Little Big Girl's Big Day

Today is Amelia's birthday, so we tried to fill it with everything she loves. Firstly, we sang the happy birthday song way more times than I'm willing to admit. Then we went downtown for the morning. Our usual favorite is closed on Mondays, so we had to branch out. I am SO glad we did, because we found another really great restaurant we'd never even heard of! She had sausage and a very fancy fruit bowl for breakfast, and the staff brought out a little pancake with a candle in it. That was a fun way to get things started!

Orange juice was a treat that made her breakfast extra special, and she got to eat leftover fruit and sausage out of a cup for the rest of the morning.

Next, we took a walk around downtown and went to a big toy store to play. Amelia had a great time pushing around a stroller of stuffed animals and playing with the dress-up items. We had a little birthday money for her, and she chose an umbrella and we bought a kazoo.
More walking around town followed, and we stopped in at the Aveda store to cash in a couple of free offers we'd gotten in the mail. She applied lotions and sipped licorice tea, feeling completely indulged. On our way back to the car, we stopped at a food cart that some friends run to say hello and get some vegetable juice-- and of course they gave her a cookie for her birthday.

The highlight of the day was a ride on the Sky Tram that goes up and down the hill to OHSU. She has been talking about it since we first rode on it last fall, and I think it was as exciting as she had remembered. If it had been free, we probably would have taken the trip up and back a couple more times.

It's fun looking down into everyone's backyards.
Such great views of the city. For some reason Amelia LOVES the city. Whenever I ask her what she wants to do, she gets excited and says "Let's go downtown!!"What is that weird little puff of black smoke?

By this time we were all so tired. We came home for a "birthday nap" which she was surprisingly enthusiastic about. Then we shopped with some birthday money at Target for a watering can and some clothes for her.

We had a nice picnic dinner and ate the last of her birthday party cupcakes (birthday party pictures coming soon.) We have one of those wooden birthday rings, so we lit the candles and talked about how she is growing up and what is so exciting about being three years old. She's finally in bed, and we're ALL birthdayed out. It was so fun to devote a day to doing things she loves-- it's such a great way to celebrate who she is and how she brightens up our lives. Happy Three!