Don't Lick Anything

My Dear Princess and Dear Friends,

Fazzy and Hani's birthdays both fall within Ramadan next month. I asked her how this works because I don't know how to Muslim. 

Once she'd stopped rolling her eyes at my choice of words she explained that Ramadan is a time for contemplation and so celebrating birthdays isn't really in keeping with it. 

Consequently, she decided it was both Hani and her birthdays this weekend. And that we would celebrate by cashing in her family ticket for the zoo. 

(I bought her that ticket for Xmas, so technically we were celebrating Xmas as well).

Hani knew I was coming over today because she overheard the conversation I had with Fazzy on Teams. Hani is home schooling at present due to omicron, although Zay is not. She was told to keep it a secret. Not for any reason but just because it's FUN to watch a little girl attempt to keep a secret. 

She did very well. But Fazzy reported the first thing she did this morning when she opened her eyes was to blurt out:

BROTHER! BROTHER! UNCLE SYMON IS COMING OVER AND IT'S MY BIRTHDAY AND WE ARE GOING TO NANDOS AND WE ARE GOING TO HAVE NANDOS CHICKEN AND I'M SHARING WITH UNCLE SYMON BECAUSE UNCLE SYMON LIKES NANDOS CHICKEN!

"It's a good thing I didn't tell her about the zoo," commented Fazzy.

So we all drove to the zoo in high excitement. The kids thought we were just going to a park and every time we passed one they were all:

THERE'S A PARK THERE'S A PARK CAN WE STOP CAN WE GO TO THE PARK PLEEEEEEEASE?!?

Of course when they saw the zoo the excitement levels went up yet further. But first, Fazzy went through the Family Rules with them. 

"Do you remember the rules?" she asked. "Be careful around..."

"Be careful around traffic," repeated the kids. 

"Keep our..." prompted Fazzy.

"Keep our hands to ourselves," repeated the children.

"And?" said Fazzy.

"Don't lick anything," said the kids.

Three rules we could all do to live by, I feel. 

The children LOVED the zoo. Hani dragged me around by the hand all day, taking me from one animal to another to another. Hani and Zay loved the baby meerkats, the otters and of course the red panda who we decided was Cutie's friend "Billy".

Amusingly, their favourite parts in the zoo were the parks. They bloody loved those slides and trampolines and climbing frames. Fortunately Wellington zoo has them everywhere.

I could have saved myself the price of a family ticket, and they would STILL have had as much fun. That's all I'm saying.

And of course we went to Nando's afterwards although I have to tell you now that HANI DID NOT SHARE.

It's lovely spending time with Fazzy, Shahier, Zay and Hani. I feel very accepted into the family. When I'm around her children, Fazzy even calls me "Uncle Symon" all the time. As in, "What would you like from the menu Uncle Symon?" 

I got back home at about 4pm - dropped off by the Fazzy family and then showered and napped before the arrival of Jefe and Manda for an evening of chatting and watching "Survivor". They do not call me "uncle" but we're getting pretty close and comfortable with each other now too. It's nice to be able to just hang out.

So it was a VERY full day. But totally worth it, even if I feel shattered now. Fazzy sent me pictures of the children opening their presents (of course I got Hani presents and couldn't leave Zay out). 

And I felt like a proper Uncle Symon. 

It is a nice feeling.

S.