It has been one hell of a ride - Part 1!

Where do I BEGIN? At the beginning I guess! On Friday 27 March Kirstin celebrated her upcoming 13th birthday with four of her closest friends. It was a night of dancing, DVD's and much laughing fortified by pizza, curly fries, popcorn and a small array of sugar treats. And of course the cake. The lounge was their domain and I knew not to even frustrate myself with trying to get them to bed at any hour and after spending 2 infuriating hours sorting the birthday girls bedroom out (for our Spanish student to occupy) I collapsed into bed. My only request to all the girls was that they kept the noise levels down and did not wake us which they managed admirably.
The following morning I completed the daunting task I had begun the night before and Kirstin's bedroom was finally fit for human habitation at around 11h00. The rest of the day was spent pottering around the house and re-potting some herb plants and cleaning windows. Much personal satisfaction when I was done and sat back to admire my handiwork for the day as I even managed to tackle the formidable attic too!
At 19h00 we drove up to school to collect Sido and I watched with amusement as the Spanish and Irish children were reunited when the bus dispelled all the visiting kids into the car park.
Of course Sido was very shy and it was awful not being able to chat away as her English is not great. My Spanish on the other hand....well it is non-existent. We had bbq steaks, salad, curly fries and peppercorn sauce for dinner and then I had to get ready for the Ladies hockey dinner. I had told my team that I would pop in for a drink after 21h00, I had figured that the kids would all be settled by then.
Hillary collected me and we went to the D4 hotel in Ballsbridge and what fun we all had! A room full of ladies, a free microphone and music....add to that a few too many alcoholic beverages and you have yourself a makeshift karaoke party with some impressive dance moves from the cheering onlookers. Oh, and a discovery....NOT all Irish people can sing.