May 8th (one day after a major Birthday!):
This was the look on my face as we pulled up to the Carpenter residence on Martha's Vineyard. We had caught the ferry over to the Island having had a long standing arrangement to spend the weekend with our good friends Curt and Natalie. Curt picked us up from the ferry and drove us to his house on Lake Tashmoo. As we pulled down his driveway he gave a seemingly random toot on the horn and we slowed to a halt outside the garage: gathered there, much to my amazement, were my Mum and Dad, sister Sophie, brother-in-law Jim, his wife Bonnie and their adorable 10 month old twins. I was absolutely gobsmacked (as they say back home). Mum Dad and Sophie had flown in from England the day before and had even made phone calls to me to wish me Happy Birthday, pretending to be 1,000's of miles away in England. Jim, Bonnie and babies had driven all the way from Indiana for the occasion. The whole event had been planned since February and I still cannot believe that I had no idea what was going on. We had a wonderful weekend together - truly one of those priceless times that will never be forgotten. We are all grateful to Curt and Natalie for being such gracious hosts and opening up their lovely Island retreat to the Stannard / Worosz clan.
Here are the assembled clan waiting in the garage, complete with party hats, silly string and bottles of milk.
Massive hugs and a few tears of joy - brilliant!
Two of the main instigators - Curt & Tom - looking quite pleased with themselves as so they should. Natalie was resposible for many fantastic photos and unfortunately appears in very few of them.