Ella Turns 6!
Last week it was Ella's 6th birthday. Wow. We have a 6-year-old. I'm sure I think this every year, but how is it possible that she is already 6! I remember the story of her birth oh so clearly... or at least I can go back to my blog post and remind myself about it.
When we were in Ottawa in the summer of 2019, we stayed with a girlfriend of mine from university. Her kids were 7, 9 and 11, so they were quite a bit ahead of us in terms of child rearing. One evening they asked us "Have you heard of Freedom Six?" No, we hadn't. They explained to us that once a child turns six, it's like they are suddenly capable of a whole lot more. The freedom is referring to your life as a parent, or so they said. Andy and I have been dreaming of the day when we reached Freedom Six ever since. And now the day has arrived. I hope it's everything we've been dreaming of...
Anyway, back down to earth. Ella's birthday started bright and early, as is the usual for us. Ever since daylight savings ended in March Ollie has woken between 5:30-6am most days, and Ella shortly after that. We didn't even bother trying to convince Ella to wait to open her presents, instead just doing them all then and there. Her main present was a new bike, along with tickets to see Frozen the Musical. (Yes, I'm super excited to go to that as well!) Because of the time difference and school holidays we were able to FaceTime with both sets of grandparents so they could share in the present opening excitement.
Once we'd cleaned everything up we dropped Ollie off at daycare and headed to the café Fika in Hawthorn. Fika is a Swedish word, I remember it well from my year of university in Sweden. It means something like a coffee break... time to have a something to eat and drink and sit with friends.
This café could not have been more perfect for Ella. The whole place is pink. Pink tables, pink chairs, pink roses covering the walls from floor to ceiling. Instead of the usual babycino, we let Ella have a strawberry milkshake to drink, which was topped with pink fairy floss (cotton candy for those in North America). I had a rainbow latté, which was the prettiest coffee I've ever had!
For breakfast Ella had their signature rainbow pancakes, topped with rainbow ice cream and yet more fairy floss. Ella was absolutely delighted with this dish, which looked almost magical.
They do have more "normal" menu items at Fika. Andy and I shared the chilli scrambled eggs with a side of halloumi, which was delicious.
After breakfast we went for a walk to a nearby park to burn off some of the calories we'd just consumed before heading home.
At home Andy taught Ella how to play one of Ella's new games she got for her birthday Mousetrap.
After a light lunch (not sure how anyone was hungry after our Fika brunch, but anyway) we went for a quick bike ride to test out Ella's new bike. It's much bigger than her old one and she was a bit wobbly at first but got the hang of it quickly. It's so great that she can ride a bike now.
Next we picked up Ollie from daycare and drove down to St. Kilda. Our plan was to try and see the little penguins that come ashore at dusk. Normally you can walk down to the end of the St. Kilda pier and there is a spot to view them, however it was closed off due to Covid.
Nonetheless, we still had a great time walking along the pier and then playing on the beach. It was a warm day for Melbourne in July, and we had brought Ella's strawberry birthday cake with us, so we sang happy birthday and ate cake while the sun set.
We then went for dinner at Beachcomber. They had tables and chairs set up in the sand, so Andy and I were able to chill out while the kids happily played in the sand while we waited for our food. After dinner the kids were very tired so we headed back home, where they both went straight to bed.
All in all I think Ella had a very fun birthday!
When the kids were younger I used to do an update about them; their likes, dislikes etc. This year I decided to interview Ella to get a snapshot of how she sees her life at this moment:
What was your favourite part of your birthday? Having the rainbow pancakes.
What is your favourite thing to do at school? Go on the monkey bars.
What is your favourite thing to learn at school? Writing.
If you could eat one thing all day everyday for a week what would it be? Cake.
What kind of cake? Strawberry.
What is your favourite book? Ella and Olivia.
What if your favourite movie? The Grinch.
What is your favourite sport? Basketball.
What is your least favourite food? What mummy and daddy eat.
What do mummy and daddy eat? Those yucky white pastas (I have no idea what she is talking about here...)
What do you want to learn how to do? Do a braid.
What's your favourite TV Show? Mr. Maker.
What are your favourite activities? Drawing and playing doggies. (Doggies is my worst game. Basically Ella is a dog and you have to be her owner. Then she outlines a scenario and you have to act it out exactly. Thankfully Ollie will sometimes play doggies with her now.)
What is your favourite thing to do with Ollie? To snuggle up with him. (Me too!)
What is your favourite thing to do with Daddy? Play Mousetrap.
What is your favourite thing to do with Mummy? Sit on Mummy.
At this point Ella turned to me and said no more questions. Interview over!
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