Ricki's Daughter Turns 30!

Jenny Carroll's Surprise Birthday Party

If you know Ricki, you know that nobody throws a better party.  Indeed, her house is made for parties, as you will see in these pictures.  Sunday, May 2nd, she surprised her oldest daughter by telling her she was having a cheesemaking workshop.  (This season, Jen has been making some of the lunch and helping with the workshops.)  When she drove up, 70 friends and relatives were on the front porch singing "Happy Birthday to you . . ."  Needless to say, Jenny was shocked.  Her uncle Peter had flown in from Oregon, her grandmother was up from New Jersey, and others had come from all around New England.  It was a beautiful day.

Ricki and Jamie worked hard to pull off this party, while running the business and teaching workshops.  Nobody really knows where they get their energy, but someday we hope they will add it to the catalog so we can buy it!

This is the workshop room.  On the back table, Ricki's sister created an incredible, edible village out of fruit, illustrating how "it takes a village to raise a child."

Here's Marcy with her masterpiece.

Ricki and Jamie had decorated every room in the house with balloons, crepe paper and fabulous hanging balls of tissue paper that Ricki's younger daughter, Sarah had made.

Ricki and Sarah sharing a moment.

At first, we were going to hide in the back room with a few people keeping lookout on the porch. But, the day was so beautiful that at the last minute, Ricki decided to have everyone come out on the porch.

Everyone wanted to see the look on Jenny's face!

Jenny was truly surprised!  The elaborate ruse was a success.

The mural on the wall in the kitchen comes from the New England Cheesemaking Supply Co. booth at the Eastern States Exposition where Ricki used to serve thousands of pieces of apple pie with cheese on top.

This part of the drawing room wasn't decorated, but it's so beautiful, we had to include a picture of it.

Sarah and her husband, Mark taking a break from the crowd.

Jessica was the "Belle of the Ball" in her fabulous new dress.

Ricki's gardening skills were evident everywhere.

Happy Birthday, Jenny!