Thursday, July 2, 2009

Fourth of July Trivia, Symbolism and Ice Cream Recipe


With the Fourth of July on Saturday, I thought I would post a few things I found while doing research for our family night last Monday. I hope you all have a very wonderful day as you celebrate our nation’s independence.


The Meaning of the American Flag


I actually found several different suggestions for what the different colors and symbols on our flag represent. Here is one of them.


As Americans, we honor and respect our flag. It is protected by law. It is not the piece of cloth that our flag is made out of that we respect. It is what our flag represents that is important and sacred.

1. WHITE STRIPES. The white stripes stand for purity. We, as a country, want people to be honest in everything we do. We want the people of this country to do what is right, even if it is hard to do.

2. RED STRIPES. The red stripes stand for courage. Many men and women have given their lives for this great country. They did this willingly because they believed in freedom. It is because of their great courage that we have the freedom we enjoy today.

3. BLUE SQUARE. The blue square stands for freedom. Freedom is very important. We want people to enjoy the blessings of freedom. That means that no matter who you are, what you look like, or who you believe in, you have the right to be treated like everyone else!

4. STARS. There are 50 stars on our flag today. They stand for the 50 states in the United States of America.

5. YELLOW RIBBON. Today there is a new patriotic symbol of sorts that you often see displayed with the American Flag. It is a yellow ribbon. The yellow ribbon is a reminder to each of us to support our country and the people who serve it. It is a symbol of hope for a safe return of servicemen when they are away.
I also found another page that suggested the reason for the thirteen stripes representing the thirteen original colonies being in red and white was because red was the color that symbolized Great Britain and the white stripes between the red ones was symbolic of being separated from them.

Fourth of July Trivia

For a fun little Fourth of July Trivia game, click here:

Activities

There are a lot of fun activities you can do to celebrate. For family night we tried to re-enact the Revolutionary War using water balloons for ammunition, but none of the kids wanted to be the British and line up in a row and march into a barrage of fire power. So that little exercise in teaching didn’t work. We still had a lot of fun though and enjoyed cooling off a bit by getting wet.

Recipes

I very rarely make homemade ice cream since it is cheaper to buy, but here is one of my favorite recipes from my childhood that we will be making on Saturday. It makes four quarts.

4 cups sugar
¾ cup fresh lemon juice
¾ cup fresh orange juice
1 cup crushed pineapple
3 to 4 medium sized bananas mashed
2 cups whipping cream
1 large can evaporated milk
Mix together and pour into your container. Add enough additional milk to reach one inch below the 4 quart mark. Follow the ice cream maker instructions for freezing. ENJOY!!

May you all have a happy and safe Fourth of July Celebration

7 comments:

Dave and Camille said...

Yum! I'll have to keep that one in mind. We actually made ice cream last Monday for FHE too, weird! We liked your Revolutionary War game... we're going to play it with the dogs and let them be the British ;)

Anonymous said...

My kids love water balloon fights. What a great idea for the 4th.

Rebecca Irvine said...

My DH loves to make homemade ice cream so I will pass this recipe on to him. Thanks for the great info!

Jenny-Jenny said...

Your family nights always sound fun! That ice cream sounds wonderful! Waterballoons- what a great idea and thanks for the reminder about the flag.

MissKris said...

Camille- considering how much max likes water that's a sick game.
Mom- I liked how organized you made the symbolism of the flag.
And I'd like to say in my defense that I DID march against the colonists. I'm just going to have to court-martical all my cowardly men.

alpinekleins said...

Yum! Can't wait to try the ice cream. And I appreciate the flag trivia. Always nice to know on this special day. Hope you're having a good one:)

Kristin

Da Bergs said...

I am going to have to tell the kids about the Revolutionary war balloon game! LOVE that idea! And, dang, we will have to make that ice cream for FHE!!! Sounds delish!