Davina Dupree's Bizarre Birthday Balloon Ride by SK Sheridan Page B

yum, Diary!
    So basically, Arabella and I left Giles staring at a clipboard with lists of names pinned to the front of it and made our way towards the birthday brunch cabin. To be honest my tummy was rumbling quite loudly by then and I was looking forward to seeing what food my crazy parents had ordered.
    Before we entered the cabin, we just
had
to stop and stare at the six hot air balloons positioned all over the lawn like giant sculptures. They looked so majestic, each one with an enormous, upside down egg shaped balloon joined delicately to a cabin underneath it with four long pieces of rope. When I saw them I thought blimey.com , I hope those ropes are strong, they look so thin compared to the size of the balloons!
    I have to say that the gold and black balloon is DEFINITELY mine and Arabella’s favourite, we are keeping our fingers, eyes and toes crossed that it’s the one we are booked to ride in. The cabin beneath it is more like a little house than any of the other balloon’s cabins. It has a balcony at the top that has an ornate rail running round it and exotic plants pouring over the top of it. The outside of the cabin is decorated with classical pillars and arches and it all looks very grand. The balloon, which is bigger than any of the others, has horizontal black and gold stripes all the way up it, and there is ornate decoration all over the gold stripes. Just completely breath-taking.com .
    These balloons look very different to the ones Arabella and I looked at last night on the internet. We searched for images, just because we wanted to know
exactly
what we were letting ourselves on for, and all the ones we saw just had little wicker baskets underneath them with people standing in them. Oh well, I suppose my mum’s letter did say this was a
luxury
balloon ride.
    Anyway, Diary, when we’d finished looking at the balloons we walked up the steps to the log cabin’s door and went in. I nearly fell over because in front of us was a table covered in the most luxurious food I’d ever seen! Trust my parents to go completely overboard.com . There were multi-coloured bread rolls filled with spicy meats from around the world, a rainbow selection of fruit kebabs arranged like a fan on a plate, delicate, golden pastries in the shape of wild animals, black and silver cupcakes which smelt of cinnamon and chocolate, golden cheesecake slices with a flower made from edible gold on the top of each one, and glasses of fizzy watermelon juice to drink.
    It was all so beautifully arranged it seemed a shame to eat it, but we were SO hungry I decided to take a photo of it with my new camera, (another birthday present from mum and dad, they really spoil me with stuff but it’s a shame I never see them), so we could remember it forever.com , then Arabella and I set to work, nibbling away at everything. Wow, Diary, talk about taste explosion! Everything was so delicious, I don’t think I’ll ever eat food that yummy.com again.
    Right I have to go now, I can hear Giles’ voice getting nearer and nearer. Ooh how exciting, I wonder if we’re about to meet our fellow passengers...
1.30pm, Outside the Hot Air Balloon, Thursday 18 th March
    There’s some good news and some bad news, Diary.
    The good news is that most of our new flying friends are very nice, the bad news is that two small kids are coming too and they’re SO ANNOYING! They’re non-identical twins called Hattie and Hugo, they’re six years old, have curly black hair and think that going round being rude to people and poking them is funny, when it’s SO NOT.COM . Arabella’s already told them to go away quite loudly but it didn’t seem to bother them, they just went behind her and sniggered.
    Anyway, like I said, the rest of the crew seem nice. There’s the twins baby sitter, Amy, a tall girl who plays games on her mobile phone quite a lot. She’s got a nice smile and she doesn’t seem to like