Oscars night, sort of...

Jane loves the Oscars. Jane loves them so much that last year – separated from all her friends – it fell to me to drink Champagne and talk about the merits, or otherwise, of the many shoes and frocks parading down the red carpet. It took a lot of Champagne.

This year, I played it smart. This year, I secretly invited a number of locals, some Canucks and some Aussies from the High Commission, to come over on Oscar night. I figured the ladies could enjoy Champagne and smack-talk the frocks, while the guys have some manly beers and play board games (Catan & Betrayal at the House on the Hill) in the next room. It would be perfect. I would be close enough to duck in and admire Anne Hathaway's ample talent and dress, but not actually need to engage with the rest of the *cough* glamour of the event.

When all was in place, I revealed my plan to a most appreciative wife. And all was going perfectly, until just over a week ago when Jane’s work decided she was needed overseas, for a week. This week in fact. Yeah. 

So tonight, everybody is still coming over for booze, board games and, of course, the Oscars. All will proceed as planned, minus the guest of honour. And that is totally OK, because cunningly I only invited people I like.  So as far as I am concerned, tonight is friends with beers and board games. Meanwhile, the TV will be on in the background and Jane will be swaning about the Sub-continent on DFAIT’s dime.

A Season of Birthdays : Part 2

 Tom’s birthday is usually a little problematic because it falls so soon after Xmas. In this case, having just returned from Xmas in Australia, jetlag was a much larger problem. We decided to postpone his party , but still had a small family celebration on the day. We even used his birthday as a lever to help get everybody out of bed early despite jetlag. A tactic which I believe can be seen reflected in the eyes of all the pics taken that morning.

The excitement of new birthday toys struggles with jet-lag.

Super-cool castle acquired with the help of Gramper

After a long day of being the birthday boy at school, its nice to come home to CAKE!

The video is of Tom's other favourite present, a giant glossy book of dinosaurs. For every dino it provides a big picture, a pronunciation guide, map of where the dino lived and a small piccy showing their size in comparison to humans. Cool book.

BTW – getting over jetlag in the middle of a Northern winter is rather hard. It’s so cold you really just want to stay inside all day, and there is bugger all sun during the day anyway. 

A couple weeks later, it was party time! Having looked at the options, we decided to enlist the services of Little Ray’s Reptiles as birthday entertainment.  Worth. Every. Penny. For about an hour, during which Jane was nowhere to be seen, Kevin produced about a dozen different reptiles and insects, almost all of which the kids were allowed to touch while he talked about the creature in question.  One of the nicest parts of being on posting is that we are in a position to give the kids such a terrific experience. Next year, it’s going to be cake from a box and a public park. Unlike this year, the appearance of a snake will most unwelcome (and not just by Jane).

 

This reticulated python was the grand finale. The kids *loved* it.

Another batch of prezzies.

More cake is good cake, especially when it comes with a mammoth.

The Season of Birthdays: Part 1

It begins with Lillian in December and finally draws to a close in April with Jane. Everything between is chaos and cake.

The mighty Lilli-zilla had her 3rd birthday in early December. The whole thing started with dignity. Lilli and Mummy made a special trip downtown to buy the twirliest party dress and shoes to be found, and they were successful. On the day however, it was a mad and sugar-crazed mass of under threes fuelled by Elmo and the Wiggles. There was much twirling and wiggling. There was also much scoffing of cake and chips. In finest girlie fashion, she even managed to fit in a change of wardrobe part way through the day, in the middle of opening presents as it happens, when she was given an especially frilly pink princess dress. Eventually, it and Lillian, all came crashing down. It had been a very fine day.

The best possible start to the day. Dinosaur pjs and presents.

The pre-party crowd

 

DJ Tom lays down some Wiggly party tracks for the dancers.

Lillian the cupcake fairy works her magic

Party over, time for a bath and bed