And the night goes on and on and on…

After the Valedictory Dinner everyone went home.  Well, not quite everyone.  Because you see, it was also Arabella’s coming of age and she and her friends were determined to not let that occasion slip without a celebration.  I thought ‘three cheers’ in the foyer of the venue would have been adequate but her social network had other ideas.

One of the chaps in her circle who is actually a mate of Archie’s (they went to school together), was for a brief interlude, a boyfriend of Arabella’s.  So brief was the interlude, he didn’t make it to ‘special friend’ status but they have remained friends.  Tee-Koi, (as he is known), is now promoting nightclubs around Sydney and without any discussion with the birthday girl’s parents, he organised a bus to meet outside the Val venue and take Arabella and her friends and their parents to a nightclub in Kings Cross.

The Karaoke Bus


It was no ordinary bus either.  It was a karaoke bus where the driver had one arm looking after the steering wheel while the other arm pumped the air in time with the loud music.  Carl and I were horrified but pretended to look relaxed as we approached the offending vehicle.  Arabella’s BFF’s were already on board and had merged towards the rear leaving seating for the oldies up the front.

Here she comes

We did a quick head count and noted someone was missing and yes, it was the birthday girl herself and I looked out the window of the bus and saw Arabella hurrying towards the bus in a new outfit.  Somehow she had changed from the retro/vintage black sequined number to the dress we originally arranged for the night.  Her BFF’s disembarked and created a guard of honour that Arabella walked through then stepped up onto the bus.

Heading to the bus and she has her ‘I’m 18’ wrist band on her wrist

All aboard

With everyone on board the bus took off and the girls opened all the windows and waved and yelled and screamed at everyone else on the road while singing karaoke at full volume.  There was a Lionel Ritchie song and a One Direction song and a few more and while the girls were content to sing as a group, Carl insisted on performing solo.  He stood at the front of the bus and looked back at the girls and sang, ‘You’re the Devil in Disguise’.  They all laughed.

Here we go, here we go, here we go

Traveling through the city, loudly

The lighting on the bus was interesting

Oh. I hope I don’t look too happy to be disembarking

Having arrived at the venue in a not-so-subtle manner, we disembarked and headed to The Village where Tee-Koi had organised an upstairs function room.  There were two security guards/bouncers on the door and they asked Arabella for ID and she produced it and they looked at it and studied it and ran their fingers over it and rubbed it and tried to peel it until I gave the guy holding it a slap and said, ‘Say something’.  And he looked at me in a very shocked way and looked at it again and said, ‘Oh, happy birthday’, and with that we moved on in.

Another birthday person at The Village

I needed to go to the bathroom so headed in the direction of the facilities only to be confused by the presence of cubicles and urinals.  Yes, The Village has a communal bathroom so men and women have to share the facilities.  Excellent!

Carl and I hung out with the other ‘oldies’ but were tired so gave Archie and Arabella and some of their friends funds for a cab home.  I said, ‘And don’t you be too late, Arabella, you have a farewell breakfast at the school tomorrow morning at 7.30am’.  It was midnight when I gave her this advice.

Carl and I disappeared into a taxi at around 1am.  The next morning I woke Arabella and asked, ‘What time did you get home?’ and she said, ‘I don’t know, ask Archie’.  So I went into Archie’s room and said, ‘You need to get up for Uni.  What time did you get home?’  And he said, ‘Can’t remember’.

Let’s just assume then, it wasn’t early.

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Comments

  1. yummychunklet says:

    Now that is a night out when you can’t remember when you arrived home! I’ve had many a night light that!

  2. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says:

    Hehe well I think we all knew that it wasn’t really going to be a celebration without some sort of crazy bus ride no? OK perhaps not but it seems fitting for an 18th!! And I’m glad that she wore the dress after all!

  3. What a fun celebration night! How exciting that you guys were able to celebrate her graduation and her birthday. And both of you are gorgeous!

  4. Arabella and her bffs, and her mum, are all gorgeous. I hope that besides Carl and Archie there were some burly male buddies around to beat off the predators. 🙂

    http://a-boleyn.livejournal.com/

  5. Jed Gray (sportsglutton) says:

    I’ve never been too into Karaoke Charlie, but that looks like one crazy fun bus!

  6. Arabella looks gorgeous in her dress, as do you, and looks like they had a great time. What an experience!

  7. This looks, Charlie, just a little like a nightmare to me 😛 I am impressed you survived until midnight! Arabella looks incredibly happy though, and beautiful in her original dress, and she must have some great friends in that group.

  8. Victoria at Flavors of the Sun says:

    A dream for kids, punishment for “oldies.” I had a good laugh–you made it all so vivid. What a gorgeous group of young women! How can they ALL be so pretty? It looks like they stepped out of a modeling agency–and Arabella most of all. And her mum.

  9. Mandy -The Complete Cook Book says:

    Don’t think I would have enough energy for teenagers!
    🙂 Mandy xo

  10. Aaaaaah I LOVE party buses that is sooo cool 😀 😀
    And gives me a great idea for my own 18th which will drive my parents crazy 😉

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru
    http://gobakeyourself.wordpress.com/

  11. Ah, to be young…it looks so fun! Your daughter is a beauty…and so are you 🙂

  12. Glamorous Glutton says:

    I don’t think we have party buses here, it looks great. I’m sure the youngest Glam Teen would love to go clubbing for his 18th on one of those. GG

  13. That’s quite a party! Oh to be young again! There were no party buses in my time! All the girls look gorgeous and looks like they, and the parents had a great time! My 15 year old is on party bus tonight for their homecoming dance. I just hope my oldest one who turns 18 in two months doesn’t want one!! Congrats to Arabella on her birthday and graduation.

  14. She looks so gorgeous! What a milestone for you guys xx

  15. thelifeofclare says:

    That looks like such a great way for her to celebrate! I love that she had a costume change!

  16. Oh how fun is all of that! And I think it’s pretty awesome the “oldies” got to be included for a bit. Arabella looks gorgeous, as do you Charlie! What a fun night. Oh I miss those days with my girl friends! 🙂

  17. A Karaoke Bus, that sounds like disaster to me. Would of loved to see my mum’s face when she got off that bus too.You looked like you survived it.

  18. The karaoke bus scares me, quite frankly. 🙂 It would scare you too if you heard me sing. What a fantastic coming of age party. It couldn’t have been done better and she must be so happy it all went so well. Everyone looked fantastic.

  19. Your family sets the standard for celebrating! I have never in my life been involved in this much revelry in such a short period of time! I hope Miss Arabella feels that she experienced a wonderful birthday! It sounds pretty outstanding to me. And I hope that you can get some rest…you’re a party girl, too, Charlie! Hooray! Debra

  20. kitchenriffs says:

    Wow, what a party! I can’t do those late nights anymore, and haven’t been able to for ages. When I was Arabella’s or Archie’s age, though? Who needed sleep? (Well, actually I slept a lot; but always when the sun was out!) Fun post – thanks.

  21. wow what a night he he fun

  22. tania@mykitchenstories.com.au says:

    Nice that you were included. You did very well to reach the 1 oclock call after your big week. What a group of beautiful giirls

  23. InTolerant Chef says:

    I’m so proud of you and your restraint Charlie, I would have slapped a lot more than just one person that night 🙂 It its lovely that Arabella has such a close circle of friends, and I bet Carl was a huge hit with his solo!

  24. Wow what a great way to celebrate Arabella’s 18th! I’ve always wanted to have a bus party hehe so cute that you and Carl were allowed to go! I banned my parents from coming lol because they’re too ‘Asian’ hahaha and wouldn’t appreciate me dancing and drinking with friends 😛

  25. OMG …. I would have been dying on that bus … Way too much excitement for me … And communal bathrooms? You poor thing 🙂

  26. GourmetGetaway says:

    Well done mum and dad! Xx job well done and all home safe an sound 🙂

  27. Claire @ Claire K Creations says:

    The bus is hilarious. I think my favourite part was you giving the bouncer a whack to remind him to say Happy Birthday!

    Happy Birthday Arabella!!

  28. Sweet Posy Dreams says:

    At least they invited the parents! Not sure I could have held up as long as you did. What an evening!

  29. justonecookbook says:

    See, you are so young to stay up late and partying with teenagers! Were your ears and throat okay (not by singing but more like shouting to speak…)? 😀

  30. What fun! I loved your comment upon leaving the bus, Charlie. Sometimes when talking with someone, they’ll make some crazy comment and all I can think is how I hope my face looks interested and not horrified.

Trackbacks

  1. […] After reading the adventures of other Mothers** with year 12 students and end of year Formals  or “Balls” as they used to be called, I wanted to just have a last whirl round the dance floor …… metaphorically, as a Mother of a boy.  **( most notably the hilarious adventures of Charlie from Hotly Spiced ) […]

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