You're A Grand Ol' Flag!

You're a high flying flag and forever in peace may you wave.....
You're the emblem of... the land I love... the home of the free and brave!
Every HEART BEATS TRUE for the RED, WHITE and BLUE where there's never a boast or fear....
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, keep your eye on the grand old flag!

I'm not sure WHY but growing up, this was my FAVORITE patriotic song. Yankee Doodle had nothing on this song because it was so fun, especially to sing it as fast as you possibly can and to bang your heart as hard as you could on all the "HEART BEATS TRUE" (three beats please) part. How I love this country and that I'm America in American (said with a Texas slang). How I love the freedoms that we enjoy. I don't think we stop to think about them long enough nor do we recognize how amazing it is to have these freedoms. It is this freedom that allowed the gospel to be restored, this freedom that led my parents here to seek a better future for their future family, and this freedom that allowed me, an ABC (American born Chinese) to get an education, go on to work, find the gospel, get baptized, get married, have a baby, and blog right now as I wish! That is insane if you truly think about the many places that are still fighting for a simple freedom such as religion.

I love love LOVE the Fourth of July. And for someone who absolutely LOVES this holiday that celebrates our country and the many freedoms we have, you'd expect some more festive planning on my part (think red white and blue desserts, matching outfits for the family, etc.). Instead, pragmatic and cheap ol' me made lemonade (pretty American, no?), banana pudding (more Southern), cut up tons of fruit (more from my Asian momma), and made a ton of sorta salsa (my mother in law's recipe that is easy, delicious and delightful!). So sadly, my Fourth of July did not consist of much cuteness but there is always next year! Instead, it did consist of some good ol' family fun with BBQ-ing, pooltime, miserable eastside LA heat and lots of sun!

For the record, it was absolutely scorching. There was just no escaping the rays of sunshine shining down on my pockets, keeping them full but hey, there's been worse situations. Unfortunately, my rainbow flip flop tan has only worsened but some whitening face masks ought to do the trick of my face getting darker (it's a Chinese thing for me, I just hate getting dark in the face). The only disappointment besides getting darker than I wanted was not taking the spontaneous adventure up north to see the McKissicks. It's always hard to plan with Andy's med school schedule and we found out Tuesday before the weekend, that he was getting the Fourth of July off and subsequently, that he would also get the Friday before the weekend off. That's a four day weekend for us with him! But for once, we had plans (for the ENTIRE weekend.. we're such social butterflies sometimes...) and even with the lure of them sponsoring our trip with paid gas, food and even tickets to the A's game and fireworks show, we had to regretfully decline the generous offer.

Here in la-la land, we did enjoy hanging out with Andy's med school buddies, watching all three parts of the trilogy Infernal Affairs (which is what The Departed was based- sorry, ripped off of), discovering Jordan absolutely adores nature and will do tummy time forever if he can look at the trees, watching Andy play in a softball game (he had some awesome plays we missed but we caught the last catch of the game!) BBQing, and as I mentioned above, soaking in the rays (I got a pocket got a pocket full of sunshine.....) and one of my favorite moments - watching the South Pasadena High School firework show for free from a park nearby that Andy recalled with Jordan sleeping through his first ever firework show (way to go son.. hahaha).

Next year, I'll aim for more red, white and blue food and a flag or star theme, matching outfits for the family and maybe Jordan will stay awake for the firework show and we can have some patriotic song singing too! - first on the list, You're a Grand Ol' Flag! I am so terribly thankful for my freedoms. I hope you are too. Happy Fourth of July!