Kyle's 6th Birthday - Knights and The Dragon
For Kyle's 6th birthday, we invited
5 of his closest friends in Shanghai so we
would have 6 knights. We also had 3
princesses come to be the damsels in distress. This was our first
"drop off" party - no parents were invited, which I'm sure they were quite happy
about.
As the kids came in, they changed into their knight's costume.
Then, each were knighted by King Alan.
With their knighthood came their precious swords
and shield or
gauntlet. And they were to be addressed as "Sir" (e.g., "Sir Kyle").
Those who forgot the honorific title were subjected to the most horrible torture
- tickling under the arms (the one weakness is their otherwise impenetrable
armor).
The band of brothers then
listened to King Alan explain the great
responsibilities that come with the honor of being one of the King's knights.
As they learned that a ferocious dragon reaped havoc among the kingdom's
countryside, they banged their swords against
their gauntlets and shouted their vow to keep the country safe. After
the exciting day, the exhausted knights fell
asleep in tight quarters.
But just as brave knights' heavy eyelids shut, their nightmare
came true - the monstrous dragon flew over the
castle's high ramparts, raided the keep, kidnapped the King's
beautiful but terrified daughters and locked
them into the dank dungeon.
The fearless knights leapt out of bed, donned their armor, and
jumped off the drawbridge, attacking the
huge dragon with a
six-year old's abandon. Despite all
odds, the lilliputian knights dispatched the dragon and
freed the princesses.
Like Clark Kent, the King returned after all the action and
asked innocently what had happened. He was
shocked - the dragon had attacked!! But what great news! The
courageous knights had saved the kingdom with nary a scratch.
However, a knight's tasks is never done. The King then sent them
all on a quest: to recover the lost gold scattered throughout the land.
Barely holding back their enthusiasm, the knights
marched up steep hills, crossed a marvelous
glass bridge, and climbed perilous cliffs
in search of the treasures. Despite the treacherous terrain, the knights
soon unearthed most of the lost coins and triumphantly returned them to the
King's treasure chest.
At a loss of what to do with his energizer-bunny knights, the
King ordered them to strengthen their body, spirit and mind with
rigorous exercise. The reward for their
pushups and jumping jacks was the incredible cake
disguised as a castle and threatened by a mini-dragon. But before
dessert, the knights ate a hearty meal of beef
stew and rye bread, while the court jester (guess who?) regaled them with
tales of The Sleeping Knight.
By the third hour, the poor King/Dragon/Jester completely ran
out of gas, and Queen Mae-Ling had to take
over with games of Twister and hide-and-seek. Whew, thank goodness our
faithful ayi Ding Ding was around to help
return our fairyland kingdom back to a mundane living room.
On Kyle's real birthday on Monday, Mae-Ling brought
dragon-emblazoned notebooks with 6 stickers each
for all of Kyle's classmates. After school,
Alan took Kyle swimming. I don't know
what we would do if birthdays happened more than once a year...
