16th Celebrations

 It was son's 16th Birthday last week. I took 3 days off so I could make sure he had a nice time. Fortunately his Birthday was on the Tuesday and school didn't start until the Friday.

When he was born I felt really guilty because I knew that it was likely that at least every other year his birthday would end up being on the first day of school after the summer holidays. However, it's never really worked out like that. Because of inset days etc. he's actually only ever been in school on his birthday once.

Because 16th is a mini landmark birthday I wanted it to be really special for him. I got some great decorations to hang from the ceiling. I've always said to son that he's so unobservant that the easiest way to hide something from him is to leave it in plain sight.

One evening when son was in the study we put up about 30 hanging star decorations and stuck about 40 hanging 16th decorations from the ceiling. Son came down from study and walked into kitchen where we were. I asked him if he'd noticed anything. He looked confused. I told him to turn around. Still nothing. I asked him to look up. Ahhh he said, decorations..... and that was it!

When his birthday came around there was much excitement, I'd purchased a few small things so he had something to open, but the big present was also due to arrive. Everybody (us, Grandparents etc.) had put money into something he wanted really badly. Some sort of controller because he's teaching himself how to fly using a simulator (I don't really understand any of this, which is why I'm being vague).

He had to purchase it from Norway as it was the only place to get it. His dispatch notice said it was due to arrive on his Birthday, which was perfect - he'd been waiting around a month. Suddenly he received a notice to say that he would have to pay £90 in postage due to taxes. We thought  it was a scam and so did lots of research - but it turned out it was true. So thanks all of you who voted to leave the European Union. That was a bummer to receive on his birthday. However, give him his due, he didn't let it ruin the day.

Our plan was to go to the cinema. There's a new Aliens film out and it was a 15. So I booked tickets. Now son has seen all the Alien films so we thought it was a safe bet. We headed for cinema with plenty of time. We were just walking towards it when I realised I'd forgotten my phone, which had all the tickets on it - son didn't have his on him either. We ran back to car and I drove home, picked up my mobile and we drove back to cinema.

Already running late we went to go into the screen and we were stopped. The lady at the door wanted son's ID to prove he was old enough. Son didn't have his ID on him. I suggested asking husband to send a photo of his ID and the lady said this was ok. So I contacted husband and waited - husband duly send photo of ID - but he sent a photo of the back of it (go figure), so I had to contact again to ask for a photo of the front of it (with gritted teeth). Eventually we got the photo and the lady said we could go in. 

By now we were really late and the film had already started. We'll never know why the people went up to the planet with the Alien, we missed that bit. Aaanyway, the film started. Pretty quickly we discovered it wasn't like the rest of the films. Usually with Alien films you don't seen any gore and guts. They had really pushed out the boat with the CGI and there was blood, gore and guts everywhere. Poor son had never seen anything like this. He had his head in his hands. After 20 mins I asked if he'd like to leave - to which he responded 'yes please'. So we got up and walked out.

What with the postage cost, running late and the gory film I was desperate that son's 16th wasn't remembered for the wrong reasons. Opposite the cinema is an arcade. We haven't been to it for years because it's really for younger kids. However, we walked across and I changed some money for us to use. Actually we ended up having a whole load of fun in the Arcade. The day was saved.

In the evening we had a birthday party - just us as a family, but it was also lots of fun. So I think that son had a good day. 

Then on Saturday our usual friends came over and we had yet another party. 

They've really got their head around making decorations recyclable these days. It wasn't difficult at all to get my hands on decorations that wouldn't ruin the planet. In fact when clearning everything up I was able to hoover up any mess and empty the hoovered up 'stuff' directly into the recycling. Not only was this pleasing to my conscience, but it also made the hoover look very decorative - see today's picture.

Then on Friday son started school again. I can't believe that this means it's autumn, I really don't feel like we had a decent summer this year. I haven't yet recovered from last winter being so relentlessly wet. Let's hope this winter is a better one.