Birthday Traditions : When Nickelodeon disappoints

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday dear Ian!

Happy birthday to you!

Today was Ian's seventh birthday. It was soooooo much better than his sixth. If you ask Isabel, this was probably his best birthday ever! I don't know if he would agree, but who knows?

Last year, he died a week before his birthday. We had already gone through the choices for his birthday. Disney? Universal? Legoland?

He picked ‎The Nick Hotel.

We asked Isabel if she still wanted to go and celebrate his birthday. She did. So we went.

It was quite possibly the worst decision I could have made. I stood in the Nick Hotel lobby and cried as I looked at the cartoon characters gracing the walls and ceiling. He would have been sooooo excited! We hated it! The hotel room was not...good. It felt perpetually moist. The slime was a let down. The food was terrible.

This year, Isabel asked "Do we have to go there again?"

I replied "absolutely NOT! I never want to go there again! It sucks!"

She mimicked me "Yeah! It sucked"

<dirty look from Chris for this use of language>

I asked her where she wanted to go, and she suggested Legoland, because Ian wanted to go there. 

I explained to her that we should go somewhere SHE wants to go, since Ian isn't here.

So this year, we chose Discovery Cove by Sea World. I tried really, really hard to convince her to go to Epcot for the Food and Wine Festival. I even told her I would get her a special card that allows her to buy any desert she could desire. No go..(sad Lisa)

So I bit the bullet, booked the tickets, and we scraped ourselves out of bed at 8:00 this morning.

Let me tell you this. This park is worth every penny! The tickets are highly priced, but everything is all inclusive (except dolphin photos and gift shop). There are two meals and unlimited snacks and drinks (alcoholic too!).

>>>She is trying to eat EVERYTHING!!!

While checking in, the receptionist asked if we were celebrating a birthday. I briefly explained that we were celebrating our deceased son's birthday today. She was very excited to hear this and put a birthday lanyard around Isabel's neck. I explained to Isabel to let people wish her a happy birthday, because we know who it's for. 

>>>Birthday Lanyard

We only had one situation were an employee asked Isabel if it was her birthday. She quietly replied "It's my brother's birthday." I explained that we were celebrating her brother's birthday who passed away last year. The employee "secretly" told Isabel about finding Sting Ray teeth in the snorkel pool.

Sting Ray teeth>>>

Isabel fell in love with the The Grand Reef. She pet the sting rays and followed the fish. She didn't want to get out. Ever.

The landscaping is similar and just as good as the Disney water parks. There are limited things to do, but they kept us busy and not overtaxed. The tickets also include a 30 minute dolphin interaction.

I would have had a picture with the dolphin, except I refused to buy anything with my hair looking like this:

Isabel also loved the aviary. Many of the birds would fly onto your hand so that you can feed them. There were many, many different species. All colorful and cool!

We stayed until closing time and then headed to my favorite restaurant Pho Hoa. This restaurant deserves it's own blog post, so I won't go into details today, but it was a great ending to a great day.

I am not able to erase the birthday trip we had last year for Ian. I am not even sure if my emotions tainted/skewed the opinion of the Nick Hotel. It probably did. 

What I do know, is, this year's birthday celebration was a good memory. A good tribute to our son. He would loved it there. We loved it there.  I wish he could have been there, but I am OK with what I have and what a good day we had together.