Today is the 4th of July. As I have mentioned, sometimes it can be quite strange living somewhere that doesn’t celebrate your typical holidays. Gabe is also out of town on business. Since he doesn’t get US holidays (only Swiss), he had a work trip starting Monday and landing at midnight tonight.
I didn’t want to let the day escape without celebrating. Luckily, some of the other ladies were up for getting together to recognize Independence Day.
M had suggested Genève Plage (Plage = Beach in French). She and some of her mom group friends had gotten season passes as it provided a good kid-friendly meet up place, just about a mile outside of Geneva. I had never been before, so I was excited to try it out and purchased a single entry at 7 CHF.
A view of Genève Plage from the water
So, we found a nice shady spot to spend the afternoon.
Our 4th of July Headquarters
Everyone dressed in fun 4th of July clothes. The moms of us had to get their kid’s clothing on trips to the US long before the actual 4th of July. Something that you take for granted!
All the little ones were dressed so cute
Miss Yoga is from Japan, but we were so glad she joined us for our Independence Day celebration. Check out the yummy food she made, blending Japanese tradition with USA flair.
4th of July bento sushi – white rice, orange crab, black seaweed and little stars!! Cute and yummy!
Caprese bites and deviled eggs with fish eggs
K made cherry pie pockets, so that they’d be easier to serve. She pitted the cherries and made them from scratch since ‘pie filling’ doesn’t exist. They were incredible! I scored an extra to bring home for Gabe when he got home at midnight.
Cherry pie pockets
I made Red, White & Blue cupcakes. Mama Mia had brought us some Red Velvet Duncan Hines cake mix in April, and I imported some cream cheese frosting from the States my last trip. Since they didn’t have blue icing at the store, I just used blueberries.
Red velvet cupcakes for red, white and blue
P having some fun with the cupcake
We also had lots of fresh fruit, snack mix, and nuts to complement the red, white and blue.
After eating, a few of us went swimming. The beaches in the Mediteranean can be quite different to some who have never seen stone beaches. I remember when we went to Greece, it was Gabe’s first time seeing one.
Swiss lake beaches are quite similar. When his family came in March and we went to Hermance, it was also a surprise. Geneva also has stone beaches, as that is what is natural vs. the sand. The pro is that you don’t get sandy. The con is that sometimes it hurts to walk on. Also, ‘rock’ castles don’t turn out so well.
Stone beach of Genève Plage
Genève Plage has a pool and a waterslide. It was really busy that day, so I opted to get my thrills jumping off the high dive into the lake.
I did the middle section…the top one was closed.
The water wasn’t actually that cold this year. Must have been the warm weather we had last week?
As for now, its 8pm Geneva time and I am listening to the rain pour down outside. I’m glad we got our little celebration in before the storm. Hopefully everyone back in the US is enjoying their Independence Day. And a huge shout out of thanks goes out to all our servicemen for all you do to protect our freedom!
Related Posts:
The Swiss Watch Blog: Canadienne Buffet: USA Style
The Swiss Watch Blog: A fantastic 4th of July with Henry Birmingham
Swiss Wife Style: Party Recap
The Swiss Watch Blog: Happy Swiss National Day
The Swiss Watch Blog: Valentine’s Day and Other Non-Events
The Swiss Watch Blog 
Looks like you had a good little celebration! Cute babies!
Looks like you had a great time! I wouldn’t have had the courage to jump off the high dive 🙂