Why Are Birthdays Only Once A Year?

We recently celebrated the 3rd birthday of one of our friends children, let's call him K-kun... one of L-kun's favourite play-mates. It was a nice get-together with a few fellow Aussie-Japanese families - and thankfully a good Autumn day for a backyard BBQ.

K-kun's a great lad, and our sons always get along well; even though they're almost 1 year apart.

Now what do Aussie-Japanese families do to celebrate birthdays. Well, pretty well whatever they want. And K-kun's family (C and Y) had gone to a lot of effort to make a few piñata. And given that K-kun's favourite character was Thomas the Tank Engine, it was a little odd to see a giant Thomas face adorning the first piñata.

L-kun gives it a good whack

And another of K-kun's friends, S-kun (we say him as a tiger a little while back) was getting into the spirit of it all.

S-chan has a good try as well with some pointers from his dad

Although some were just a little too young to get into the swing of things...

A with his son K2-kun

It turns out that home-made piñata can be pretty hard to break, and the first one lasted a long, long time. Perhaps we have a tendency to over-engineer things for kids. It was good however in that it burnt up a lot of calories. That was about to be gained back with all the goodies that were eventually released...

Although there was plenty of fun to be had with the food.

Two of K-kun's girlfriends, H-chan and L-chan were happy to let boys be boys. Lots of running around and showing off. Things don't change that much, do they.

Having birthday's can be hard work however... and sometimes you just gotta take a quick 5 to gather your thoughts.

Time's up....Peek-a-boo!

Then  it was time....Cake! Y-chan made a beautiful train cake - as trains are about the bestest thing in the whole world for a boy, just ask K-kun.

And K-kun did an excellent job with the candles - despite that they'd increased in number by 50% since last year. Now that's what you call inflation.

Meanwhile S-kun played a fan-fare!

H-chan so gorgeous waiting

L-chan enjoying her cake

Happy Birthday K-kun, and well done parents for a wonderful party, and thanks C and Y for a wonderful day.

A lovely and loving family...

Actually, these sorts of events are always a great opportunity for the group of Aussie-Japanese families to get together, and it's always a great time. We may belong to a relatively small community here in Adelaide, but it's a close group, and one much appreciated by parents and of course, especially the children.