...always changing probably...: Happy 4th of July

We spent the whole day preparing for our big American 4th of July BBQ. We told people to be here by 6:30pm for food but they could come earlier (or later) if they wanted to. People worked today so we wanted to be mindful of giving them enough time off work to get to us. Others were driving a long way to get here on time. It wasn't much really to prepare ... just mostly printing and cutting out items for decorations. Oh and making the cake too.

Our living room as we prepare all the printed items for our decorations.

We plastered these signs everywhere!

Decorated the table outside.

Our 4th of July banner.

Our BBQ and deck chairs ready to go!

Then we were ready about 4pm and just waited for people to arrive. Suddenly around 5pm or 5:30pm people started showing up! Then it was time to eat and a great time was had by everyone. It was nice to have a house full of people and enough furniture to accommodate everyone too. Feels like home!

Linnea makes funny faces for Daddy while we wait.

All ready for people to arrive!

We got the funniest gift from Cattis & Patrik. They stopped at the German grocery store called Lidl which had "American Week" with all these strange items. Apparently a Cake Pop maker, Honey Mustard dressing, candy flavored with "Strawberry Cheesecake" and "Chocolate Mint" plus a bag of "BBQ crisps". We all had a great laugh!

Our "American" gifts from a German grocery store.

I had to take a photo of our bag of "crisps" since they were hidden in the photo above. They tasted horrible and nothing like the BBQ chips at home. Obviously the makers of these "crisps" have never been to the USA. Oh yeah ... and the fact that they are called "crisps" instead of "chips" is a big old clue too. I got a kick out of reading this blog post about McEnnedy items from Lidl. It was also fun to see a bunch of images that a Google search provided as well. Enjoy!