Arrived back home on Monday evening (took the day flight back from Canada for the first time). It's been a laid-back week with the kids exploring their toys after 2 months away from them, and just going out when absolutely necessary.
One of the more necessary items on the agenda was preparing for Adriana's 5th birthday party on Saturday. We had planned for it to take place at home in the back garden, thinking that the weather would cooperate (as it had done last year), and that we would have no problem entertaining 30 - 5 year olds for 3 hours.
God must have been laughing at me hysterically as I chewed on my fingernails listening to the weather report all day Friday and seriously hoping that when the nice weather lady said "showers over most of England, Scotland and Wales for most of Saturday", that she didn't mean to include London as well!
"How I am supposed to keep 30 children occupied for 3 hours while not letting them outdoors at all - at the risk of tracking in mud from the rain and windswept garden???" These thoughts kept me awake most of the night.
The next morning was a frenzy of last-minute re-juggling of the Dora Adventure to be held indoors, with the guest bed being Star Mountain (subbing for the trampoline), Adriana's bunk being the Troll Bridge (subbing for the Little Tykes slide) and the upstairs hall being Crocodile Lake (subbing for the toddler pool outside).
As 1 pm approached there was one light drizzle and only 12 out of the 30 invited showed up. So for the last hour of the party, we threw open the patio doors and released the horde to play outside until their parents came to collect them via the side gate. (We still weren't going to let them track dirt back inside - we're not dummies!)
So next year rather than rely on the obviously inept weather reports or the changeable English weather, I'm having her party at an indoor play area.
No more stress for Mama!
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