Brenden’s 12th Birthday

September 25, 2014

It’s hard to believe that Brenden is 12, but no matter how big he gets, he’ll always be “funsize” to us. Even though there were a few kid boats still in the vicinity, Brenden didn’t even want a party. I think there were 3 main reasons for this: 1) He was a little pouty that Lady Carolina wasn’t there, and “why can’t we go to Fiji, I mean, EVERYONE else is going to Fiji?” 2) The kid boats who WERE still there were all small kids or girls. 3) He had his mind set on spearing a Tuna, and that’s all he wanted to do on his birthday, SPEARFISH!

So, the boys went spearfishing, and even Alex went even though he really didn’t want to. But Brenden kept giving him that cute pouty face, and it was his birthday and all, so what could Alex do but go? We were anchored in Port Maurelle, and the plan was for them to dinghy over to a small gap between two nearby islands. Brenden was pleased with this plan because someone told Tim they saw a bunch of dog tooth tuna there. Unfortunately, they came back empty handed, but Brenden was still in good spirits. We weighed anchor and moved over to anchorage #11 in order to buy him a painting at the Ark Gallery for his birthday. He had had his heart set on a parrot fish painting and had been talking about it since our first visit, but at the last minute he changed his mind and chose a whale paining. After being in Tonga longer he realized that it was whales that defined the place, not parrot fish (I’m paraphrasing his sentiment, but the meaning is right).

The only other things he wanted for his birthday were snickerdoodles, but he wanted to make them himself because that’s fun, and pasta with “no veggies in the sauce.” We were able to oblige both requests, so overall I think Brenden had a great day. Except he still missed Lady Carolina. A lot.

They did a really cool thing, though, and gave us a present for Brenden before they left for us to hold until his birthday. So, even though they weren’t there, Brenden had a present to open from Lady Carolina, and I think it really made his day.