Kids, you can’t take them anywhere, right?
“What are you girls doing?” their Auntie Belinda asked a couple of our daughters.
“Just looking,” said Miss6.
I’m surprised she picked them out in the crowd because the place was crawling with kids. Like us, our friend Mel had brought five of hers and, along with nephews and several friends’ kids, they were mostly tearing about the grassy area in front of the restaurant playing catch.
But Bel had spotted Miss6 and Miss4 peering over the side of the balcony of the restaurant, through fairy lights, at all the adults having a grand ol’ time chatting and laughing with each other. Everyone had gathered at our favourite local restaurant, Zesty Edibles, for a meal and a catch up – oh, and incidentally to celebrate Tracey and Mel’s 40th.
Back around high school the two girls had decided they’d have a joint 40th and, despite Tracey trying to skip out of the deal late last year, they’d both come good with the plan.
“You look very pretty tonight,” Bel told her nieces.
“I know,” said Miss4, a total stranger to false modesty.
“You do too,” said Miss6.
Everyone looked great. About fifty people had gathered to share drinks and a fantastic spit roast with the birthday girls. Some had grown up together in Barton Rd: some of them had known each other since primary school. I love our friends and family so much. Easy to talk with and quick to laugh. That’s all you want, isn’t it? People who see the fun in life and share it.
Like when a worried Miss9 went up to a friend of ours fairly early in the proceedings and asked pointedly if she was drinking alcohol, which our friend assured her she wasn’t.
“Good,” said Miss9, relieved, “because Mum and Dad are so you can drive us home.”
Meanwhile, out on the balcony, the seemingly innocuous interaction between Auntie Bel, Miss6 and Miss4 was, like the gorgeous Barbie doll cakes, about to impress more than a few of our guests.
“Are you playing catch with the other kids?” Belinda asked the girls while indicating the loud grassy area in the hope they’d run off and join the other kids again.
“No,” Miss4 said. “We’ve had enough.”
“Well, what do you want to do?”
Miss6 paused to give that a moment’s thought, then she came up with a pearler of an idea.
“Can we touch your boobies?” she asked eagerly.
And one end of the balcony went silent for all of two seconds before bursting into raucous laughter.
Turns out you can take kids anywhere. You just need to gather the right crowd.
Raising a family on little more than laughs
Christmas Board Game Stocking Filler Idea
A great family game where the longer the line of colours or shapes you can add to the board the more points you score. Simple. Addictive. Fun.
Qwirkle Board Game
