To be fair, its a 10 year old’s paradise. We were lucky in that we got a bright, albeit quite cold December afternoon for the party. But the boys had an absolute blast. Finbar, head honcho at West Cork Secret, recommended the boys wear very old clothes or a wetsuit  if they had one and to bring a change of clothes and footwear and a towel so they could avail of the hot showers after all the play.

The day started off with the boys being split into 2 teams and tackling puzzles and and go kart races in one of the fields.

Then came the race to see which team could transfer enough water along the pipes to fill the container at the finish line. This initially was quite a test for the boys but it ended up a very close finish as they began to cooperate very well.

By this stage they were fairly wet but none seemed to mind. Next the army obstacle course. Under the netting, balancing on the ropes over the water, through the tyres, over and under the wooden logs in the water. They ran around and around. The finale was the monster water slide. They loved it and I lost track of how many times they went down it. By this stage, soaked to the skin and covered in suds but having a ball.

As it was getting dark, they decided they’d had enough and headed to the warm showers and changed into dry clothes. Finbar served homemade pizza cooked to order in the wood burning oven. Needless to say, demand was very high after all the activity. The pizza was delicious.

Oisín had a brilliant unforgettable party.

Many thanks to all at West Cork Secret. Would highly recommend it. There is no doubt that we’ll be back!

Taken 35 odd years ago, when I guess I was nearly 6 and she was almost 28. I am the eldest of 7 kids and there’s only 10 years between myself and my youngest brother. Needless to say, it was always loud and busy in our house growing up. I love being part of a large family which I guess has, in part, lead to my being the mammy to 5 darlings.

My mam, or “ma” as we called her when we wanted to annoy her, rocks. She was born in the “big snow” of 1947. She has always said she’d love to have studied medicine at university, but her dad’s business went belly up around the time she did her Leaving Cert, so university wasn’t an option. She started work in the council where she met my dad. When they got married she had to stop work as was the rule there in those days.

This is the woman who decided to redo maths and business organisation as Leaving Certificate subjects the year I was doing it. Despite having to look after us 7 and dad, she got A’s in both. She then went on to qualify as an accounting technican. She’s a bridge shark and has always instilled in me the importance of being independent and having a life and interests of my own apart from my kids and family.

I admire her “get on with it” attitude. She hates waste and is always recycling and remodelling stuff to use elsewhere. She is the person I ring when I’m up or down and that I can rely on to travel down and mind my kids when I need a break. She says she prefers it when I’m not here as then she rules the roost with my children.

My dearest husband has been totally dumbstruck with her innovation of lettuce in curry. Despite a penchant for lettuce and garlic she does cook a mighty fine curry it has to be said. Said curry was a staple in college when much appreciated tupperware was filled, frozen and defrosted throughout the week.

She’s a divil for the Irish Times Crosaire crossword and stays up most nights till after midnight so she can print off the latest version and more often than not, complete it before bedtime. She blames me for getting her started on it, but she is now much more proficient at it than I ever was.

Happy birthday darling Mammy, as Síofra would say “You’re the best”

]]> https://manicmammy.com/2010/03/18/happy-birthday/feed/ 2 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ https://manicmammy.com/2008/03/19/birthday-celebrations/ https://manicmammy.com/2008/03/19/birthday-celebrations/#comments Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:43:45 +0000 Manic Mammy https://manicmammy.com/2008/03/19/birthday-celebrations/ This time 10 years ago, we were married for 6 months or so and it was fast approaching Conor’s 30th birthday. At the time, I was working for TEAM Aer Lingus doing my aircraft engineer thang and had what must be one of the best work perks evah: flight concessions.

Zonal tickets were the business. Get yourself a couple of those and off you went, the choice of many airlines to whatever destination the outgoing plane which had seats free was going to. Competitions to see who could get the furthest leaving on a Friday and back for Monday morning. Good fun.

So for his 30th, I booked the concession tickets and we headed to New York for the weekend on Concorde. It was brilliant, we arrived in NY 2 hours before we left London hitting Mach 2 on the way. The Pierces came up from Virginia, we stayed in the World Trade Center Marriott and spent the weekend hitting the tourist spots. Definitely a weekend to remember.

A year later, I gave birth to our first son on my 30th birthday. He arrived 5 days early and it was a completely different but even more memorable celebration. Midwives singing “happy birthday” whilst I was in labour is something I will never forget.

photo credit: ginamig276

So now, 5 kids later and our 40s fast approaching, life has changed dramatically and celebrations take a bit more planning. Initially I had contemplated doing a F1 trip: someday it would be brilliant to attend the Monte Carlo Grand Prix. But for now, its too expensive and hardly child friendly. Then we thought of a ski trip en famille but again, it may be better to wait till the children are a bit older. Maybe just bring the older kids, nah, that didnt seem right either. We better make the most of them wanting to travel with us. Somehow I doubt it’ll be as easy when we’re hitting 50.

So today, at his request, I booked the final part of Conor’s 40th celebration and we’re all off to Legoland Windsor in May. It seems perfect and fitting that we celebrate this stage of our lives together with all our children. Time is passing so bloody quickly. Legoland should be fun.