The case of a yoyo, bakugan and binoculars

Today is my nephew's 8th birthday. As usual it was a headache thinking of what gifts to get for him. This is because he dares not tell me exactly what he wants (which are mostly toys) for fear of his mother's scolding disapproval. Hence he ends up telling people he wants books. For me, I do not care two hoots about getting what he does not like. I will just buy him what he wants, because .... come on, it is only once a year he gets his wish (besides Christmas). Why would I want to buy more books for him when everyone is most likely going to give him that? So I ask him again and again, and then in the end, he will give strong hints or even direct ones.

So I bought him a few items. I know he is currently crazy playing YoYo, so I got him the Super one which is better and more costly than the normal ones. It comes with 4 lithium batteries and has an additional yoyo clip as well. So pro and advanced nowadays. Wonder what tricks it can do? He also wants a small Bakugan from the new season series, a roundish toy the size of a pingpong ball which can tranform into something. He already has a collection of 6 or more. A few months ago, I remember him mentioning he wished he has binoculars to play with. This was the hardest to find. The real good ones are really expensive, starting from $60+. I managed to find a toy set instead from Ben 10. Besides the binoculars, it comes with a touch light and compass too. I think it will be useful for field trips or hiking/camping. So thus, my "hamper" of 3 gifts for the rascal.

My usual practise is, whenever it is a kid's birthday, the other kid also gets a smaller gift, so that the other one does not feel "left out". Thank goodness I have only one niece and one nephew. Haha! This time, I bought my niece a box of Blendy Pens. There are 20 pen which can supposedly mix and blend into 350 colours! And the pens come with loads of art and craft materials - photo frames, greeting cards/envelopes, wrist bands, ribbons, wobbly eyes, glitter confetti, bookmarks, stencil sheets, jigsaw puzzles etc.... So interesting. Niece likes to draw and make stuff. So I believe she will like this.

We were at Jack's Place for lunch, it was so crowded. Everyone ordered their sirloin steaks and grilled chicken set lunches while I was the only one who had to specially customise a Mushroom Vegetarian Spaghetti (not exactly that fantastic as they used mostly celery and capsicum and hardly any mushroom). Loads of sides like garlic bread, soup, escargot, pudding and ice cream!!!
Nephew played a few rounds of games in the arcade, his special birthday request (ahem!). We shopped around and then went home to cut the cake. It was a super big chewy cake-cookie from Famous Amos, with lots of M&Ms around it. We gave him his presents and ang pows. He was probably only interested in finally being able to open the presents. I think he was most surprised with the binoculars, haha!

This is the birthday boy with his giant cookie and 8 candles.
Happy Birthday, Rascal!!!