Happy Birthday Week, Monte!

Friday I told Monte to pack a bag and we were leaving for the weekend. He figured out we were going to Orlando (thanks to our neighbor spilling the beans), but was clueless of any details. We arrived to our resort and were blown away by our spacious and luxurious villa. We had a full kitchen, dining and living rooms, master bedroom, screened porch, and a huge whirlpool tub and separate shower. Swanky! Saturday we went to Sea World and had areally great time. My faves were the penguins, dolphins, and sea lions (comedic geniuses), and Monte loved the Anheuser Busch Hospitality House...yes, free beer makes him happy. But, really, the shows were spectacular—picture dozens of flipping dolphins, people riding on whales, platform divers and trapeze artists, parrots flying overhead, lights and music. Several times, I had to restrain myself because I was squealing with delight louder than any of the children. I also got chills and teary-eyed more than once because it was so awesome and overwhelming. Yes, I cried at Sea World. Monte made fun of me and called me “Emo” for the rest of the day.

Saturday night we were pretty tired after walking around the park all day and went back to the resort to eat dinner and relax. This is the part that Monte was REALLY surprised about. We were playing Trivial Pursuit (I was winning, of course) and there was a knock at the door. When I finally convinced Monte to answer it, he swung it open to find his Mom, Dad, Grandma, Aunt, and 4 other family friends standing in the doorway singing Happy Birthday! He jumped back, his face was red and his eyes popped out of his head, and I seriously thought he was going to pass out. I think he would have expected to see Bozo the Clown standing there before any of them. They came in with the normal Filipino-whirlwind of speaking Tagalog, giving hugs, and bringing tons of Filipino food and birthday cake. We stayed up late talking and celebrating and it was a nice time. So, the Farrars are here in Tampa for a week long visit that will surely be packed with lots of shopping, cooking, and of course...eggroll-eating! Yum!

Happy Birthday Monte!!

P.S. I heart JT.