Poppy’s day began with a rip-roaring sing-along (to herself!) and a bowl of cereal as a birthday treat. She chose it herself and was very pleased with her fancy breakfast. After dropping off our summer holiday toys, we chose a BMX bike without training wheels for Poppy to try from the Toy Library. The running bike she has been riding all holidays has certainly been worthwhile to teach balance and handling speed before the next step.
After a birthday fluffy at the mall, we dropped in to preschool for her friends to sing Happy Birthday and then went out to the farm for a special birthday lunch. After helping GranJan finish decorating her amazing birthday cake Poppy opened her presents – a BEAUTIFUL dress from Grandpa Bill, a lovely poppy top from Ayla, Mary Poppins DVD from Georgie, really neat hanging baskets and The BFG book from NeeNe, five dollars from Ma & Pa and some singing lessons from GranJan & Yogi. Adrienne already gave Poppy her gifts – her very own facebook profile and her first company – PopCards! Uncle Christopher sent a funny JibJab animated birthday card that Poppy watched 15 times.
We ate a yummy lunch and then got out the bike to try it on the flat lawn…. after a little guided push, Poppy was OFF….. no looking back as she wheeled around the farm, no problems on her first peddled bike with no training wheels.
We stopped in to Orange Dog with birthday cupcakes for afternoon tea before heading down to the Tahuna bus shelter to set up for Poppy’s party. We blew up lots of balloons and helped Ben with the bouncy castle – then we hid all the treasure hunt clue cards for people to find. While I was working on the decorations, Poppy rode her bike around and around the paths at Tahuna with a big smile on her face!
Poppy’s friends started arriving at 5pm and had a great time on the gladiator bouncy castle and eating pizza. We sent lots of kids out on a treasure hunt and then we all ate cupcakes and lollipops…. the wind completely died down this afternoon so the beach was our next stop. Everyone who brought their big spades made short work of a huge paddling pool just before the tide came in and demolished it – right on cue. An evening swim in the warm Tahuna waves finished off a fun celebration – Poppy loved every minute of it.
Thanks to all our friends who came along with their families…. we were so pleased you could share this milestone birthday with us.