Bermuda BBQ and Croquet

After lunch on our second full day at Grotto Beach, Julie and I took a taxi over to Jay and Sasha's cottage to deliver the suitcase of wedding supplies we'd brought from California on their behalf.

In addition to Jay and Sasha, we found a living room full of friends waiting to help assemble guest bags for the big event.  Let's see, there were Sasha's friends since her teen-age years from Park City, Kellen and Megan.  Megan later made the gluten-free Funfetti wedding cake that was delicious.

Jay's good friend since high school, Shorti, who essentially served as wedding coordinator.  

Relatively new friend (about four years) Kim, who they met at a Formula One event and is now a regular part of "game night" back home, along with Shorti.

Yogu, with whom Jay had bonded on a visit to Chicago over the song "Let's Make a Deal" from "Lewis and Clark," the fourth-grade musical in which Yogu and Jay's sister Amy had performed separately in different grade schools and states.  We had played the CD repeatedly while driving in the car to help Amy learn the songs, so of course we all learned the funny but historical lyrics, too.  Yogu is the wife of Sasha's college friend Viraj, who left shortly after we arrived to prepare for serving as officiant at the wedding (his first and perhaps only time to do so).

With so many of us lending a hand to the assembly line, we polished off that job quickly.  I think we were all impressed by the careful planning of the tote bagged coded by fish to the seating arrangements at the wedding, as well as the thoughtful items included, including lots of Gosling's individual bottles of rum which Shorti had lugged up from town on a hot day, before most of us arrived.

We were released until 6, when there was a barbecue scheduled, so Julie and I found Amy and Lukas, who had just returned from the beach, and we all went in the swimming pool, joined a little later by Jay and Sasha.

With several vegans, there were veggie burgers as well as plenty of salads along with the juicy burgers, ribs and steak that Jay barbecued to perfection.  They also had a cooler stocked with beer and ginger ale, as well as a pitcher of Rum Swizzle mix made up by Sasha's mother Libby, which individuals could spike with Bermudan rum to their personal tastes.

It was a good turnout for the BBQ, including those mentioned above, plus Matron of Honor Whitney and her new husband Adam, who had recently celebrated a destination wedding of their own in Portugal; Adam's parents Dan and Babs; Libby's brother Read and Aunt Peg, who had generously rented a house for us to stay in Idaho for New Year's Eve a couple of years ago; and Uncle Kenny, who has been a successful career politician in Bermuda, including serving as a Member of Parliament following the era when he became a favorite of little Alex (Sasha) when he ran the Tobacco Bay concession.

We all ate heartily, and Jay's homemade burgers using ingredients he purchased from his resort were thick, juicy and savory, even better than the tasty burgers we had at Grotto Bay Resort.  I didn't try the ribs, although based on how fast they went, I would surmise they were as delicious as the bits of steak I had.  The tropical Coleslaw made a good side dish.

Before and after the meal, we played croquet using a set Jay and Sasha had brought from California for this occasion.  We always enjoyed playing croquet at my mother's house and in our own yards.  It brought back happy memories.  The usually kind Jay relished "sending" other balls he hit, using a rule we always played by which I learned from neighbor kids when I was a boy, though I'm not sure that is actually part of the game.  Regardless, Jay developed a technique on the Bermuda lawn of removing his sandal to hold his ball down by his big toe in order to send an opponent, which made everyone laugh.