"What's my birthday surprise this year Mum?" asked Mister Henry. The truth was we didn't have one planned. In fact, we had zero ideas for any gifts for Henry's 12th birthday. He doesn't need anything and he didn't have a wishlist either. But with this one question I realised how much he looks forward to the experiences we have given him for his birthday over the past few years (ie, swimming with sharks at Sea World and being a zookeeper for a day at Taronga Zoo).
It was then I remembered a TV ad shown in the lead up to the school holidays. It was an ad for Oakvale Farm, a place less than an hour's drive away that has native and farm animals..... and lemurs. Lemurs just happen to be Henry's favourite animal, after Minnie our pug. The ad showed lemurs on the shoulders of young kids and I thought how perfect - Henry would get to interact with a lemur.
As it was Henry's special day, this wasn't going to be a family outing. Michael had taken the week off work to enjoy the kid's birthdays with them and because it was school holidays - so it was a special day out for Mister with his Dad.
How disappointing then to arrive at Oakvale Farm to discover the lemurs secluded on an island and the closest Henry could get to them was looking over a fence and a moat. In fact, the lemurs were not the lemurs in the TV ad. These lemurs were much older and had been rescued from a zoo in New Zealand that had closed down. As parents we were thwarted. Upset we'd failed our beautiful Mister on his special day.
Turns out Henry wasn't too disgruntled. He was just enjoying his day out with his Dad all to himself. He still got to get close to plenty of animals.
Then it was out to lunch to his favourite restaurant Noodle Hut, where he could enjoy a big meal without his brother and sister whinging they don't like anything on the menu. He got to order all his favourite foods: satay chicken skewers, salt and pepper squid, and chicken pad see ew. When he finally got home he got to indulge in his birthday cake of choice, a homemade chocolate brownie.
Happy birthday Mister. You'll be a teenager next year.
1 comment:
Great birthday photos Henry looks as though you really enjoyed yourself.
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