A Very Merry Un-Birthday

All you need is a big fancy cake and a bunch of people who don't currently have a birthday and there you have an UN-Birthday party! Can you think of a better reason to eat cake? I couldn't, so that's what I came up with.

Last weekend we were in AL for the wedding of a close family friend. The weekend also included a girly party with lots of calorie laden foods, cake and cup cakes. At the end of the night, the cute little top cake hadn't been touched and the bride didn't seem to want to take it on her honeymoon. We considered freezing it for next year but remembered that's the wedding cake topper. ha! So we needed a reason to celebrate and cake is as good a reason as any. It was also the last weekend before school started for everyone so celebrate we did! Nana booked us a room at the Shoals Marriot resort and spa. It's well known in the shoals for being a great "staycation" for a night or two. Luxury in your own back yard.

We checked in early on Sunday so that Tracie and Uncle Wyatt could enjoy a little time at the pool before leaving. The afternoon was great, and hot, really hot. My grandparents came out to visit the boys and watch them swim. Little fish, they kept that pool rockin'. My cousins Marc, Will and Ben also came to hang out and celebrate with us. Afterall, it ws their un-birthday too! Around 5pm we took a break from swimming and ordered pizza. Yep, cake and pizza, it's the only way to celebrate the end of summer. A pretty significant storm was rolling in on radar and of course the pool was closed for lightening. Heavy rains saturated the area and the lightening didn't seem to be going anywhere. A few minutes before the pizza arrived the power went out in the entire hotel. There were back up lights but it made entertaining toddlers a little more difficult. Sure, there was the excitement of a dark hotel full of guests wandering the halls and then there was the sliding closet that made a great little hideaway.

We feasted on pizza and soda in a dimly lit room while waiting for the power to return. We decided now was as good a time as any to break out the cake. We sang a short rendition of "A very merry un-birthday" from Alice in Wonderland minus all the mythical characters and funny hats. We cut the cake that was decorated with a little "ooo la la" phrase from the girly party the previous day. There was also incidentally a few finger markings in the cake from it being left a little too close to the counter. What is it that is so tempting about a perfectly decorated cake? It just begs little fingers to take a dip.

Mid-way through our little made up celebration, Dad calls from downstairs and asked us what in the world was going on at the hotel. We told him it was no big deal, the power was out. He said, well, it doesn't look like no big deal, there are 5 firetrucks downstairs where he was parked. Hmm, come to think of it, the fire lights in the hallway were flashing but we thought it was related to the outage. We didn't panic but we did grab the beloved laptop and camera before we proceeded downstairs to the ground floor. Sure enough we were greeted by every fire department in the area. The boys were fascinated by the firetrucks and we were a little confused as to if there was actually a fire or just a precaution. Several stories were of people stuck in the elevator of a tower shaped restaurant next door or smoke coming from the kitchen of the same restaurant. We sat outside on the curb like all good rubber-neckers do and gwaked at the rescue workers. We never got to the heart of the matter but when the trucks left, we felt it was safe to go back inside.

We all hung out in the lobby for a while, the boys all ran around like crazy and the staff brought out some glow sticks that made it all the more fun. In an effort to entertain ourselves, we played a few rounds of "the color game" starting with red. When we exhausted all our the "red" phrases we could possible think of, it was almost time for the nightly entertainment at the hotel bar to begin. The lights finally came back on and we decided to stay put for a while and listen to him sing. About 9:15, the pool was reopened and the bigger boys immediately headed for the pool. That fun didn't last long. They closed the pool again about as quickly as it was opened because of more lightening. We called it a night after all that excitement.

As you might expect, they boys were up early and we were the first in the pool the next day at 8am. Coffee and a spa pool. It was a great Monday morning, a very merry un-birthday indeed.

What are you going to do for YOUR un-birthday?