4th of July recap (super-late)

We had a fantastic 4th of July (on the 5th - we had to work on the 4th). We had some friends from choir over - an American couple and a Brit couple.  So with the three of us, there were 3 Americans and 4 Brits. Enough for the locals to be able to quell any rebellion in case we got too rowdy.

The weather in the morning was really nasty - it was drizzly and windy and generally gross. Then, at about 12, it suddenly cleared, and the sun came out and we had a gorgeous afternoon. It was about 75 and sunny - perfect for a bbq. Plan A had been to fire up the grill (thanks, mom & dad), which we did. I grilled burgers and garlic-marinated shrimp on skewers, and then left some peppers to roast over the coals. YUM. I also made my grandma's world-famous potato salad and a green salad. We had one piece of pepper and about half a bowl of potato salad left over - everybody wolfed everything else down.  For dessert, James and I made brownies (I let him lick the bowl - i'm nice like that), which we ate with blueberries, strawberries and ice cream. 

We retired outside, where we had a rip-roaring game of croquet.

Then, the hubby had mentioned to Graham that we had some trains. Graham is a bigger train geek than he wants to admit, so we ended up with this:

And this:

Our little LGB train merrily trundled around the garden - grass didn't phase it at all. It even went up and down the hill, after some rearrangement of the track. I took a video but it doesn't want to upload. Bummer.