly after our return.  Both girls will probably even be old enough to stay up for and enjoy the fireworks display!