I will do a proper 9th birthday post on a page at some point soon but if anyone wants to read that it’ll be on the side bar rather than in the body of the blog. Clearly it will be mush-ridden and sloppy so probably not for most of you ;).
Today started far too early at 7am with Tarly leaping on me chanting ‘It’s Davies’ birthday, you’ve got to get up!’. I realised Ady should already really have left for work so it was either Davies opening with an audience of Ady and me still in bed, or Ady gone to work and me getting up later so I staggered down and Ady put off leaving for ten minutes to watch present opening.
Davies had asked for surprisingly little this year and had already decided on the things he did want about 3 months ago. The very short list has remained unchanged all that time, which was great as it gave us ages to research and source everything on it which included:
a one man tent, a proper one for actually camping in
a pocketsized firesteel – really impressed with this, it strikes easier and with massive sparks, way better than the bigger and more pricey ones I’ve seen before:
A penknife with ‘loads’ of pull out tools – he’d seen this one in the local hardware store and prefered it even to the proper swiss army knives we’ve shown him due to its amazing amount of gadgets and small size
Along with an Indiana Jones style hat (‘but not a toy Indiana Jones hat or one with Indiana Jones written on it!’) that completed his wish list.
We added to it a set similar to this one it stays as one to bring out spoon, corkscrew, bottle opener and punch or can be seperated into two pieces with a knife on one and a fork on the other. He loves it 🙂
I found this on special offer online a month or so ago and ordered it for £15 and put it aside for his birthday after that animation workshop he went to. This is very similar to the kit they used there and on first glance is excellent – we’re going to have a proper play with it tomorrow
and Scarlett had wanted to get him this Morph kit
He was gratifyingly delighted with all his gifts and got stuck straight into the Morph kit and accompanying dvd while I went off to get dressed. First attempt looks pretty good I reckon:
I left them playing with that and nipped to the shop for eggs before making and baking the choux pastry for Davies’ requested birthday cake of a giant chocolate eclair. I was planning an oversized traditional cigar shape but decided to make a number nine instead. That done and everyone fed and dressed we headed off to Pulborough Brooks. It was the monthly HE meet up today and we’d initially not planned to go but Davies was keen to see Jack and Maisie on his birthday so last week we decided we would go. A lovely surprise was Caz, Bid, Archie and Elliot there in the shop when we arrived :).
We’d managed in all the holidaying and me being ill last week to forget to buy Scarlett her traditional sibling birthday gift, which she was very cool about this morning,telling Ady ‘no it’s fine, it’s not my birthday!’ but she has been coveting a soft toy rabbit at Pulborough Brooks gift shop for months – it’s way over my usual veto price for soft toys but it’s been an enduring want so I said she could have it today. Davies also picked up a cuddly ant that makes clicking ant noises and a bird windchime there too. I think the stuff they sell is reasonably priced, very good quality and it’s a charity I am happy to support so I was pleased they got some of Davies’ birthday spending. Davies and Scarlett are greeted by name as they walk into the visitor centre there, thanks to Wildlife Explorers and our regular visits and attendance at their events which is just so nice when we arrive :).
We walked part way round with just Caz and Bid (well I did, the four children either lagged behind or raced infront) and then caught up with the rest of the group. Julie and co arrived just before the end so Davies did get to see his cousins aswell as his mates which was nice :). We had a very brief time in the playpark before heading off to go to my parents for lunch. We detoured home to collect the pastry for Davies’ cake and got to them at about 1pm.
On the drive we’d been chatting about what Davies might want to spend the small amount of birthday money he’d been given from people and he suddenly said ‘Oh I remember, I wanted some lego but forgot to ask for it!’ so I suggested we go to the Lego store in Brighton this afternoon. Originally Davies had wanted to go to the cinema this afternoon to see Ice Age 3 but it turned out not to be showing during the day now everyone is back at school.
My parents had dug out a leather hat that had been bought for Frazer on a family holiday to Spain when we were children. It’s cleaned up beautifully and although I’d primed Davies for it and assured him if it wasn’t the right sort of hat then he didn’t have to accept it and could still get the hat he did want he was really pleased with it. It fits well and is excellent quality despite being nearly 30 years old. It does have ‘Mallorca’ written on it though so I suggested a buff, which Davies has been desperate for for ages would be ideal to wear round the brim to hide that.
Mum and I went to get bits for lunch including the cream for whipping and chocolate for melting to fill and top the cake. Mum put lunch together while I finished the cake and we all ate. The cake came out really well and was very yummy 🙂
We discussed how neither child ever seems to have just the one birthday cake each year…Davies tried to decide which had been most impressive – the dalek that made it onto cake wrecks? Cake in a field? Princess castle cake? teddy bear cake? 😆
Cake eaten Mum, the children and I headed off to Brighton to visit the Lego store. Davies specifically wanted Star Wars characters. They sell most of them in little 4 character packs for about £9 a time and cunningly split the main ones you’d actually want between 5 different packs with the rest being fillers or peripheral characters. That led to us looking at the lego packs which came with some characters and Davies chose a boxed set with a fair few figures in it, one of the packs of four and a keyring of the final character he wanted. £50 later he was very happy! He put some towards it, I put a couple of quid more and Mum paid for the rest as the present from her and Dad. We then popped to Millets and got a red buff which Mum paid for from Frazer. Davies was very pleased with a very respectable haul of gifts :).
We dropped Mum home and then headed for home ourselves where Davies and Scarlett played with the new lego. Ady came home and we all got changed and went back out again to meet Mum, Dad and my Granny at the local Harvester for a meal. I hate the Harvester, I think it is overpriced mediocre quality food but it’s the only place I’ve ever seen steak and chips on a kids menu, which happens to be Davies’ favourite meal. I had a steak too, which was perfectly acceptable and as I wasn’t paying I was grateful and gracious. 😉
We came home and as Frazer is on lates this week and my parents had told him to come round to ours after work everyone came back here which I could have done without really (still suffering… 🙁 ). Davies and I went up to his room and he put his new tent up pretty much single handedly though and is really pleased with it. He and I had a lovely chat about life, birthdays, growing up and stuff (which I will expand on fully in my birthday post page obviously ;)).
Finally everyone left, the children went to bed and Im now headed that way myself…
