The Best 3rd Birthday Ever!

I had a little trouble this year trying to think what amazing thing we could do for Padon's birthday. We had pretty much exhausted his love of Woody and Buzz Lightyear, and he wasn't expressing any love of anything specific. I knew we could just have a BBQ at our house with presents and cake but I wanted it to be an amazing day.
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Well Greg had been writing Padon letters, of which we totally need to catch up on, and with the last letter Padon declared that it was an invite to a party. And not just any party but a “Painnie Party!” where they were going to sing “Happy to yooouuuuuu!” and dance. There was going to be CAKE (The word Cake in Padon’s world necessitates all Caps) and he was going to get “three, one, two presents! With bows on top!” This gave me the idea of giving Padon a “party” so big that he would be blown out of his Spiderman boots. With the creation of the idea stemming from the Baby Bug magazine that he received from his Great Grandma Chloe I designed a Birthday Present Treasure Hunt!

I have a pretty good idea of all the major tourist attractions in the downtown Seattle Area and thinking of the places that might wow a three year old I put together a map of 14 locations, at which 6 had hidden presents. I started it at the Seattle Center and ended it on Bainbridge Is. thinking that we would start where it was easy to park and end where Leo could join us. I then blew up to an 8x10 size each of the little pictures on the map so that I could hand them off to Padon as a guide to what to look for.

Wearing a T-Shirt that said "I'm 3 Today! Wish Me Happy Birthday!" we arrived at the Seattle Center mid morning and while waiting for Sarah, Greg, and Billy we went to the Mural Stage where we sang Happy Birthday and danced. This was something that was extra special because the weekend before, at the Folk Life Festival, Padon had wanted to go on the stage but couldn't because of the entertainment going on there.

We ran around the stage for a while playing tag and then I remembered that I had Padon's birthday card with me.

It was a Mother's Day Card but when opened played the "You've Got a Friend in Me" song from Toy Story. I had crossed out Mother's Day and re-written Birthday Day but this card was important because three weeks earlier Padon had asked me to sing that song and I didn't know the words. Here he could play the card as much as he wanted. He was so cute and excited to hear it. He took it, showed Walter, and then excused himself to sit by himself with the card which just cracked Walter and I up.

Soon Sarah arrived and we explained our plan to Padon and Greg who caught onto our excitement. I was so into starting off the day I totally forgot to take a picture of them when they found the first stop, the Seattle Center Fountain, and then found the second stop, the Seattle Center Monorail.

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Coming up to the Monorail I ran ahead of the group and explained to the attendant that today was my son's 3rd birthday and that we were on a birthday present treasure hunt and that she was the first present stop. I asked her if she would be ok with wishing Padon a Happy Birthday when we came through and giving him a present. Totally confused by my idea I had to explain it to her a second time before, stil perplexed, she said ok. The prewrapped present I gave her fit perfectly through the hole that you hand money through and as we came up to the window she said to Padon, "Is it your birthday?! Happy Birthday!" and slid the present to him through the opening. Padon's face was priceless!! He was shocked she knew it was his birthday and even more so that she had a present for him. The gal was so pleased she could be a part of the process that she let all of us go on the Monorail for free. It was so awesome!

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Walter and Sarah took Padon and Greg to the front of the monorail so they could really experience the ride and I stayed back with the strollers and Billy and Sophia. Greg and Padon were wowed by the ride but stayed very still in Walter and Sarah's laps. It is a little intense as it feels like the track is disappearing under you.

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When we got off the Monorail we were pleased to find that Dad had come to join us! I was so glad that more family was able to come to share the day with us. We made our way, via the map, outside of Westlake Mall to where stop number 3 was. It was here that I told Greg that I could see on the map that there was a present for him. Such a sweet boy, he was surprised that at Padon's party there would be a present for him!

Greg and Padon found the West Lake Center fountain and stashed under one of the planters I had put Greg's present.

He was so surprised, which just tickled me pink, and he loved the bug hunting kit found inside.

I also had a gift for Billy who at the sight of the yellow bow on top got so excited and squished and squished it. Inside his gift were pink elephants meant to change color in bath water, but if their anything like the blue sharks that Padon got, they don't work. Sorry Billy.

Padon and Greg had a great time running around the courtyard outside the mall while Sarah, Dad, Walter and I chatted. After giving Padon his birthday present, an awesome Spiderman action figure, Sarah excused them to go home so she could get a little sleep before she had to go to work. I thought she was such an awesome Mom to make such a trek for a short visit and jaunt from the Seattle Center and back. Dad also said good by and we moved onto the next stop.

By the 4th stop Padon started to get excited and catch onto the process. And with a picture of the Pike Place Market bronze pig in hand he kept looking around saying "Nope, don't see it!" When we did find it, it was hard to pull him away and get him onto stop 5 which had another present for him.

While Walter kept Padon distracted I asked one of the Throwing Fish guys to give Padon a present if I brought him up to the fish, having explained again what my birthday plan was. He was happy to help and so I went and got Padon while Walter hung back with Sophia. As we walked up one of the guys threw a fish over our heads, which was so cool because I was hoping that Padon would get to see them do it. He was really wowed. The guy that had the present had gotten distracted, though, so we had to stop and look at the crabs for a little bit before the guy realized I was back. He walked up to Padon and said, "Is today, your birthday, happy birthday!" and handed Padon the present. A little apprehensive Padon took it and I thanked the guy a bunch for giving Padon a present. My goal was to express to Padon that these presents were coming from these strangers so that he wouldn't ever catch on that the presents initially came from me. While I was thanking the guy, however, Padon was licking the moisture off his hands after sticking them in the, who knows how old, ice. Gross! The guy was like, "eh, it's just a little protein". Gross!

At this point Walter, who was being really supportive of this amazing Chloe project, declared he was starving, and catching the tone I knew we needed to eat soon or this day wasn't going to keep being fun. Searching around for the best spot to stop Walter stumbled on a alcove with benches and counters and we had a great lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, animal crackers, and soda. I love that both Walter and Padon have almost the same expression in the picture below. Padon got to open present number 5 and found 4 blue plastic sharks to play with in the tub.

We navigated through the market, skimming over stop 6(a flower vendor) and took the elevator down to the waterfront where we ran into stop number 7, the Seattle Aquarium. Next to the Aquarium was stop number 8, and a present stop and 1960's retro looking fountain that lucky for me had been turned off for cleaning (lots of places to hide a present). You can walk up and around the fountain and so I dropped the present on the upper level where it looked like it was jutting out into the fountain. With help from Walter Padon saw the present and was quickly running up the stairs to get it. When he opened it however, and saw that there were socks inside with some print on them he declared they were Pia's socks. I had to point out that they were Toy Story socks and then he said "Ooooohhhhhh!" and got more excited.

It was about this time that Walter and I could see that the tables were quickly turning and we were loosing the happy Padon to a tired Padon. We agreed there were too many stops but kept on going. And happily ran into Jane and Jason who were able to come down on Jane's lunch break to hang with us for a couple stops. Onto stop number 9, the large wooden man holding a salmon was a lot closer then I remembered him being to the fountain but Padon was excited to find him and patted him a lot and talked about the fish as well as cleaned out the garbage that someone had stashed behind him. Gross!

With help from Jane and Jason, and moving like a herd of turtles we made our way to stop number 10, the O'l Curiosity Shop, where inside was another present, stashed by one of the two Mummy's as stop number 11. Walter stashed this one and got to lead Padon back. Miraculously in a huge crowd of middle schoolers Padon had no desire to look at or take anything off the shelves as he passed through the crowd to Walter and the present. Just as easily we made our way back outside where Padon opened the present to find a hard plastic elephant.

With Jane's help in corralling Padon I wondered what we did before she and Jason arrived. At this time Jane and Jason had to excuse themselves and we moved onto stop number 12 where there was a large cement sculpture of Ivar (as in Ivar's fish and chips) who was feeding a seagull. But as we walked up to it, there was a homeless man lounging in the chair that the seagull is perched on and we just kept walking by but pointed it out to Padon anyway, so he could see that he found that stop.

Stop 13 was the Seattle-Bainbridge Ferry and the last present stop. All of us were totally pooped, but still took the opportunity to stop for a moment and get a family picture taken. Padon's listening skills were just about completely out the window but we knew if we didn't do the last present now it would be even less fun later.

We lounged on the ferry benches as we took the 30 minute ride over to Bainbridge Is. and our last and 14th stop.

As we were getting off the boat Walter stopped two of the ferry workers that were getting off shift and told them about our Birthday Present Treasure Hunt. Excited to help, one of the ferry workers went in the 1st Mate's office and announced over the intercom "On behalf of the Washington State Ferry System we would like to wish Padon a Happy Birthday!" As he finished the second worker turned around and gave Padon the last present from us. Walter had been holding Padon under the intercom speaker and Padon was really surprised. We thanked the workers profusely and beat feet off the ferry as we were now the last ones on the boat. In the present was a Caterpillar tractor that talked when you pushed down on it. It was a great last present.

*I asked him to show me the tractor so I could take a picture, as I was walking and pushing the stroller at the same time. It was an weird shot.*
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We walked off the ferry and onto our final stop where along the way we met Leo. The last birthday wish to grant was CAKE and the Bainbridge Bakers had some cupcakes waiting for us. When we arrived the cobble stones had red glitter almost marking the way. It totally topped off my day as being perfect!

The cupcakes were fresh right out of the oven and Padon was so excited to eat one that it with his Soccerball birthday present from Leo, topped off as a wonderful way to finish his 3rd Birthday.

We were so lucky as to have Walter's friend Chris meet us with his little girl Kaitlyn. We spent the last of the afternoon playing at a local park catching up with Leo and Chris.

Chris offered to us to stay the night but I had to work the next day. So I left Walter, Padon, and Sophia on Baindridge Is. and made my way quickly back to our car. It had taken us exactly 9 hours to complete the excursion; as long as our parking pass in the garage was for. So perfect, I drove home totally pleased with the day. I really enjoyed making Padon's birthday wish come true having danced, sang happy birthday, received presents with bows on top, had cake, and received 9 unsolicited "Happy Birthdays" per Padon's T-Shirt, and I hope next year is just as great even if it is something small.