Fourth of July

Our community 4th of July party was actually on the 7th at the Ambassador's house in Tirana. The Embassy went all out, inviting hundreds of people, and organizing games for kids, so their parents could eat hamburgers and get tanked on draft beer...the way our fore-fathers would have intended it. Here's a picture of us with Teuta...as you can see, Jen's had a few too many hamburgers.

The plan was to load children up on sugar (see background), paint them up like various animals/superheroes/tv characters (ala Ainsley), then set them loose in a fenced-in tennis court with water balloons and other projectiles. Few protested.

As it turned out, the clowns at the party were at a previous birthday party Ainsley had attended. She was very happy to be re-united with the (exact same) puppy face that was formerly painted on her at said birthday party. After the party was over, and it was time for bed, Ainsley (once again) reluctantly parted with her beloved dalmation persona.