Surprise!

I've had a couple of surprise parties in my day.  I remember one on my 30th, where Walt was taking me out to dinner and when we got to the restaurant, it was full of friends.

There was another one too, but I can't remember which year it was.  

When I turned 70 the kids knew they could never keep it secret, so told me about the party, but the "surprise" was when Jeri and Phil turned up.

Surprises are fun, and we surprised our friend Pat on her birthday today.  Her husband had set it up for a 4:45 surprise at a local restaurant and we were all in place when she got there.

There were 11 of us, and I felt very honored that we were included in the august body of guests, some of our best friends in Davis.

First there was wine.

 

We even had a special wine label.

 

When we looked over the menu, I didn't get any further than "Dungeness crab mac 'n' cheese."  Talk about wonderful comfort food!  I struggled between that and Dungeness crab fetuccini but ultimately went with the mac n cheese. 

It was a wonderfully sinful choice.

 

We had such a great evening and at our end of the table, we learned a lot about what happens when thousands of bees take up residence in your house.

At the end of the night, Pat's husband carried the balloons home.

 
What a delightful evening, and I know Pat enjoyed it.  Am very happy that we were able to help her celebrate her birthday