Maddie is 11!

Today this amazing girl turned 11! What an absolute joy it is to be her mum and I really, really mean that. She is so much fun, literally a miniature version of me personality wise - and I can genuinely say I enjoy hanging out with her.

She loved all her gifts - a new underarmour purple backpack for school, a longline black cardigan, a boba tea Stitch pop vinyl and a few other bits and pieces 

including yet another hairbrush, because no matter how many she has, she can't find one!

Her absolute favourite gift though, was being taken to have her second set of earrings done. She has been asking me for months and my response was no, no and more no, because my mother hit the roof when I had a second set done at 16 years old. I even made jokes about it being a "gateway drug" to more piercings as she gets older and even tattoos one day. Hahaha. She told my mum a few weeks ago she wanted them and my mum was like, "Oh what's the big deal, who cares?!" It's a completely different story when it comes to grandkids isn't it! Anyway, after that, I decided what the heck, let's do it and off we went to get them pierced. She was so bloody happy, you could not wipe the smile off her face.

Just before lunch, we headed off with her besties - 5 of them, perfect to fill my 7 seater, to go horse-riding in Bakers Hill... which is yet another reason Jen and I had tested it out last week.

We stopped off in the Bakers Hill townsite first to get lunch at the Bakers Hill Pie Shop...

Then walked with them over to the picnic area just off the highway to eat and have cake before we headed to the stables.

After realising we didn't have a lighter and borrowing one from the local Pharmacy (this mum has no shame and it was the closest store) we attempted for a few minutes in the wind to light the candles to no avail, so instead snapped this shot and gave up, before getting into the cake.

Cutest girl I know! ❤

The had the absolute best time on their trail ride and loved every minute. 

Waiting for their horses to be ready and head out.

Maddie and her horse.

She loved it so much and was so so happy with her birthday party! It was awesome for me too and actually a lot lighter on the pocket than I had imagined. A friend had told me recently that they had been trail riding at Green Gables Stables a few times and tagged me in a post on their Facebook page- the very day they released their end of financial year deal, 10 hour long rides for $145 each. It's normally over a thousand dollars, but once a year they bust out these deals. How perfect that it happened to be right when I was looking. They happily let me use 6 at once for her birthday, 2 for Jen and I last week and I have booked mum and dad in for a ride for mum's birthday at the end of this week! WINNING!

Our birthday girl with bestie Madison.

The happiest horse lover there ever was!

I am so glad they had such a good time. 

They were happily chatting about it all the way back to Ellenbrook.

One final stop to drop off Madison, whose lovely mum is Madeline's birthday twin.

Before coming home for dinner and another mini cake from Woolies. 

Spoiled rotten!

Funniest part of the day, our super lovely next door neighbour Sammy always laughs about how much time Madeline spends in her pyjamas, so for her birthday she bought her a pair of Peter Alexander PJs and a matching mug for her to bring over when she wants a hot chocolate. So flipping cute!

What an awesome day. ❤

Trail riding with my bestie

Every year when I ask my best friend what she is doing for her birthday she replies, "nothing exciting." So this year, I decided to make sure, she was doing something exciting and booked us in to go for a trail ride in Bakers Hill, not far from her house. I turned up early, with a waiver to sign at which time she was like umm okay with a bit of a giggle and off we went. 

It was a really lovely outing, the horses just wandered along, knowing pretty much what to do, with barely any direction from us. I have to wonder how often they walk up and down their trail a week.

She may not look like she's having the best time, but she assured me it was fun. I love it out in the country, so it was a wonderful morning for me. I just don't remember it being that hard to get on and off of a horse! Maybe I am just getting old. No, I am getting old.

Here is my lovely (although very skittish to begin with) horse. I swear he could sense I was nervous and ran with it until I got comfortable.

They had this cool wooden horse head sculpture on the gate which I loved. It amazes me how people see something like this and create it in an artistic way. I could never - and this looks so lifelike!

Jen and I at the end of our ride. Good times good times. ❤ 

There was just enough time for a pie at the Bakers Hill Pie Shop before I headed back to Perth. Hooray for a besties day out.