Birthday "Date"

One of my favorite traditions we have started as a family is a "birthday date." The last two years we spent the day with Grace on her birthday doing things she loved to do. We were excited to be able to do it again this year for her 3rd birthday. We were very lucky to have Aunt Sarah in town to watch Kate so we could spend our time focused on the birthday girl.

We started out at the park. We swung on the swings- on our tummies of course- and climbed all over the fort. Grace decided it was a castle and she had a different story for us every time we went through it. It was so fun to see her imagination working.

After the park, we headed to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch. Grace surprised us before we left the house and produced a purse full of "money" which were game tokens from the last time we went, I guess. I have no idea where they came from and sure didn't know she'd been saving them. It was really funny. She told us she only wanted to use a couple, she was saving the rest for her "4 birthday." We had a great time playing games, getting our picture taken and collecting tickets for prizes! All was going great until....Chuck E. Cheese appeared. Jack and I didn't even see him but Grace stopped dead in her tracks and the tears started to well up in her eyes. That was the end of our lunch...we got our prizes as fast as we could and got out of there. Next time we'll have to call and see if he will be making an appearance.

After our quick exit, we headed to the local mall for a treat. Grace picked out a pink frosted cookie and loved it. We then played in a toy store and Grace found a great hat to wear- it even had 3 candles.

It was a super day and we all had a blast! We love our birthday girl!