Tuesday, 25 July.

My little brother Rusty turns 18! In society’s eye, 18 is a special year. I mulled over several ideas to make his birthday a special one. There were three:

Option 1: The Standard Party with Food & Booze.

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This one’s rather mainstream. It got vetoed after we remembered that my in-law's relatives from China would be visiting at the same time. Since the rest of the family would have to make other plans to entertain the visitors, the party would become decidedly small.

Interestingly, just one day before Rusty’s birthday, @allasyummyfood and @gringalicious both posted recipes for alcoholic Chilean Pisco Lemon Cupcakes and Chocolate Vodka cupcakes! Those would have come in handy if the party had been scheduled to happen.

Option 2: A Tenting Trip in the Woods.

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Rusty is in love with the idea of camping. He even brought his camping axe over from Singapore for his long visit in Germany, hoping to cut down some trees with it.

Since he is an ultra-clean freak, I doubt that he would honestly enjoy being cut off from the conveniences of electricity, clean plumbing water, or a proper toilet/shower (I realise there are a lot of homesteaders, adventurous, and self-sufficient users on steemit, and hope they don’t scorn me and my brother after this post =D).

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The Mann and I have also not been ‘real’ camping before (I’ve only stayed in log cabins in woods before, never in a tent!), so we do not have any of the necessary equipment. This one was a little too iffy to carry out. In hopes that the woods will still be there the next time he comes to visit, the Birthday Camping Trip got axed.

Option 3: A Day at the Amusement Park!

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Rusty has never ridden on a roller coaster in his life! In the world of theme parks, American rollercoasters are the glorified ones with highest thrill-factor and speed records. Asian ones are the mildest (with the exception of a couple in Japan). Standing somewhere in the middle, a European rollercoaster experience would be the ultimate experience for a rollercoaster newbie with enough bragging rights to take home to Singapore ;)

Two additional factors helped to seal the deal:

(1) Phantasialand, a theme park located a mere hour’s drive from where we live, had recently unveiled the world’s fastest multi-launch rollercoaster!

(2) Birthday 'kids' of all ages are granted free entry into Phantsialand on their birthdays! All we needed to do was to print out and fill in a form available on the website, and present it with a valid ID for proof at the counter.

Our minds were made up!

A day in Phantasialand would be a perfect birthday experience for Rusty!

Packing the food

Nothing makes an outing more special than preparing snacks and drinks to bring along. So, the evening before, we were busy prepping for the Big Day!

The Mann prepared two types of sandwiches — Ham & Cheese (savoury) and Ovomaltine Chocolate Spread (sweet). Along with a pack of snack waffles, he had the carbs base well-covered!

Still a little unwell from my week-long sickness bout, I was more interested in some immune-system boosting additions. I washed up some baby carrots, gathered up a bunch of organic bananas, and prepared three 1.5L bottles of detox water (organic cucumber, lemon, lime, apple, and blueberry-infused water)!

We also threw in a bag of potato chips and a Milka chocolate bar into the bag at the last minute before leaving home the next day, but these were not eaten, so it’s suitable that they were left out in the overall picture. :)

What should we wear there?

This is an odd question, especially for me. I am a girl who dislikes shopping for clothing and is disinterested in fashion (which can be a pity at times, but saves me lots of time and money). Most days, I typically wear and re-wear about 20 pieces of clothing without giving too much thought to what I’m wearing.

This time was different however. The weather forecast predicted 100% rain the following day. While this would mean less crowds at Phantasialand (YAYY!), it also meant potentially walking around in soggy clothing! We placed a couple of thick towels in the car, and planned to wear outfits with minimal water-logging action.

I decided on a waterproof ski jacket and quick-dry sport shorts and tights to make my day more comfortable.

All set, we headed to bed.

Do you have an idea on what else would make a good birthday experience? :)