All year long I've been thinking about how I wanted to celebrate my 30th birthday. To be honest I can't remember what I did on my 20th birthday but I had already been married for nearly 3 years and had 2 children by then. My 21st birthday was spent in the PICU (Pediatric ICU) with Brinton as he recovered in critical condition from his 3rd surgery in 3 months. For this reason I really wanted this new decade to come in with a bang and I really wanted to have lots of good memories to carry with me throughout my 30's. As the day drew closer and I had nothing big planned I started to feel a little disheartened and then I had the miscarriage which turned into an abdominal ectopic pregnancy which turned into me feeling close to death and two surgeries later I was starting to recover. I hate to be all "poor me" but I started to feel like my 20's were going to end in crap and my 30's were going to start in crap. I decided right then and there that I needed to do something BIG for myself. There had been enough tears, enough sadness, enough stress, enough craziness, I just needed to get out and enjoy life for a weekend. Relax and enjoy. I had a week to think about it and I decided a weekend Birthday Celebration Vacation to Branson, MO with my hubby was exactly what I needed.
We stayed at the Welk Resort (as in Lawrence Welk...don't tell me you don't know who that is...I'll tell you that you lack PBS Culture...and polka knowledge). Our room overlooked the pool and there was a nice flat screen TV. We don't have cable or basic television at all so this was a perk for me. lol. They have this great little indoor/outdoor waterpark located at the hotel called the Splash-atorium. We had so much fun on the waterslide like we were little kids! We went down there 3 times and I kept forgetting to bring my camera. So sad, because I really wanted a picture of me coming down the slide. Oh well. Typical Alida.
We went to the Titanic Museum which was super, super neat. You aren't allowed to take any pictures inside which I thought was pretty lame but they had TONS of Titanic artifacts and a whole recreation of the Titanic grand staircase. I totally felt like Rose Dawson walking up the stairs....and I couldn't help but remember the scene at the end of the Titanic movie when Rose dies and you see her back on the grand staircase and everyone is all together there welcoming her the captain the crew, 1st class passengers, steerage, and Jack. Jack was waiting for her. *tear* Yes, I know Rose wasn't a real person and neither was Jack BUT when you enter the museum they actually give you a boarding pass with the name and short description of a person that was actually on the Titanic. You carry it with you through the whole museum and at the end you find out if your person lived or died. I was Sarah Stapp one of 23 female crew members. I survived. Next year is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. At the museum they had a memorial filled with red freeze-dried rose petals. In honor and memory of those people on the Titanic we were asked to take a rose petal from a large glass case on one side of the room and place it into the glass case on the other side of the room. Next year on April 12th, 2012 the US Coast Guard will be traveling with the rose petals to the site of the sinking of the Titanic and they release them over the ocean. It was so amazing to be part of history and to honor the memory of those people in such a way.
After the Titanic we went over to Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. No, Dolly wasn't there but let me tell you it was probably the best, most fun show I've seen in a long time and that's saying a lot considering I lived in Las Vegas for 9 years and got to see A LOT of shows. It's a dinner show and you are in an arena and it's like a horse show/musical show. It was great. The best part of the night was when Jeremiah and I were chosen to go down on the arena floor (a dirt arena...and me in ballet flats!) to "race horses" little did we know it was STICK HORSES! HAHA! It was hilarious. We lost but I still got a medal because it was my birthday. Sad that there is no pictures because again the LAME-o's wouldn't let us take any. We got a lot of photos outside though. :)
Other than some shopping and tons of relaxing we also went on the Showboat Branson Belle for lunch and a show. The food was good, the show was good, and the cruise around Table Rock Lake was perfect. The weather was AMAZING, the sunshine was warm and there was cool breeze off the lake as if mother nature was saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALIDA!
All in all it was the PERFECT way to spend my birthday weekend and welcome in a new decade.
Lastly, I just have to add that on my actual birthday I was kidnapped by some of my best girlfriends for a fun birthday breakfast. I was so incredibly surprised (and glad I had actually gotten dressed before I dropped Liam off at preschool that morning) Sadly, I didn't dry my hair when I got out of the shower thinking I would do it when I got home from dropping him off not realizing I was going to be whisked away for breakfast when I got back. Blah! I don't love the way I look in the picture BUT it was one of the greatest birthday presents ever!
Oh and lastly, LASTLY all of these photos were taken with my new little camera my husband bought me! Yay!! No more iphone pictures! Yipee!! Annnnnddddd.....I got these new hot pink sneakers to motivate me to work out more. Aren't they great??
The End. I promise.
2 comments:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 30 isn't so bad. You probably aren't even all that close to half your life.
I'm so glad your birthday turned out well! You can always say that the 20s stunk, so you're glad to be in the 30s now! Right?
Post a Comment