Whew are we glad this is a once a year thing!! I was gonna say EVENT, but that has really just become such a wanky term. I went to a party at a farm once and was told by the host that he was too busy organising the EVENT to be civil. I reckon that's the sort of people who say it.
Anyway I got stupid lost on the way to collect Zig from his father's place and then said father pretended not to be sure of the collection arrangements...ho hum. Finally he delivered Zig in his school uniform from Friday, with the bleary eyes of a kid who had had 3 hours sleep and no breakfast. Way to go on the sabotage, feckless father!
We made our way to Mum and she took the little fella home for a shower and change while I started with the final prep at the park. Filling water bombs is an art that I can now proudly record on my CV. Yeh I got a bit moist, not in a good way, but 30 were filled and tied ready to go.
The kids arrived and Bell went into action. She ran those kids like a well oiled machine! She had her prize bag and a schedule and more energy than I could have mustered.
Pass the Parcel with a Belly twist, egg and spoon relays, NO CHEATING!!, water bomb relays and then fights, and up to play 'Wet Head' - a game where the kid wears a water tower on their heads and other kids pull out rods which might or might not release a torrent of water onto the first kid. Yeh they all got pretty wet. Things escalated and much water was thrown and I do believe the park tap was not up to the constant use of 9 year olds and the handle thing, 'Just fell off Bell.'
I cooked the sausages for the sizzle and took pics and hoped that neither of the epi-pens that had been delivered would be needed.
Then the car races were organised. The drop at the cliff face is pretty severe and I sure as shit was not gonna give 'em all a demo, but Belly joined a group and off they went. It was hold your guts laughing funny and as I took photos, I had to be careful not to get in the way of a runaway box or a tumbling kid. Yeh there was a bit of blood, but after I chased the kids and snuck up on 'em with dettol and bandaids all was put right.
The cartons which had become cardboard bits were used for more games and then it was food time.
I reckon it's very easy to see the nature of the parents just by looking and listening to the kids. Belly and I were like a pair of mad manners madams. They got NOTHING without a please and thank you. Really it is all so simple to get it right.
Some kid sneered that there was no BBQ sauce but chomped his sanga up anyway. And another kid asked questions like, 'Is this store bought, cos if it is it will make me vomit.' So too will a good backhander and holding your face in a toilet bowl is what I fancied saying to the blighter.
Then the moment Bell had been dreading and which will never be repeated- The Pinata bashing! Suffice to say that it ended as badly as Belly knew it was gonna. Any rugby coach would have been pleased with their mauling abilities. As it was my idea, I am just gonna forget about it as soon as I can.
Cake and watermelon and then yippee-kai-ay it was 2 o'clock and where are the bloody parents of these monsters.
Most of the mums and dads came and thanked Belly for her trouble and their kids were happy to head home with their loot bags full of even more sugar. But the 2 kids who had been bloody painful all day were owned by parent s who were late and didn't bother with the basics of a thank you. The kids had not fallen far from the tree!
Bell shouted out, 'Thank you!' to them as they were piling into their cars but her subtlety was lost.
We clean and made sure that the Scouts' efforts for 'Clean Up Australia Day' were not wasted and then Zig got down to the excitement of opening up all his pressies. Well what a haul!! He was an excited exhausted little man who held it together at least until he hopped into the car.
I am pretty certain there was not much going on at home with either of 'em last night. A bit of sausage and blessed sleep for them both.
It was a big lovely day.
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