Latvian Independence Day!

November is a wonderful month to work as an American Diplomat in Latvia. Kelly hasn't had to work a full week the whole month. He has gotten every thursday off, the first week, Veteran's Day, the next Thursday Latvian Independence Day and last Thursday Thanksgiving.
Here is a little bit about Latvian Independence Day...

"On Nov. 18, 1918, a group of Latvian intelligentsia declared their nation’s independence from the disintegrating Russian empire. Dominated by foreign powers since the arrival of Teutonic knights at the end of the 12th century, Latvians finally had their own state. Unfortunately, rogue German military units and the new Bolshevik government in Russia didn’t take the declaration seriously and fighting continued until, with the help of the Polish and Estonian armies, all of Latvia’s enemies were expelled from the country in 1920. Independence Day is celebrated with various events and concerts in Riga, a military parade on 11 Novembra Krastmala and a speech by the Latvian president."

The Latvians celebrate this day by decorating their city with lights. They call this the "light festival". We ventured out on the 18th to see how the Latvians celebrated. Right outside our apartment 3-400 people were gathered around with torches ready to sing National Latvian songs and march around Old Town. We stopped and took some pictures of us with some borrowed torches. It was pretty impressive. After checking out the marches, we walked around the town. I just LOVE Old town Riga. Especially with lights everywhere. There were tons of people walking around. Music everywhere and light shows. Pretty cool. Lincoln loved it, Sawyer fell asleep not too long after we left the house. Isabel stayed awake the whole time and was pretty good till the end. Lincoln and I took an elevator up to the top of an old church to see the view. While in the elevator, he saw a kid with one of those cheaply made, but expensive light things that make noise. Of course he really really wanted it. We were too nice and bought one for him. Of course as soon as we got home it broke. He was pretty devastated. Luckily, I was able to fix it and he went to bed with it. He fell asleep with it on his face. I'm so sad I didnt' get a picture of him sleeping with the blue thing twirling in his face.