Millie had big plans for this morning. She wanted Nick to set an alarm so they could wake up before me and go and get me pastries. She came in and woke us both up by saying “dad, why didn’t you wake me up??” A for effort. They headed out for pastries and then set up this cute table scape while I pretended to sleep in.

We had a lazy morning of eating all of the above, drawing, playing charades, putting on performances, and doing laundry.

We finally got ready to leave, and it took us a ridiculous amount of time to actually get out of the door. We came back to get sunscreen, to pee, to take out laundry, and so on. Eventually we got a grab taxi to Youth Park.

This was a beautiful park about 10 minutes away at the base of the large mountain that sits on the edge of the island. We walked up the hill to the large playground.

Millie was more interested in the big pool just beyond it, so we changed into her swimsuit and headed there.

It was full of kids but she didn’t want to play with anyone, and we couldn’t get in with her because we didn’t bring our bathing suits. She spent only about 5 minutes here and then we went back to the playground. She needed us to play with her there too. I played imagination games for a while. I wish I liked doing this more, but it exhausts me. We were all in grumpy moods.

It was hot and humid and sunny and Nick still wasn’t feeling well. He is better than yesterday but still not back to normal, and we remembered that it’s not a great idea to sit in bright sunlight if you’re taking antibiotics. He decided to head back to the apartment to rest.

Millie played for about 5 minutes and then climbed on some equipment and suddenly started screaming—and I mean SCREAMING—for me. She either got stung by a bee or stung by some unknown insect. I picked her up and we examined below the scene of the crime but couldn’t find any culprits. She had a small bump on her hand and it got very red around the area, but no major side effects. It took a while to console her and I called Nick to let him know we were heading back too. Luckily he was just getting in a car and was able to come and get us.

It was a low part of the day and I was spent. We let Millie watch the end of a movie on her iPad so we could settle down and regroup.

When that was done, I was determined to make it a good day. It was my birthday after all! Nick was still down for the count so Millie and I headed out for an afternoon lady date.

We made our way to old George Town and explored. It was lively and full of cute little shops and lots of tourists.

We browsed a stationery store and she “wrote” a bunch of postcards to send home to friends.

We saw some of the street art that the area is known for. This one had a line behind it of people waiting to pose.

Millie saw a caricature artist and insisted we do one together. I had to say yes.

While he was drawing me he said “I’ll make you look younger” which is perhaps the rudest thing to say to someone who just turned 39. We couldn’t stop laughing at the final result.

We were starting to get hungry so we walked around looking for somewhere to eat. We found a place that had multiple Michelin plaques which felt like a good special birthday meal.

I am used to ordering for three, so it was hard to adjust to order for the two of us. Especially because they didn’t really have any kid-friendly food. I got Millie a special celebratory mocktail. I ordered bao, a mango salad, and a rice bowl. Millie ate almost nothing but I enjoyed the food so much that I ordered everything again to bring back for Nick.

We had a really fun afternoon together. I could tell she felt special being just with me, and I really enjoyed her company. She is such a joy and at the cutest age. In the elevator down I asked what she had in her purse. It was: sunglasses, chapstick, and a box of raisins. For some reason those purse contents just made my heart want to explode.