Fourth of July in Ascope

In late June, one of my English teacher friends, who is also one of my most helpful socios, asked me to help him throw a party for the 4th of July. He told me he has always wanted to do this, but has never had the time or knowledge of the holiday to make it happen. After some enthusiastic brainstorming and some task delegating with the students, we were on our way to the first ever 4th of July bash in Ascope. 

Like usual, I prefer to show you the pictures rather than babble about the party. But I will say that this was an excellent group effort. One class was in charge of food, another class took care of the music, and another handled the history and decorations. My afternoon classes did the souvenirs, games, and invitations. In the end, it came together perfectly and we had a great party. 

On a personal note, this party was one of those things I needed that I didn't realize I needed until after it was over. I love the 4th of July and summer in Wisconsin. If it weren't for this little party, I think I would have been very sad on the Fourth. During the gathering, I shared pictures of you guys with the students. Pictures from past Fourths and just summer in general. I showed off Bridget's family, good times at Spider Lake, bonfires, fresh berries from Bryan's little backyard collection, the kids with sparklers, golfing with Igler, and more. They were impressed by Bridget's Fourth of July strawberries and pictures of Noah's Ark. It was great to be able to share things like that with them. They always ask me if it's nice where I'm from and when they saw things like Bill and Bridget's lawn and summer flowers or pictures from a camping trip to the UP, they were like, "Wooowwww! Bien bonito!" So now they know that, yes, it is very nice where I'm from :) 

It was hard to choose which pictures to share, so you get a whole pile of them this time around. Hope you like them :) 

Invitations made by my afternoon classes. 

My class making a map of the US. 

The beautiful cake the senior girls made! 

Our spread. I told them that it is common to eat fruits, vegetables, chips, etc. 

I also told them that red, white, and blue jello treats are common. 

Those are red & white jello cups back there. They couldn't find blue jello, so they put blue sprinkles on top. 

Our map. 

Souvenirs! 

Somehow they found this super long version of the National Anthem...

Language games. 

Me and Professor Jhonnie with our giant pieces of cake.

Me and the gang. 

Laptop present for music. We can't do anything without music ;)