Manic day!

Keith went into work early this morning to dismantle another part of the framework that houses the blowers for the bouncy castles. The scaffolding and netting had to come down to make way for the new equipment and we really wanted it done before we had any customers in! As it was much higher than the old Tots Area, it involved a certain degree of danger!

I took Sophie to school, rushed to work to put the floats in and then helped Keith clear away all the vinyl cladding and old netting. We stored all the metal poles behind our climbing wall and then I hoovered the floor before we had any customers in. Polly blocked the whole area off and we explained to everyone that there would be a certain degree of disruption!

Guy phoned me and said that he was on his way and by 11am he was with us. Thankfully we didn't need a forklift truck (I'd been awake worrying about that at 3am) and within half an hour the two old bouncy castles had been rolled up like sausages and the new stuff was coming in! The man who designed the new equipment had arrived to help Guy and we all pulled together to get it all in before lunchtime. Some of the children just couldn't wait to try out the new stuff and kept breaking into the off-limits area, but they didn't have to wait long!

We were absolutely delighted with the new area and it was wonderful to see how brand spanking new it all was! We think it'll be a great addition to what we have and I dare anyone to say we're not value for money!

Mum and Dad had come in to help, but they went home after everything was installed and Keith and I went off to do a few chores. It had started snowing which didn't really help matters! I'd promised Sophie we would sort out her photos after school so after picking her up we sped over to the photographic shop and she printed off four A3 size shots, which looked great. The rest we decided to print at home.

Sophie managed to persuade me to stop and buy a McFlurry on the way home and then it was off at 5pm for all of us to the cinema on the other side of Northampton to see The Life of Pi. I'd been wanting to see it ever since it came out and it didn't disappoint! We watched it in 3D and I was blown away by the sheer beauty of the cinematography, the colours and the story itself. I thought it was truly magical.

We came out of the cinema and decided to eat at TGI Fridays, which was OK, if a little loud! It reminded me of Applebees in Florida, with a central bar and the darkish atmosphere. We had a good meal - large portions - and it was a lovely way to end a hectically busy day!