More Birthday Fun

We started the morning by skyping both my sister and her family. They even had a piece of cake with a lit candle and sang Happy Birthday to Rian. It was really cute!
Rian has been asking to go to Underwater World ever since we came back to the island. When our friends asked us to go with them on Tuesday, I thought that would be a perfect way to spend Rian's actual birthday. Unfortunately Matt had to work, but we will have many more chances to go with him in the future. This aquarium consists of mostly a huge walk-through aquarium...almost like a really long shark encounter at Sea World. We saw tons of different fish, sharks, sea turtles, and sting rays. Rian was expecting to see Shamu, since there was a huge statue of him outside of the aquarium, but I had to explain to her that this was not going to be anything like Sea World. She asked to see the penguins, polar bears, and dolphins too. Of course, we didn't see any of those animals either, but she had a great time anyways!
After the aquarium, we were invited to the USO. I had never been to one, but was very pleasantly surprised when we arrived. How can I explain it to those of you who aren't sure what that is....it's basically a place to hang out for military and their dependants. They are almost always located at airports, and this one was in a hotel close to the Underwater World. The volunteers were so incredibly friendly and gave Rian 3 DVD's since it was her birthday. They popped some popcorn for the three kiddos and then the three of them snuggled into the home theater section and watched a Disney Princess Sing Along while munching on popcorn. The mom's sat around and chatted and were served some yummy chili that the volunteers had prepared in the crockpot. They didn't even charge us for any of the food, snacks, or sodas! They run off of donations, which we were happy to give:)
When we got home we skyped my Dad, so he could see Rian open a few gifts and he read some of Ri's favorite books to her. It was so cute to watch! When my Mom got home from a night out with the girls, we skyped her too, so she could also watch Ri open some gifts. When Matt came home from work we had dinner, ate more cake and opened more presents! Sadly, a big box my mom sent out to Rian was mysteriously 'lost' in the mail even though it was supposed to be tracked. Don't even get me started on how irritating that is! But luckily, some of her presents did make it to us. She loved opening up her gifts....again! And we've been happily playing her games ever since! I think Rian really enjoyed her birthday celebrations this year and is really eager to celebrate my birthday in a few weeks. She can't wait for more cake and ice cream!!