Independence Day!!

Happy 37th Birthday Grenada!!

We celebrated the day off by going to the pool in the morning & to the National Cricket Stadium this afternoon for a parade! 
It was very cool to see!  The military, a band, and few groups of children (Girl Guides & Boy Scout/Guides I think) marched.  The Venezuelan Army were there as well. 
We got to see the Prime Minister and Governor General (who is is their spokesperson to the Queen)
And this was our first time in the National Stadium!  I really want to go to a cricket match this spring!

We only stayed for a couple hours, it was a little boring, lots of speeches and slow moving.  But it was so fun to see everyone's outfits!!  I love how everyone wears their nation's colors proudly!
If only everyone dressed this way at the Memorial Day Parade and 4th of July!! haha... well I do, but if everyone did I wouldn't look so awkward.

I couldn't miss out on this opportunity to dress up either, so I went to the parade fully decked in my Grenadian best!

 The Prime Minister's escort

 friends at the parade!

 everyone at the parade!

The military & others

 Outside of the national stadium

Work Boat Regatta

This weekend on Grand Anse Beach was the work boat regatta!
I actually went last year and didn't realize it.  I just went to the beach on Independence Day and thought that they brought out the boats for the festivities, haha.

It is so fun to see the boats race & all the different colors! 

 My Grenada bathing suit!

Picnik!

I am obsessed with picnik.com today... it's really fun, easy to use, and FREE! :)
It started by making a picture for Lee for Valentine's Day and then I started picnik-ing everything!!! 
Here are a few...

 I don't think I blogged about Independence Day before.... it was February 7th.  The entire country is still plastered with all things green, red, and yellow.  They are very proud of their Independence!!
If you're from Ironton.... think like we are about the Memorial Day Parade! only not quite as good :)
We went down to the beach to check out the festivities briefly because Lee studied the entire day... and there were tons of boats just pulled up on the shore to celebrate, and 3 cruise ships!!! 3! it was crazy. There was music, food, tents... all that you would expect.  We didn't partake of any of the food.... mostly because we're cheap, not because we aren't adventurous.  The national dish is oil down. the name is enough for me! It's meat cooked in cocount milk until it is all absorbed into the meat..... and there are vegetables and dumpling-ish things. sounds wonderful right? haha
My favorite of the day was the fireworks at night!  They were nothing compared to our fireworks at home on July 4th... but I have never seen fireworks in February before, so no complaining here!! I could see them from campus... so I just walked outside our apartment and looked up :)

next we have our hiking trip to Grand Etang Lake.  This was before I started blogging faithfully, so I don't remember if I wrote about it or not...We went the first week we were here.  It's a volcanic lake & there was a gorgeous view at the top of the mountain... well worth the horrid bus ride up the mountains!  We drove to the highest point a car can get on the island and they hiked the rest.  We saw mono monkeys, gorgeous flowers, and a good bit of the jungle!

One of my favorites on picnik is the polaroid!

 

The waterfall at Mt. Carmel

just enhanced a little :)

  

This setting is called the 1960s

I wonder what Grenada would have been like in the 60s.... probably a lot like it is today!

This used to be the banner for my blog... but I started getting so many pictures I loved I had to change it....
I still love it though.