DISCONTINUED - Family Ties

Chatper 48 - Kevin's 11th

A/N: Kevin's 11th birthday is here! I have nothing else to say ..

Melissa's POV

It was now a few days before Kevin turned 11 years old. Some days I really want time to slow down. Kevin would be going into high school after this school year ended. Can't they stay young and innocent forever? Kirstie had fully recovered from her seizure and was actually doing surprisingly well at school. Hannah had told me that Kirstie was able to catch up with what the class was doing and was just a little under the same level as everyone else.

Kevin had mentioned earlier in the week that instead of a big party, he had seen a flyer for a rock-climbing place and thought it would be more fun to go there with a couple of friends. It wasn't too expensive and it would be very easy to let the kids run around and burn off energy as it is a safe place, so I was happy with Kevin's choice. Henry was going to be home for weekend as well; keeping his promise to the kids about birthdays.

The rest of the week went quite quickly and before I realised it, Friday evening had come and Henry was walking through the door with a special treat of take-away. As it was Kevin's birthday it was his choice of food, and he played it safe with pizza. Who doesn't like pizza after all? Henry also brought Kevin's main present home with him.

"Go on Kev, open it up." Henry said, once he had put the large box down in the living room. Kevin had already opened the small presents from the rest of family. He had a new book of sheet music he could practice, a stack of new fiction books and someone had even manged to find a cuddly toy shaped like a cello. Kevin hesitantly started ripping the paper from the large box to reveal what was inside.

"OH. MY GOODNESS!" Kevin yelled. "THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!" he ran around the room hugging everyone in sight, overjoyed with this gift. It was a brand new bike. He had outgrown his old bike, and it was a big(ish) birthday so it was well warranted. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Kirstie rubbing one ear with her hand at the loud noise. Might just be a little sensitive to it at the moment.

The next day, Kevin had already tried out his new bike in the morning and was very excited for rock-climbing later. All the other kids had jumped or climbed on him this morning to wish him a happy birthday, but they've been doing that for the last couple of days. Kevin's actual birthday was yesterday, but the celebrations had started the day before then. That was the kids excuse anyway. It was cute, so I wasn't going to stop them.

After lunch, we left the house to go to the indoor sports centre. There were various things to do there, but we would spend most of the time rock climbing. We met up with Kevin's friends and their parents at the centre and booked everyone on for the rock climbing. Henry, Kevin and Avi were the only one, apart from Kevin's friends of course, that would actually be going on the proper rock walls. The little ones would be on smaller walls that were off to one side. Some of walls also had dens at the top of them so the kids would be entertained for a while.

"Hey Jake, hey Ben." Kevin said once he saw his friends.

"Hey Kev." They said in unison.

"This is the coolest birthday ever." Ben said.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have thought of this." Jake said.

"There was a flyer for it at school." Kevin said confused. "Anyway, you know my family. Mum, Dad, Avi, Scott, Mitch, Kirstie and Matt."

"Hey." Ben and Jake said.

"Boys we'll be on the big rock walls over there. I'll be with you the whole time." Henry said.

"Woohoo!" they all cheered.

After a quick safety briefing for everyone they were free to explore and have some fun. Kevin, Avi, Ben and Jake were straight over to the big rock walls, excited to be hooked onto the harness and get going. The four little ones ran over to the smaller walls and started climbing up the big pegs to one of the dens. There was no need for a harness, it wasn't very high and there were big mats all over the floor so there would be no injuries if anyone fell.

I was able to sit on a bench and watch all the kids, whilst still being close enough to the little ones if they needed me.

"Mum, look at me!" Kevin called from the wall. I looked over and he was about half way up the wall, with a big grin on his face that anyone could see from a mile away.

"Good job Kev!" I called back. "Keep going!" Avi wasn't far behind him either.

"Mummy, look what I did!" Scott drew my attention onto him. He was basically being a monkey and climbing everywhere with no worries.

"Very good Scott." I said giving him a big smile.

I then saw Kirstie climbing up the same wall that Mitch had just gone up to get into a den. She was doing very well and was able to use all of her muscles to pull herself up. That would definitely help her movement improve. Perhaps I should bring her here more often. With a permanent smile on my face, I shifted my gaze on Matt. If Scott was monkey, Matt was a spider. How he managed to pull himself up and everywhere with no issues is a complete mystery to me.

We stayed at the centre for a few hours, letting the kids get rid of all their energy. After our time was up, Ben and Jake thanked us for letting them come rock climbing. We spent the rest of the day watching films, Kevin's choice, and just hanging out as family. Bedtime was so easy; no one needed a story, song or any calming down. The minutes their heads were on the pillow, every one of them were out like a light.

"Did you have a good day Kev?" I asked as I was saying good night to him.

"Yes, it was fantastic." He said. "Thank you for treating me to all of the presents and taking me and my friends rock climbing."

"You're welcome." I said. I planted a kiss on his head and gave him a cuddle. "Get some sleep." I stood up and went over to the door. "Night Kev."

"Night Mum." I flicked the light off and gently shut the door. I'm so glad he liked his birthday.