On Saturday, I had my second 4th of July celebration here in England. Last year John and I had a sweet little day alone and I made some of my family favorites for our rained out barbecue.  This year was very different except for the rain. Since last year, I’ve had a chance to meet some other women who are married to Englishmen too.  John and I were invited to celebrate the 4th with this new group of friends who’ve very kindly welcomed us into their circle.

If any of you are wondering…yes, we did set up our tables for the meal in what is referred to here as a poly tunnel or a greenhouse. The weather forecast predicted rain and we wanted to be dry just in case. We did get some on and off sprinkles, but not enough to keep us from having a good game of American kickball.

That’s John guarding third base while one of the children grabs the ball to try to tag the little girl in the red dress running to second.

Other activities included a little bouncing on the trampoline which I gave a try after warning the children to give me wide berth.

There were foot races….

and fancy dress….

Even the peacocks wanted to show off their finery.

The food was pure American 4th of July cookout favorites….hot dogs, hamburgers, homemade potato salad and coleslaw.

We even tested our knowledge of American geography with a printout supplied by our hostess. There was a bit of cheating going on with a few obvious glances from some of the English players.

Next on the menu… marshmallow roasting….

Mmmmmm….

We finished up with a bit of music and a sing-a-long

It was getting a bit dark so my last two are a little grainy, but I really prefer to document from beginning to end without the disruption of a flash.

Last songs and tired children.

Of course you need a bit of pyro at the end of the day and we had a lovely bit of fireworks…I managed to capture some of the excitement of the children with a little video footage at the end.(RATS!  I can’t get it to work…check back later if you want to see it and I’ll try to work it out.)