30th Birthday: Surprise number two: Barn dance!

The next day, Wednesday, Mom and Dad hung out while Mark and I did our last day of work before the vacation time that we booked off. I thought we were going to go out for another birthday dinner with my friend Lydia. We were going to meet Mark at the restaurant, after we popped in to say hello to another friend of mine on the way, who had a birthday card for me.

I walked into surprise number two - a party with friends, work friends and Mark's family! As you can see, I was NOT expecting this at all!





(Actually, Lydia, the one in the purple scarf in the pictures, said that even she was surprised, and she knew what was coming!)

So there was food and drink and everyone milling about. In this picture, right to left, is Mark's sister Sarah, Mark's cousin Sian, Mark's aunt Fran, and Sarah's boyfriend Tim.




Mark had arranged for a bunch of musician friends and colleagues to come, along with a caller to lead us through the dances. A barn dance, or ceilidh (pronounced "KAY-lee") is kind of like square dancing, with group dances and pretty much the same moves (lots of do-si-do-ing).




Although Mark played for most of the night, I did get to dance with him once or twice.






Mark had also arranged for a cake, made by a lady from Los Angeles, living in London. She made it in the shape of a Texas - it was pretty impressive.




Then there was more dancing!