IS IT possible to celebrate two birthdays of your children in the same day? And they are not even twins? In fact, both were born a year apart and in different months.
Last weekend, my friends and I had the opportunity of attending such occasion. It was a blast, an event to remember. Never did I imagine that I can be entertained again by magicians. Nor see a mesmerizing birthday cake.
Now, that's getting ahead of the story. "See you this coming Saturday," said the text of Noel B. Martin, the youthful looking general manager of the Bluejaz Resort and Waterpark in the Island Garden City of Samal.
Since I had nothing to do, I accepted the offer. That was on Tuesday. But on Thursday, I received another text from Noel informing me that two birthdays will be celebrated on the same day. "I thought the other birthday party would be the following day," I replied.
Noel said Jazmin Middleton changed her mind. Jazmin is the owner of Bluejaz (the last three letters come from her name). She married Richard (a kingly name if you read the plays of William Shakespeare), a pilot of an American airline Jetblue Airway (from which the word "blue" was taken). The couple, who lives in Tampa, Florida, is blessed with two children: Christian and Erin.
The birthdays of the two kids would be celebrated on the same day: July 31, Saturday. Erin's would be in the morning while Christians' would be at night.
Actually, Christian was born on July 30 but since the day was Friday, it was moved to Saturday. On the other hand, Erin's actual birthday is September 11. But since the Middletons are going back to the United States soon, as classes will start again for the two kids, the couple decided to have the birthdays of their children celebrated in the Philippines.
Erin's birthday party was supposed to start at 11:30 in the morning, but since the visitors came late, it also started late. Among those who joined the celebration were journalist Lovely Carillo and her husband and son, photojournalist Rene Lumawag, Rene Ebuna, Boy Aquino, and Noel Nazario. There were several others but I never had the time of getting their names.
Since it was already late, we had our lunch first. But before that, there was an unveiling of the tarpaulin where Erin was featured as a princess. "Princess Erin turns 7," it said. I asked the birthday girl to pose for me, which readily consented.
I stayed at the resort after Erin's birthday party. At 3 p.m., I received a text from Michael H. Chan informing me that he and his friend, Paul F. Llanos, were still at Malagos Garden Resort doing a pre-nuptial photo session. "But we are definitely coming," Michael said.
At around 5 p.m., Arman Mortejo texted me that he will be coming as he had no class at the Ateneo de Davao University (where he was taking a master's degree on business administration)."Okay," I replied. "The program will start at around 7 p.m."
By 6 p.m., the guests and visitors started coming. By 7, the program started.
The theme of the birthday celebration was flying in the air. Father Richard and his son Christian (who turned 8 a day before) were the captains. While at the higher altitude already, Richard had a problem so Christian took over. Speaking before the audience, he welcomed everyone aboard. "Relax, sit back and enjoy the show," he said.
Immediately thereafter, a dance number was staged as opening number. But what caught the attention of everyone was the fire dance show, which Michael and Paul had a good time of taking photos (they arrived just before the event started).
After that, it was a smorgasbord show. There was a parlor game for kids, although some parents coached their children what to do. Cartoon character Sponge Bob also came and did a dance number (to the delight of both children and adults).
Five magicians also graced the affair; each were given seven to minutes to entertain the children (and adults, too!). Only the third magician was given a longer show -- almost an hour. But most of them did tricks that were redundant -- like creating umbrellas (lots of them!) and taking out from nowhere a dove (except for the fifth magician who had a duck for his act).
There was also one magician who turned papers into butterflies. I told Mike that if he gets married and wanted butterflies, he can hire the said magician to create butterflies for his wedding.
Of course, there was some participation from the kids themselves -- from parlor games to being used as part of the magic show. The most funny was when a ventriloquist/magician asked a little boy to "talk" before the audience. When asked what his favorite was, he quipped, "Fried chicken."
Another attention-grabbing was the bubble show, which really left children wanting for more bubbles. At one side of the stage, Christian and his mother Jazmin were placed inside a tube and were circled with a bubble. It was a spectacle to look at -- especially when the bubble exploded.
The program ended when the plane landed. Richard and Christian thanked everyone who attended the birthday celebration.
As the guests and visitors left, I was reminded of the words of Ralph Bus: "Kids really brighten a household. They never turn off the lights." Another one was this statement: "Children are like mosquitoes -- the moment they stop making noises you know they're getting into something."
Ah, children!