Hellobee

Since Charlie had a disappointing birthday last year, I wanted to make sure he had a good one this year. Charlie’s biggest wish has been to play in snow since we moved to the Philippines, so when the local mountains got early snowfall over Thanksgiving, I decided to book a cabin in the mountains for his birthday weekend. It actually snowed unexpectedly on our camping trip here in May earlier this year, but we were not prepared with the proper gear so Charlie didn’t get to play too much in it. This time I bought all the gear (a size too big so it’ll last through next year) to ensure plenty of snow play.

The first thing the kids did when we arrived was build a snowman, and then build a second bigger snowman! We even brought a carrot from home for the nose.

I booked a really lovely home on airbnb that had everything we needed, including sleds and marshmallow roasting sticks! But the biggest hit of the trip was probably the massive chesterfield style couch. We haven’t had a real couch since we moved to the Philippines, so they spent hours climbing, jumping, and making up games on this thing. Ode to the couch! My kids learned how to stand and walk along them, and have spent countless endless hours playing on them!

We snuggled up in front of the fireplace in the evening and made smores. I brought lots of games with me including Quiddler, Five Crowns, Tenzi (a dice game) and a pack of cards. Playing family games is one of Charlie and Olive’s favorite things to do, so we can easily play for hours.

Charlie’s words in Quiddler. He asked me if “boner” was a word and I looked it up in the Scrabble dictionary – it is but not what you’re thinking!

The next day we squeezed in some more snow play before heading home. It started snowing and was quite chilly with the wind!

It was a simple celebration filled with fun, love and family bonding. I think these are the types of memories that kids never forget.

On Charlie’s actual birthday two days later, Mr. Bee planned a Harry Potter scavenger hunt that he emailed to me since he couldn’t be with us to celebrate. Then we had a family dinner at home with steak (Charlie’s favorite) and a mint chip ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins (Charlie’s favorite).

For gifts, Mr. Bee and I got Charlie a Harry Potter invisibility cloak, my parents got him a Hogwarts Express Lego set, Olive got him Dogman Fetch-22 and a slinky, and my brother bought him Pokemon cards, a Pokemon book and a Pokemon card case. All things Charlie loves, but that we can’t buy on our island (other than Pokemon cards).

Charlie said the highlight of his birthday was getting to spend it with Grandma and Grandpa and Jungle (my brother’s nickname from the kids) for the first time. If only Mr. Bee could have joined us, it really would have been perfect.

I can’t believe I have a 10-year-old!