We had a picnic at Walter Sisulu gardens today to celebrate my 40th birthday… I didn’t actually take all that many photos… less than 100… and for me that’s hardly anything!! Oh well, no worries really, considering the number of people there that were taking photos and I’ve started seeing them on Facebook already which makes me smile a lot.

You probably don’t know this, but I had a picnic for my 30th birthday too… but that one was vastly different to this one.  For my 30th birthday we travelled to the UK, and one of the ways we celebrated my birthday was attending the Picnic in the Park at Hyde Park with 90000 other people, and some close friends (who were living in the UK then, and are now in Australia and the USA) and my sister who travelled with us (it was her first trip overseas).

So, 10 years later, and I found myself organising a similar celebration.  This time, I invited a lot of people and the park was relatively empty.   The invitations only got sent via Facebook as an event, which meant that some people didn’t see them. I invited people who, although in some instances I don’t see all that often anymore, they’ve made a mark on my life in some way shape or form.  I probably missed a few out, but that’s the nature of my forgetfulness right now.  And I was so spoilt and absolutely loved that so many actually friends and family members came to celebrate the day with me… in a very relaxed and informal fashion.

I hadn’t actually thought about my 30th picnic when I organised this picnic.  My thoughts were to find a way to keep the kids happy and entertained, without making my house a mess, and without spending a fortune.

My two beautiful boys decorated cakes for me… they were so proud of them, and the other kids oohed and aahed over them later on in the afternoon when it was cake eating time.  They wanted to do it too!

Angel brought along Volt, as a training day for his guide dog training.

Fiona cleverly brought games and books to keep the kids occupied…

I bought 5 dozen cupcakes from The Cupcake Lady  (and she was a guest too) – the cappuccino flavoured cupcakes were a hit, and I also got earl grey cupcakes, purple velvet, strawberry cheesecake and chocolate/vanilla marble cupcakes for everyone to eat

It was awesome to finally meet Stacey’s kids… I normally see her at evening functions

and Laura’s little Jack was so so cute, walking from picnic blanket to picnic blanket and finding bottles and cans and yummy things to eat

Mission accomplished  Thanks to everyone who joined me and my family… it was very very special to have you there.