The Kings: June Birthdays on Earth and in Heaven

With Kobe turning 13 this year I felt like I had to do something extra special for him. I hate having birthday parties because it's so much work and too stressful on my own, but I thought we'd better at least have a sleepover with some mates or something this year.

As his birthday got closer I regretted mentioning that maybe we could stay in the Japanese style pods that he saw during the last school holidays, as he kept talking about it. His birthday was on a Friday which he was happy about, as it meant we could plan something after he played basketball and didn't have to worry about school the next day.

In the weeks leading up to his birthday I kept asking him what he wanted to do. When I asked him if he wanted to have a sleepover or sleep in the pods, he just couldn't decide. In the end I was a big softie (knowing that he's lived 10 years without his Dad can do that to you!) and said to him that he could do both if he wanted as we could sleep in the pods on the Friday and he could have a sleepover with two of his mates on the Saturday. Needless to say he was very excited!

He woke up very early on his birthday to open his presents.

Kobe is absolutely obsessed with Hamilton and ever since Hamilton started in Sydney he had begged me to take him. I looked into getting tickets and flights, but every time I thought about it, I got stressed wondering if there would be travel restrictions because of Covid. Whenever he'd ask if we could go, I told him that we couldn't because we may have to quarantine when we got back, and I couldn't afford to not work, which meant he was really disappointed.

After thinking about it for a while, I decided you only live once (and some lives are a lot shorter than others so you need to make the most of it!) and decided to surprise him with tickets for his birthday. I saved that present till last. I loved his reaction when he opened it. Unfortunately what I predicted actually happened, and we weren't able to go to Sydney because they are now in a Covid lockdown. I have rebooked the tickets for the next school holidays, and am hoping we may be able to go then, but things aren't looking too good at the moment,

Before Kobe played basketball we went to check out the pods.

Harri was adamant that there was no way he was sleeping in one as he gets claustrophobic.

Kobe was so excited and couldn't wait to come back to sleep in it! I booked a single one each.

After Kobe played basketball we went to his favourite Japanese restaurant for tea.

I was not keen on spending hours and hours in the pod before we slept, so we also went to a movie before taking Harri home and heading back to the pods to sleep.

Kobe was so excited to get into his pod (his was above mine) and to just chill out watching things on his phone, before going to sleep. The pod was actually quite spacious and really light inside and comfortable, but every time you would move it would squeak and you could hear everything around you - including the guy sleeping in the pod next to me snoring all night!

I was too hot all night and dying to get up to go to the loo, but didn't want to make everything squeak when I moved so I was happy when the guy next to me got up at 4am as I dashed to the loo after he did. When Kobe woke up he came to my pod to see me and I asked him if he had a terrible nights sleep (like I did) and he said he slept well and loved it! :) Ever since we stayed there he keeps asking if we can go again and I tell him it was the one and only time and to enjoy the memory! :)

The next day two of his best mates came for a sleepover, so his birthday just seemed to go on and on! I went back to school on the Monday and felt exhausted and like I needed three days of sleep to catch up!

He had the best birthday and was very spoilt by Alison who sent him a Friends Lego set which he was excited about as he's also obsessed with Friends.

My birthday was in the middle of the month and the boys were lovely and bought some lovely presents on their own for me.

Some of my students at school knew it was my birthday as one of the girls had written it down in her book when we were talking about when our birthdays were earlier in the term. Two girls made me beautiful cards and gave me lots of chocolate and some of the boys came in singing me happy birthday and all handed me a lolly pop. It was very cute :)

When I got home after school Harri, Kobe and Josie were all standing near the front door. I thought it was a bit weird and then I heard someone else's footsteps and Jalen appeared from the kitchen. He had driven up from Hobart to surprise me! It was so nice to have him home for a couple of days. There were also some lovely flowers when I got home from Josie, Mum and Jalen. I felt very spoilt.

We all went out for tea together.

I made the boys re-enact a photo we took on my birthday last year before we went out for tea.

Later in the week I met up with Simone for a late birthday brunch.

Later in the month it was Noah and Dad's birthday (on the same day) and it was great as it fell on a Saturday. We met up with Mum at the Raspberry Farm for lunch and then went to Ashgrove Cheese and got some ice cream for dessert. Afterwards we went to the Deloraine cemetery and Mum had some flowers for Dad's grave.

The boys and I went to Noah's grave just as the sun was setting. This year he would've been 20! It's really hard to imagine him being any older than 10 and it's crazy to think that he's almost been gone longer than he was alive.