Swimming

It has become somewhat of a tradition that each of the Baguettes has a page dedicated to their birthday each year and despite the number of updates recently I am not going to stop that tradition just yet.  This year is flying by and without so much as a by your leave we find ourselves at the start of Autumn and Amélie’s birthday.  As somewhat given away by the title of this update, Amélie has just completed her sixth trip around the Sun.

This year Amélie’s birthday fell mid-week and with busy school lives it is not the ideal time to celebrate one’s birthday.  With my break in the lead up to the weekend before her birthday it seemed like a good idea that if were we going to do anything for her birthday then we should do it then.  This also meant that Amélie could spin her birthday out for 5 days – and who doesn’t want to do that?

With the girls birthdays a mere three weeks apart it has been known that they get rolled into one celebration, indeed birthday parties tend to be joint affairs.  However, as they are growing older they want a little more self-identity and more independence (although they are both very close) and so it was when we offered them a birthday party.  Éowyn didn’t want to share and indeed would rather have a small gathering with her close friends, while Amélie likes to be everybody’s friends and wanted to invite everyone.  So just a party for Amélie then.  We asked Amélie what she would like to do for her party and with her new love of swimming she asked if she could have a swimming pool party.  Now, personal swimming pools are not very popular in Staines and Bagnall Manor does not have its own pool so we looked to the local leisure centre to host the party.  This was duly booked for the Sunday evening before her birthday.  Invites were sent out with a request that they needed to be accompanied by an adult for pool safety reasons.

With a party booked on the Sunday evening and her birthday not until the following Wednesday you can see how this was going to become an extended birthday celebration.  Then why not extend it another day and so Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz came down on Saturday, staying over and returning before the pool party on the Sunday, really making it a weekend of celebrations.

Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz arrived around lunchtime with Auntie Mary joining them a little later.  As always the Baguettes were overexcited and Amélie doubly so when she saw the presents that Nanny Fran had brought with her.  She was given special permission to open her presents from the Bagnall family and was even more excited when she saw what she had received.  A double buggy from Nanny Fran (Amélie told Nanny Fran that she wanted one when she stayed with her in August) and the beginning of her Sylvanian Families collection (not Slovenian Families as the autocorrect seems to think that she received, that is a completely different kind of collection) – something that was to become a feature of this birthday.

A Saturday evening meal with both Nannies, Bagnall Aunties and close family was a treat in itself for Amélie and was a fantastic end to the first day of Birthday celebrations.  Those celebrations moved up a gear the following day.  The morning was spent with Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz.  The pool party wasn’t until 4pm so there was plenty of time to get ready, making sandwiches and ensuring that all the party bags were evenly filled with sweets, bubbles and the all important Whoopie Cushions.

As we were booking a party for a six year old we were given the small pool, which was perfect for the kiddies but a little too shallow for the adults, 80cm only comes up to my knees.  Most of the party the adults were sitting on the floor of the pool, indeed it was a little safer than trying to swim or kneeling.  This was because the bottom of the pool was rough.  I assume that this is to stop the kids from slipping on a smooth floor.  In theory, that is quite a good idea however, it is not too good on one’s knees if you kneel and it certainly it isn’t very good on your chest and belly when you try swimming under water to pretend to be a shark when playing with the kids.  As you can probably guess I know this from bitter experience and the scrapped skin I received seemed to sting even more as the chlorine reacted with the scratches.

The only downside of the party was it felt a little rushed as we left the pool.  Obviously we had to get dried and dressed before moving into the party room.  We barely had time to eat the food and there was no time for party games, however I don’t think that really mattered as after swimming all the kids (and the adults) were ravenous.  The food was decimated (which was good) and all the birthday cake disappeared (not so good – I didn’t even get a slice).  Nevertheless the party was a success. The feedback that we got was all good, everyone seemed to enjoy the pool party and the party bags and especially the Whoopie Cushions were big hits.  Indeed we feel quite proud that we have introduced a new generation of children to the simple delight that is the Whoopie Cushion.

Amélie’s actual birthday was on the Wednesday so apart from a flying visit from Uncle Michael on Tuesday night there was little birthday celebrations on Monday or Tuesday. To help celebrate her birthday on Wednesday she had two friends from school come over after school for dinner and to play with her ever growing collection of Sylvania Families, after further additions from Uncle Michael as well as her main presents from Mommy and Daddy.  Indeed the collection wasn’t over for this birthday as a late visit from Uncle Steven and Auntie Zoe completed the haul for this birthday.

Amélie thoroughly enjoyed her birthday week and was completely spoilt with the number of presents that she received from everyone so we would like to thank you all for her presents and cards and kind wishes she is a very happy girl.

Happy birthday Amélie

Love Mommy and Daddy