"Today we celebrate our Independence Day!"

Name that movie! One of Kyle's favorite B list actors and two of mine...Jeff Goldblum (Kyle and me) and Bill Pullman (me), are in it. :) Independence Day!

Before I fill you in on how we celebrated our 4th, I need to fill you in on our house guest.  We are hosting an Australian Captain at our house for 10 days, the 1st through the 10th.  He is going on RIMPAC (RIM of the PACific) with Kyle.  They are going on a Mexican ship called the USS Essex.  It's an amphibious ship that can load ships and most importantly, AAV's from the water :)

The Essex

Ken has been a great guest.  He has taught us a lot about Australia, like their government, people (specifically, aboriginals), and places to see.  I'm getting a great little history lesson about Australia, while he lives here.  He's got a great accent too, that I actually need to pay close attention to cause it's hard to understand sometimes.  It's just crazy how we both speak English, but the vocabulary we use can be so different.  For example, he uses "cheers" to say "thank you", "blokes" for "idiot", "mate" for "friend", "petrol" for "gasoline".

So, for our 4th of July, we wanted Ken to experience a typical 4th.  In the morning we got up and went to Pyramid Rock, a beach on base, so Kyle and Ken could boogy board and I could catch some rays.

Pyramid Rock. Beautiful Independence Day Morning.

After our relaxing morning, we got ready and went to a BBQ at our next door neighbors, Rachael and Derek's.  They BBQ'd ribs and they were de-licious! They are both from Texas and know how to BBQ :) The food and company were great! :)

Relaxing till the ribs are ready

Rach pulling the tasty ribs off the grill.

Ribs, watermelon, coleslaw, chips and queso, and cake.  What could be better? :)

When it was time to eat the cute American Flag cake, we took it inside because it started drizzling.  The movie, Independence Day, started playing and we asked Ken if he'd seen it.  He said yes with a little smirk. So, we told him there's nothing more patriotic than watching America fight Aliens :) 

After a traditional 4th of July BBQ, we wanted Ken to experience a firework show, so we drove into Honolulu.  Boy, was it crowded! But Ken enjoyed the show and said it was one of the biggest he'd seen :) But Kyle and I kept comparing to last year when we were in Washington D.C. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial...that firework show was AMAZING! I'll definitely want to go back and experience that again someday.

Before heading into Honolulu. Happy 4th!

Kyle and Ken being nice and posing for my picture :)

Beautiful buildings with the sun reflection

Spectacular evening!

Before the firework show at Ala Moana Park

I LOVE FIREWORKS! :)

I think Ken enjoyed his first ever 4th of July.  It was fun being able to give him an American holiday experience.  Hope you all had a fun and safe Independence Day!  I'll leave you with one of the best speeches from a movie and what I opened up with :)