My Birthday!

My birthday this year started a little early. The boys wanted to help celebrate by taking me out to dinner the night before. A friend had purchased a cake for me, so we brought it to the restaurant with us...the boys were happy. Ryan was thrilled he was partaking of "Mommy's party." When we arrived home, there was one of the most beautiful bouquets of flowers sitting in one of my vases, on our kitchen table. Who put it there? Allen swears it wasn't him...so who could have done it?


It turns out our ayi had left them for me after we left the house for my b-day dinner. They are SO beautiful and I'm so touched by her gift. It was really sweet and I made sure to [try and] tell her so. Another surprise came the morning of my birthday. Our driver presented me with a bottle of wine. I also thought that was very sweet and thoughtful for him to do. I don't even know how he knew it was my b-day.


The boys all woke me up with sweet cards. Both of the kids had drawn cards for me and Brandon had written a sweet note. Ahhhhh... A perfect morning for my b-day! Dad ended up taking the kids to school for me as I waited patiently for his return. He took the day off to surprise me all day long! Wow! How sweet is that!? :-) Upon his return, he presented me with 29 roses...a symbol of everlasting love for the chinese. Aaaawwww....



First, he took me to a place I had, quite literally, forgotten about...the Shanghai Geological Museum. It was FANTASTIC!! After arriving in Shanghai, I had wanted to check it out for several months. But, for a couple of different reasons, I kind of forgot about it's existence. Allen was SO thoughtful in remembering about it and taking me there for my b-day! The true gift, however, was the fact that my husband actually seemed interested the whole time. Wow...what a guy! ;-) The museum really was great. Being a little farther out of the city, I had initially thought it might be a shack with some rocks in it. However, as with many museums here in Shanghai, it turned out to be a stunning display...this one of rock specimens, geology and paleontology. It was FABULOUS and SO wonderful for me to see!




Allen then took me out for a healthy lunch, which is always nice to have here in Shanghai. And then we proceeded to our 5-star hotel. After checking in, Allen sent me off to the hotel's LUXURIANT spa for a 90-minute Balinese massage. It felt SOOOO great! When I was done, he treated me to a wonderful all-you-can-eat seafood buffet at a nearby hotel. YUMMM-MY!

Upon returning to our own hotel, a b-day cake was delivered to our room! YUM-MY! Both of us relaxed over a drink in the lounge and called it a night after that! It really was a fantastic day and I'm SO appreciative to Allen for providing me with such a wonderful b-day!

What about the kids, you ask?? Both kids were in school all day. Allen made all the arrangements for the day. The ayi and driver picked up the boys from school, took them home and got them fed. A good girlfriend of mine volunteered to take the boys for the night. How wonderful is that!? The boys ask me about 10 times a day to go over to this person's house, so you can imagine how excited they were when they discovered they were having a "sleep over." They were THRILLED! And we found out the next day that they had a great time!

SO, I had a wonderful and relaxing birthday...thanks to my loving hubby! A girl can't ask for more...now can she?! :-)