Adelaide.

So in the very early hours of Saturday morning I got up to fly to Adelaide to go to an old friend from school's 40th birthday party. It was a surprise organised by her husband. He managed to pull it off as look how surprised and happy she was:

If it had been me I don't know how I would have coped with the surprise aspect - I'd be worried that I hadn't brushed my hair, or worse. Apparently there was talk about taking the birthday girl to the pool before her party, luckily for her they didn't so she was all set to party. We all brushed our hair too:

Isn't it fun hanging out with friends that back in the day you went to school with and that you don't see so often now? It makes you wonder why. Maybe because most of them live in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Launceston and Sandy Bay.

Sometimes it's no so fun for your husband though. Mine has previously held the title of Best On Ground yet he was Best Behaved on Saturday and refrained from fertilising the flowers. That's not to say that the silly drink wasn't had. Things did get a tad messy:

Sorry girls, I couldn't resist! I'm not ashamed to admit that I discoed in the aisle of the bus back into town when it pulled up at the traffic lights. At that stage I felt like I was revisiting my twenties. On Sunday though I felt like I was in my hundreds.

So what did we do in Adelaide on Sunday while we waited for our return flight? We went and queued for a table to have yum cha with trolley service at Citi Zen Chinese Restaurant:

Not surprisingly, we said no to the chicken's feet.

Oh, and we had to make the most of being unencumbered by children to go shopping for suits and shirts for my husband. It was a long day as our flight didn't leave until 7pm. We didn't make bed again until midnight - two nights in a row.

However, I still got up on Monday morning to complete day 30 of the challenge:

And I've got the certificate to prove it:

Namaste. Now what?

R

Away.

I have been away again. On Monday the children and I headed north along the highway to hang out with an old school friend at her farm. There was no wi-fi so no opportunity to blog. Yet happily there was a pool - we spent virtually the entire two days in it.

There were also lots of old school friends:

And look at all of our children:

Between the five of us we have seventeen. People who knew me in my youth are always surprised that I have four children as I wasn't particularly maternal back then - in fact I have surprised myself. I have another friend who had her babies before me and wouldn't let me hold them when they were new born. Can you believe that.

To my city children's absolute delight there was also a real farmer and a quadbike:

I'm back home again now.