Weekend in Sydney

Recently Ella received an invitation in the post for Aoife's 4th birthday party and was instantly excited! We decided to make a long weekend of it which fitted in really well with my inability to work. So last weekend finally arrived and off we drove to Sydney.

Saturday morning was party morning and everyone was excited except for perhaps first time party organiser mum Cath who was slightly nervous/stressed. However once the food was organised, balloons blown up, cake done and the kids began to arrive all was forgotten as chatting and giggling filled the room. First it was painting, followed by pass the parcel, then the much anticipated treasure hunt with the beautiful butterfly cake and very impressive rainbow jellies to top it off. Perfection...what more could a four year wish for??

Saturday afternoon was spent mostly recovering from such an effort. We did headed out on a small bush adventure with Aoife showing us her childcare centre. Following this all the girls were tired so they had some down time watching Charlie & Lola while Andy and Cath went out running.

It was off to Orienteering on Sunday morning at Pennant Hills. Aoife, Ella, Katy and I managed to lose pram bound Becky, Amy and Cath on the blue course. The weather was beautiful and course interesting enough to keep the girls entertained the whole way around. Back at the assembly area it was time to play and read with all the other children and have some more birthday cake!

We left Cath, Eoin and Aoife at the orienteering to venture into the choas of Ikea. What a mad place. The scene was set as we became stuck in a traffic jam on entering the underground parking area! And even though we knew exactly what we wanted it was still a stressful experience - there were so many people it felt like christmas shopping.

The afternoon continued by meeting up with friends from our Perth days in the local park. We chatted while our girls played with their boys. An ice cream van arrived which Ella quickly noticed. Luckily for her it also sold expresso coffee.

Monday Aoife turned 4! After coffee at Cath and Eoin's local, Eoin headed off to work and we drove to Blenhiem Park (the original spot for Aoife's party). The girls dodged the crocodiles and negotiated the wobbly bridge before swinging on the swings and flying fox then finished off with climbing, sliding and see sawing. A fantastic way to finish a great weekend with wonderful friends :) We look forward to playing with Aoife next weekend hopefully in the snow.