Dream weekend

We have had some pretty memorable weekends of late, and though it is only Saturday night I am calling it already. This weekend has been a cracker.

Dad, who lives in Cairns, came to stay last night. We didn't do anything special, we just hung out, which was really lovely. The rain and wind did their best to keep us all awake last night, and we awoke to the threat of flooding (not our house, of course, on top of a hill). Dad hit the road to head for Coonamble, where it is already flooding.

Not ones for good-byes, the thought of the afternoon's birthday party bolstered spirits. The trouble with having your birthday in the school holidays is that your birthday party tends to be put off, then dithered over and then missed altogether. This year, we just decided to just do it late, really late. September birthday party for a July birthday; that's how we roll.

We held it at Airborne Gymnastics, where Bethany has her gymnastics classes every week. She was very excited to be able to show her friends what she can do. The head coach was there, training a new party host, and Andrew told him how keen Bethany is and asked how she could take it further.

The classes she attends are not focussed on skills so much, as just fun and exercise, but they do hold squad training, to which you need to be invited. The coach asked her to do a bunch of different things - the splits, bars, and backflips - and then told her she was around a level three and asked if she would like to come to squad training! I was talking to a friend while all of this happened, but I could tell something was going on as Bethany's face was radiating joy!

All of the kids enjoyed the party. Wall climbing, inflatable obstacle courses, foam pit, trampolines galore, lollies and chips. What more could you want?

I spent the morning playing around with the four layers of cake I made last night. On the whole I am dismissive, if not derisive, about the very-tall-cake trend. They seem hard to cut and hard for smaller people to eat! I did buy a book about hidden surprise cakes, however, and Bethany became set on the chequerboard cake. Two chocolate and two vanilla layers, cut into circles and reassembled with alternating colours, stuck together and covered with ganache and there you have it!

We dropped Sydney home and ending up staying for coffee and a long chat with our new Zimbabwean friends who are going to build a house across the paddock and Sydney will be moving schools with Bethany next year.

I won't say no to a sleep in tomorrow; our sleep will be sweet after such a lovely day.