My little Christina turned 3 at the beginning of November. Her birthday was on a Sunday and it's a good thing we didn't plan a party because it turned out Marcos got pretty sick and couldn't do much of anything.
Since the birthday girl had recently become pretty horse-crazy, I took the kids to Kiddie Acres in the afternoon. Kiddie Acres is an old-school mini amusement park with pony rides and other antique-looking rides, including airplanes much like the ones by the carousel in Balboa Park (San Diego). They both had a really great time! I got the 25-ticket bundle which was enough to go on every ride at least one time. Per Christy's request, they used the last few tickets for an extra ride on the carousel and airplanes.
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| Pony Ride (Dominic declined) |
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| Boats |
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| Airplanes |
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| Carousel |
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| Jeeps |
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| Ferris Wheel |
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| Train |
Next, we headed over to P. Terry's for dinner. Both kids love this place, and it's no surprise Christy picked it since we also went on Dominic's birthday. She copies everything he says and does these days! P. Terry's is just a fast food burger place - it reminds me a little of Inn-n-Out. Christy doesn't even like burger meat, but she's crazy about their grilled cheese. I snapped some pictures of her making silly faces while we waited for our food:
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| And one from the Big Brother |
Next, we headed home for cake and presents. Christy requested chocolate cake with pink frosting, and the kids helped me decorate it with colored sixlets candy we found in the baking aisle at Target.
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| I guess the frosting was a little runny! |
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| She enjoyed the song and candle routine. |
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| Looking excited about the toy horses we got her, which she has barely touched since. |
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| Looking pleased with the new boots we got her, which she later refused to wear. LOL |
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| She really was thrilled to get her own rolling suitcase, since Dominic has one. |
I didn't take pictures of everything, but the lucky girl also got new books, a sleeping bag, toys, and clothes in the mail from extended family. Thanks to all!
The following Monday, we took mini cupcakes to her class. They did the Montessori globe ceremony where Christy walked around a candle (the sun) for each year of her life, and the I told the class something about her from that age. She really seemed to enjoy being the center of attention, kind of in a shy, second child, "I can't believe it's finally about
me" kind of way. I know that sounds kind of sad, I can't think how else to describe it!
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| I can't believe it's finally about me! |
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| Preparing to walk around while we sang "The earth goes round the sun..." to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell. Still can't get that song out of my head! |
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| Dominic joined the celebration and after-party (cupcakes). |
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| Another part of the school ceremony is bringing a poster that highlights the birthday kid at the various ages of their life. This is the poster we made and it hung in Christy's classroom for a few days. |
The weekend after Christy's birthday, we flew to San Diego for Robert and Alex's wedding (congrats, you two!). The first night there, we had the final birthday celebration with another pink-frosted cake. The birthday girl received gifts from my parents and the Evans', including a very popular cookie baking set.
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| Putting on her oven mitt. |
In other news, Christina stopped wearing diapers to bed a few weeks ago and this morning we finally converted her crib to a toddler bed. I hope bedtime doesn't become too much of a battle and wake-up time stays reasonable. We put this day off for as long we could, so we'll see! (She never climbed out of her crib!!!)
