Our birthday celebrations were not over yet though. We started Saturday by heading to Bishop's Stortford to watch the Olympic Torch run. As we were getting ready, Sean noticed that his mother was taking her rain coat. It was pretty hot though and he discouraged her from taking it. I had thought that she was still going to take it but apparently she ended up leaving it. As you can see from the pictures below, she was sorry that she listened to him!
In true English fashion, the rain came in and it got very chilly!
Here is everyone, a bit soggy and cold just before the torch came through. As you can see, two of the boys did not bring any sweatshirts at all, they were definitely chilly and damp!
As it so often happens in England, the rain was short and the sun made an appearance as the torch was going by. It was a short parade with about a dozen vehicles that preceded the runner. We were very happy that we were able to get a spot to watch, we were rather late in getting out and after our experience in trying to see the Jubilee Flotilla, I was worried that we would miss being able to see it. As you can see we found a great spot!
The torch runs were very well planned, I read that the runs were planned to be with in 30 minutes of everyone in the UK, so that the opportunity was readily available for everyone to have a chance to see it. A girl in the boys' school ran the torch for 300m later in the day. Because we had to finish getting ready for further birthday festivities that evening we were not able to see her run.
We finished up some errands and shopping in Stortford. We then headed home to finish up with party preparations. We had about 30+ people coming over to help Sean celebrate. Of course we had some mishaps. That door that my oldest son broke? Well, it is not fixed yet and it ended up on the ground. Unbeknownst to us at the time, there was a causality, one of the kids was in the way and got a few scrapes.
The kids played Rock Band all evening and we got to see some very interesting performances along with hearing A LOT of Queen. I think that Bohemian Rhapsody was played many times in a row!
Remember that trip to Costco? Well, my mother in law talked me into getting twice the amount of salads that I would have gotten! I have a lot of food left over and since we are heading out to Greece on Saturday I have been sending it in with Sean to work. Monday he took in cupcakes, carrots and hummus. Today, he took in cucumbers and orzo salad. I am not sure what I am going to send in tomorrow, but Grandma Bearys baked beans were a hit and they have been highly requested as has the recipe! I also have two huge containers of coleslaw and potato salad. They are all going in with him this week. And alcohol, did I mention the alcohol?
Let me start by saying that I told anyone that asked to please just bring themselves. Apparently, the British have a compulsion to bring something. I bought 2 cases of beer, one case of cider, one case of Shiraz and 2 bottles of Pimms. Almost everyone that came brought something. I am not sure that I don't have more beer in my fridge then when I started. No joke! I have the same amount of wine even though one bottle was partially consumed. I do have almost one bottle of Pimms gone and I have now gained about 6 bottles of some very nice Champagne! I also ended up with some beautiful flowers and an orchid. :)
We now need to have an empty my fridge party. We have some drinking to do! Party at my house!!!
Impressive, isn't it?
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