Surprise!

Katie doing breathing exercised in preparation to blow out the candle on her cake.

One of the best parts of a surprise party is seeing the expression on the face of the honored person when they notice all of thier friends and family unexpectedly. This is pretty difficult to achieve when said person has never met those assemble to surprise her. All jokes about Katie being easily confused aside, she really had no idea why we were leading her to two large tables occupied by unfamiliar people, but she quickly found out and was promptly introduced to family members (distant cousins, yes, but family nevertheless) who had gathered to help her celebrate her birthday.

The Chinese restaurant was a nice cover, too. It also turns out that February 18th was the start of the Chinese New Year and 2007 is the year of the Pig! Coincidence? Maybe. Well, actually it was because the original plan was to have dinner at a new pub next door, but they couldn't guarantee that we'd all get to sit together.

Another great surprise was the nice gift they all got for Katie, considering she'd only met a few of them once. Katie must have that effect on some people. I must have developed a tolerance for whatever that is.

Katie proudly displays her gift from her Irish Reidy cousins, a beautiful Belleek Mantle Clock. The clock works, it just shows the wrong time.

Joe surrounded by Reidy women

After dinner, we all went next door to the pub to continue the celebration and find out more about our cousins. Mary Reidy Cahir took Molly & Bobby to Gerry & Sue Reidy Mulligan's house to meet Sue's kids.