Another Earth Hour, another birthday...

My eldest daughter turns 12 today. (How time really flies. It seems only a short time ago that we celebrated her 11th birthday with friends in Perth.) We had a family celebration at Nexus Karambunai Hotel on Friday. A night stay, and a full day of relaxation, that's the birthday theme. She was a bit grumpy in the beginning. Her plan was to invite her newfound school friends, old family friends and all the cousins (and my, my, that would be about 50 people) for a merry celebration at home, but Mom and Dad were not into the idea. With the prolonged hot weather in KK, and the house still very much looking like a shipwreck, that was just impossible.

So Dad came home from KL on Thursday, just for his special little girl who's now not so little anymore. And off we went to Nexus. Having been treated to a special room shared with her sister, eldest daughter finally relented and enjoyed herself. A special surprise during dinner lifted her mood. Three singers appeared with their string instruments (and Mom doesn't even know what those instruments are called), to sing her the birthday song when the cake was brought to our table. That simple thing made her smile and forgot all about the unfulfilled wish of having a merry party at home :)

We went back home later yesterday, with the kids all ready for Earth Hour. It was wonderful to see three young ones all excited to give due respect to Mother Earth. We prepared our special candles, and went hapily into the darkness for an hour.

Today is her real birthday but the fun has been for the whole weekend. Many happy returns, Reiko (her Japanese name that she likes so much).