I am writing this after an exhausting, but great, weekend celebrating Benjamin’s birthday!

My son is finally five years old! Since he has started school it seems that everyone has turned 5 before him, but this Saturday was time for his party.

Benjamin wanted to take his best mates to Willows Farm near St Albans (www.willowsfarmvillage.com). So we decided to make a day of it and invite their families along for the day too.

It turned out to be a great venue as it has a fabulous indoor play area, providing somewhere to go if it rained. And being May – in England – it did!

I’m not sure who had more fun on the indoor slides – the Dads or the kids?!

We took a picnic and birthday cake, which we had in the barn, and when the weather cleared up the kids had a tractor ride, bet on the ‘Sheepstakes’ (sheep racing!), bounced on the outdoor bouncy castles and ended up at the farm disco!

Benjamin had been up since 5am in the morning with birthday excitement, so was shattered at the end of the day. He was spoilt rotten with gifts from friends and family and now has a new range of ‘boy’s toys’ to play with; everything from a Dalek costume to a DS Lite (we may regret that gift – more on that later I am sure).

One thing I learned this weekend was to make sure that all party bags are the same! I choose to buy the boys a Power Ranger figure each and picked 4 different colours. Needless to say the yellow one did not go down well – I did not realise this was a ‘girl’ ranger! I am now on a promise to replace it by Monday!

Ben’s new Dalek costume 

The best friends – what a good-looking bunch! 

Watching the sheep race

Molly testing out Ben’s new paddling pool

With his friends waiting to go into the farm

Time for cake…