Say Uncle

My Dear Princess, Loulou and Fellows,

Today was a big day. Gromit and Fazzy came up to Paraparaumu with their respective families. So this is annoying because now I have to come up with a whole shitload of blipnames but no I can't be bothered. Let's go with real names. 

So Gromit is actually Shenée, Fazzy is actually Fazlyn (I was not very imaginative). Shenée's fiancé is Craig and Fazlyn's husband is Shahier. They turned up with their two children Haniah and Zaydaan. 

And we had a LOVELY day! Caro made one of her signature platters, Shahier made an amazing chicken dish for everyone and I made my chocolate soufflé. In addition, Craig and Shenée went to the South African deli and brought some Saffy dessert. 

There was SO MUCH FOOD. 

It was actually a beautiful day today. A little cool, but warm enough to sit outside and eat. I rigged up Mario Kart in the living room, and cartoons in the bedroom for the kids and we chatted and laughed. Craig, Shahier and Caro found themselves outside, while the rest of us worked on dessert. 

"I feel like one of the husbands," joked Caro. And apparently they mocked our work of looking at pictures of animals. RUDE.

We didn't talk too much about work, actually. We mainly talked about our partners. Mocked them. And then mocked each other. Shenée bonded with Haniah, who followed "the nice lady" around until Fazzy told her to start calling her "Auntie Shenée". 

Naturally, I was also "Uncle Symon" and I played Mario Kart with Zaydaan even though he ONLY wanted to do Moo Moo Meadows over and over and over. But then I got very bossy and told everyone it was time to play a VERY IMPORTANT GAME.

I explained how Shenée makes us play games at workshops about things like team work and effective communication. So now it was my turn. "Managers are supposed to be like poo umbrellas, keeping poo off their team members," I explained. "How good are you at catching poo, Shenée?" 

And then I handed her the Poo Head Hat. And we all took turns throwing poo at her. It was GREAT!

She took it very well, bless her. 

And obviously the kids loved it.

"You thought we were these intellectuals," said Caro, apologising to Shahier and Craig. 

We then retired to the living room to play Balderdash, which is always a hoot. Shahier revealed a talent for writing elaborate narratives which sucked us in EVERY TIME. 

Me and Caro felt quite warm and fuzzy after everyone left. These are all genuinely nice people and we really liked all of them. It was a little different for me, I guess. I already felt close to Fazzy and Shenée and meeting their families made it even better, but even Caro got warm feelings for everyone. The two kids were really very sweet and adorable and it was almost like family getting together. 

Shenée said that meeting Caro was like catching up with a long-lost friend, and we are all invited to Shenée's for the NEXT group dinner.

I'm just now receiving texts from them. Apparently they all had the best time. Haniah and Zaydaan loved their day at Uncle Symon's.

Awwwwwwww...

Sorry. I'll be back to being cynical tomorrow.

S.