Independence Day [in France]

Happy Independence Day! In France, they have Bastille Day/Independence Day on the 14th of July, so today was like any other day. In the spirit of revolution, I present this photo of Avery firing off a cannon at the Leonardo da Vinci home, Clos Luce, here in Amboise. We actually visited there a few days ago, but as I scrolled through my pics to find the next photo, I saw this one, and it just felt right. The reason there are cannons at Clos Luce is this: from his drawings, they have constructed what his inventions would have looked like. He actually had several that dealt with warfare--bridges that could be taken down, moved, built quickly; cannons; a tank.
What we actually did today was the most American thing we could think of: go to McDonalds! (I guess the most American thing would've been to super-size our meals, but, we didn't.) Warren, did, however, order a Big Mac. He has wanted one all week, so we told him he could have that or a "fun meal"--as he inaccurately calls them. He ate most of it, too. If we hadn't just been eating chocolate granola on my bed before we left, he probably could've eaten all of it. Avery and Abigail had Happy meals; I don't know if they are this great in the States, but here you have a choice of a hamburger, cheeseburger, chicken nuggets, fish sandwich or Croc McDo--a McDonalds version of a French classic ham and swiss cheese sandwich. Then you choose from fries, deluxe potatoes or cherry tomatoes. Then you choose your drink: numerous sodas, iced tea or apple juice: not from concentrate. Then you choose a dessert: yogurt smoothy, apples and berries, apple compote or a pineapple wedge. Really, I could order a happy meal and be happy. Anyway, we had a great time eating our food, playing with our toys, playing on the jungle jim and eating dessert. I've never been a big fan of McDonalds, and try to eat there only when we are on our way to Pinetop and I have to buy food there so my kids can use their fabulous play area--(once we tried to skip McD's and did some other fast food chain, that didn't have a play place and we ended up eating our food in the rain at a dog park, surrounded by all sorts of unappetizing things). Then I order a salad, which I really like at McDonalds. But this week, I am so grateful for Big Macs. Sure it's not a BBQ at our parents' homes, but it's the closest thing in Amboise. Plus, McDonalds is just so American: it's big, it's cheap and it's open all the time. France is not like that. Today on Andy's email he got the Staples ad, and it was full of 1-cent deals. FYI: there is no such thing as 1-cent deals in France! That is so American. Here, it is "soldes" time, which would be equivalent to a big sale in the U.S. Every store does it at the same time, and I've read that it pretty much happens in July and some winter month that I can't remember. I guess what I'm trying to say is that everything is always on sale in the US. That's not always a good thing, but it does give the cost-conscious consumer a lot of options and puts a lot of great things within the grasp of everyone. Anyway, I love France--with it's impossible high taxes and fabulous parks and publicly-funded cultural events--but I am glad I live in the United States, even if our parks are sometimes lame and we don't have Fete de la Musique.
To celebrate--without fireworks--Andy and I read Ezra Taft Benson's landmark address, "Our Divine Constitution" off of lds.org. If you search that title, you can read it, too. It's great and fills me with a wonderful appreciation for the founding fathers (and mothers and sons and daughters) and for God, who brought forth our wonderful nation.