Aaarrggg, Happy Birthday Matey!

Uggggg, woke up this morning to see that the snow was making its comeback...big time. What was I supposed to think, that there would be Christmas, New Years, and then spring? Too good to be true. Winter once again is upon us, but thanks for the little taste of spring weather, Deutschland. It was good while it lasted!

I had a nice little chat with home yesterday. Not that we don't talk that often, but since our internet doesn't allow Skype (read: because of our sucky-ass internet in the boonies, we are cut off from friends and family), it is less often that I would like. Yesterday was my dad's birthday, and I wanted to wish him a good one. He sounded like he was having a pleasant and relaxing birthday!

I had sent the link to my blog a couple of weeks ago to my parents but didn't know if they were following along or not. My dad told me that he had read every entry, so I guess this means I have to watch what I say. Gotta be careful, I would hate to embarrass them when they are reading this blog. It would be scandalous if I let out something like the fact that he was my mom's college professor. Nope, can't let that happen :)

My parents came to visit us in Germany over Thanksgiving!

But back to the subject of birthdays. It's funny how they 'lose' their excitement as you grow older. Instead of celebrating bigger and better, which in my mind makes more sense; "I've made it this far, let's party.", many people are dragged down by the fact that this made up age thing hinders their ability to act young. I hope I don't get that way, I love birthdays.  I am still over-the-moon when my special day comes up, but that is just mostly because I am a spoiled brat. Hey, its the hubs' fault really. He choose to make our first birthday together insurmountable. 

We had been dating for only about 4 months when my bday came around. Even though my birthday was only fairly soon into our relationship, we were well past the typical 4th month stage. (Thank goodness. Those first few months might be butterfly fun, by holy cow, I hate that 'out of control' exciting feeling. Makes me want to barf)

And boy oh boy did he outdo himself with this one. He had secretly planned an entire weekend getaway to the Canadian Rockies! Since we were up in Alberta for that summer, we drove over to Jasper, hiked along the Maligne Canyon trail and saw the beautiful waterfalls. The cabin we stayed in had this amazing view and was so freakin' sweet and cute. Then we traveled down to Lake Louise for lunch at the famous Fairmont Hotel. I ate my $30 sandwich over looking the translucent powder-blue glacier water of the lake. Gorgeous. Following a trip to the glacier, we continued our path south to Banff National Park where he had another surprise waiting for me. The hubs' booked a couple's massage at the well known Banff Hot Springs and it was ah-may-zing. 

Lake Louise 2007. We look shabby, but the beauty behind us makes up for it

You see, it's not me, it was his own dang fault for out doing himself on my first birthday together. He set the bar too high, rookie mistake.

So flash forward two years later, it is my 25th birthday and again he wanted to do something special. He has a hard time surprising me, I can usually guess every present he gets me at Christmas without even a hint from him. Just call me the Future Present Psychic. So being the love that he is, he wanted to recapture the Jasper/Banff birthday extravaganza with out the price of the Canadian Rockies hideaways.

Knowing how much I love the beach and sunshine, he decided to take me to a pretty well-known Alberta weekend getaway spot, called Sylvan Lake. July can be chilly up in Alberta if it wants to be, but we lucked out and had beautiful sunshine the whole weekend. He had booked a room at the "Beach Front Resort" and all was set and ready to go. The hour trip south was easy and we arrived in the, hmmmm let me see how to put this, unique town that is Sylvan. We drove up and down the main strip, unable to locate the place. It's probably because we were looking for someplace actually habitable; not when we needed to be searching for.  

 I guess it was a little unrealistic to expect this

Finally we saw the sign for the Beach Front Motel. Ahhh, we made it, we were excited. Until we actually had a good look at the place and realized that it looked like the Bates Motel, only dirtier and with weirder owners.  It was FAR from a resort. This place was downright trashy, but it was too late, we were there. And already cracking up at how this trip was going.

And this is a picture of it looking fancy!

The temperature that day was upwards of 90 degrees, unusually warm. And of course the air conditioner in the room didn't work. In fact, the heater was stuck in the 'on' position and helped to spread wafts of warm breath-like air throughout the stuffy room. I tried fidgeting with the thermostat, which looked like it was produced in the 1960's, and it of course popped right off the wall. White powder, which we still don't really know what it consisted of to this day, flew everywhere. I appropriately yelled "Anthrax!" and since we already had the giggles, we were now dying laughing.

I went over to the 'front desk' of the Beach Front Trailer Park (basically the living room of the grouchy owners house) to buy a couple bottles of water. The man sauntered out from the back and without a word of 'hello' or 'how are you, eh?', he just blurts out "It's hot here today. And you know what happens when it's hot?! People go to jail." I didn't know what to respond with. So I just go "I'm not going to jail". He did not seem convinced.

Our 'neighbors' at the Beach Front Federal Prison were illegal aliens that found work up in Alberta and made a nice little home at the place. The group of them upstairs had, no joke, 10 people staying in a one bedroom hotel room. It was all very entertaining.

And then came dinner. We drove up and down the main strip looking for a place that wasn't fast food or a scuzzy greaser joint. Right along the water this nice, new building appeared and it was by far the nicest looking place in Sylvan. The hubs jumped out of the car and ran in to make reservations. Done and done, we were set for the evening, and I was excited to have my quarter of a century at a nice restaurant over looking the sunset on the water. So, back to the boiling hot hotel room, to shower, re-sweat back into my hair as I blow dried it, and watch my make up melt down my face as soon as I applied it. Looking good.

But we were eventually off to dinner. Birthday dinners are my favorite. You can pig out, drink too much, and then order dessert and no one can say a word. We walk into this pretty little place and immediately I am literally bent over at the waist from the laughter. It was too much to take. You see, when the hubs ran in to make reservations, he didn't notice anything about the restaurant. And as it would turn out, my nice birthday dinner was at a pirate-themed restaurant. 

There were treasure chests fill with booty, wooden statues of Blackbeard and Long John Silver swinging from the rafters, and to top it all off, the waiters were dressed in their best swashbuckling attire. My oh my, it could not have been any better. We got fully into it, yelling "Aaarrggg", pretending to sword fight, calling our waitress various pirates names, then after the margs were flowing, referring to her a 'wench'. How could they not have loved us there?! Haha. 

Pictures from the restaurant...would I lie to you?!

Its just what every little girl dreams about, a pirate themed dinner for her 25th birthday. (And BTW, what is up with us and themed restaurants lately?!)

I really can't say I have had a better birthday dinner, though. Like always, we made the most (and made fun) out of everything we did. I am lucky my life is filled with laughter.

So, full from a pleasantly surprising delicious dinner, we headed back down the road to the Beach Front Shanty Town. We sprawled out in our beds, in separate beds. Yuck, it was too hot to even touch one another. The hubs flipped on a baseball game and we fell asleep. Pure perfection. 

One more round of margs, wench!

It might not have had the beauty of the Canadian Rockies, but it was definitely one birthday trip that I will never forget.