NSW Trip Day 17: Sydney

Millie’s 5^th Birthday!!!!!

Millie woke up fairly early and came and jumped into bed with me for some birthday cuddles, then went and snuggled with Tony for a while, then Caitlin joined them. The girls got dressed in their party dresses and Caitlin did Millie’s hair, then they played with Millie’s puzzle gifts from last night until LiAM woke up. We all jumped on the bed for present giving – Caitlin gave her a loom bracelet in a design that she hasn’t made for anyone else, and a Lego Friends penguin set. We gave her a plush magpie toy, a pop cake maker (and Caitlin gave her special sprinkles to use when decorating the cakes), a Barbie doll with chalk she can use to change the colour of her hair, and Tony’s old iPhone for her to use like an iPod Touch. She said it was the best birthday ever and was so excited about ALL of her presents.

 

Dressed for a party day with her new iPod Touch

Playing with Colour Chalk Barbie

On Saturday morning Millie had woken up before sunrise and I had wanted to sleep in, so Tony took her for a drive and they had breakfast at McDonalds and had a play at Blacksmiths beach. When I asked Millie what she wanted for breakfast for her birthday she wanted pancakes at McDonalds, so we decided to go to Maccas for breakfast as a very special treat. I knew there was one at Thornleigh, about 20 minutes away, so we went there without checking to see if there was one at Dural, only a few minutes down the road – found out later that we are very close to one so the morning could have been a bit less hectic – but it was a fun morning anyway (just a bit tiring). The kids all had hotcakes and frozen drinks and Tony and I had McMuffins and hot drinks and it was a fun atmosphere to be in. The playground there was huge so after eating the kids had a long play, including playing hide-and-seek with some other kids. After a while Caitlin and I popped down the road to buy Millie’s birthday cake and some other groceries, then we picked up the others and headed back to our cabin.

Happy at McDonalds

Caitlin went down to the tennis courts to play with some kids she’d met yesterday and LiAM and Millie played with Millie’s presents. It had been a beautiful sunny morning, then while we were getting lunch ready it started pouring – a bit of a concern since our afternoon plans involved going to a playground with friends – the clouds were moving fast though and the rain passed (then there was more, which also passed, and so on through the afternoon…)

We decided to risk the weather and went to Ruddock Park in Westleigh, which has a pirate ship to play on, and a bike track for the kids to ride their scooters. We were met there by my wonderful friend K and her two kids who are now 11 and 13 and SO much bigger than last time I saw them. T had a football so all the boys and some of the girls played football for a while, in the sun and the rain. We had Millie’s birthday cake with K and the kids – a Freddo Frog ice cream cake, which I had promised her as part of the compensation for not being at home for her birthday. It looked beautiful and she was quite excited about it – it tasted pretty good too. We were also joined by our friends A & N and their three kids (A is LiAM’s godfather – and I realized we’ve managed to see all of the kids’ godparents on this trip which is pretty special). Great to catch up with both lots of friends as its been 2 ½ years since we’ve seen any of them. They also had presents for Millie - more craft activities and activity books. Caitlin showed the other kids how to make some of her loom bands and they all played in the playground, and our kids rode their scooters.

Wet and happy at playground

Back to the cabin feeling rather wet and tired and happy, and decided to have a quiet night in rather than going out again. Tony and the girls went and got some pizza, from a restaurant that Tony said was one of the fanciest he had ever seen, and not one that you would expect to sell takeaway pizza. LiAM and I played cards while they were gone, then we ate pizza and watched TV and had a very low key evening.