Happy 3rd b-day buddy!

Yes, Max is now three years old. We are actually three years old as parents. Whhaaaaat? We are still in the age of two parties (in essence, one for family and one for little friends)....come to think of it, does that ever end?....so Max's birthday kind of turned into an extra long weekend of festivities. He was swamped by wonderful gifts and has been hard at work playing with all of them ever since. Here's the lowdown on Max's big days:

On Thursday the 9th (Max's actual birthday), Holly arranged to take the day off work and we all set out for the newly-renovated Museum of Nature as a family. Max had been to the Museum on three previous occasions (and Leo once), but huge parts of the museum were always boarded up and they had one functioning freight elevator so navigating the museum with a stroller was a bit of a gong show. We were really excited to check out the whole shebang for the first time. The Museum was gorgeous! We ended up checking out the dinosaur, water, and mammal wings of the museum before the kids were totally out of juice. Here are the pictures from the morning:


Right after a rousing game of garbage truck (yes, that's what the boys are playing here), Max got three or four birthday calls. By 9 in the morning. Cool.

Here's Holly, perhaps exposing Max to a bit too much dinosaur. This is about 20 minutes before she sat him down to a movie (When Mammals Ruled the Earth or something?) where a marauding army of millions of carnivorous ants attacked a prehistoric baby bird still in its eggshell, leaving Max screaming "Where's his mommy??? WHERE'S HIS MOMMY???" Good one.

Leo checks out the audio tour. Seriously, quiz him on extinction-level events.

It looks like the Vancouver Aquarium was no fluke. Leo loves his fish.

In the Water wing, there is a mock icebreaker with a lab, kitchen and Zodiac set up. The kids had a real blast in this area. The above photo is a menu that Max set up as the boat's chef. Looks yummy! The lower photo, ummmm, welll, at one point Max had to, ummmm, excuse himself to expunge some solid waste. So he hid in the cabinet under the sink for some privacy. This was just fantastic in that we didn't see this happening and we totally thought he was lost for a few panicked moments. The smell should have given him away but a muffled "I'm pooing" when we started calling for him alerted us to his location.


After getting home, we fired the kids into bed and they gave us a long nap, just enough time to decorate and prepare the super yummy taco dinner for our guests. For those of you who don't know, Holly makes the best tacos.


Holly, amped up about the taco dinner. No, REALLY amped up.

See, everyone's lovin' them some tacos.

Max and his nana-made cake. He was talking about the marshmallows for days.
Two days later, we piled a few different adventures together. We kicked off the day by giving the kids haircuts. Yep, that's Leo's first. He was pretty good about it, but a lot more fidgety than Max so the stylist wasn't that comfortable going short around the ears. So the pseudo-curls around the ears are gone, but it still ended up a little scraggly. Here's the evidence:



Introducing the new and improved Leo "Laser" Stardom!

After we left the confines of the mall, it turned out to be a beautiful day and Holly suggested that we go out and do something to take advantage of the weather. She had seen an ad in the local paper for a fall fair at the "Unitarian House" by our place that featured a kids' play area, live entertainment, a BBQ and a rummage sale. So we went. It turns out that Unitarian House is a monster seniors' home and we essentially walked into the middle of a fun fair for 75+ers. The kids' play area was a pair of unattended tables, one with craft stuff and the other with a big tub o' Lego. We ended up having a blast (see the Elvis impersonator below - he was British!), ate some BBQey goodness and found some deals. The kids absolutely loved it and the residents got a real kick out of the boys too.




That evening, we booked a time slot at Starr Gymnastics (inspired by the birthday of a friend of Max's that was held there in August) and invited a bunch of Max's toddler friends for an evening of fun in the gym. The party featured an hour of instructor-led activities such as floor exercises, beam-walking, trampoline time, launching selves into a pit of foam blocks and generally a lot of jumping off of things. This was followed by an hour in a private room where we served pizza, veggies, drinks and cupcakes.


Max warming up with "Chili" and "Thumper".

It was training day at Starr, so we actually scored a foursome of instructors-in-training.

Max's crew of little buddies.

Max doing his best Tarzan.

Starr had four monster trampolines for the kids to use. To be honest, most of the parents snuck on for a few bounces too.

Almost certainly the highest thing that Max has jumped from in his life. That or the rear bumper of the van this month. Too bad our driveway isn't a big foam pit.

At the end of the class, Max was told to turn his back while everyone else was instructed to wish him a big Happy Birthday when he turned back around. This was really interesting for me to see. When Max plays in a big group, he typically keeps to himself and prefers independent playtime (reminds me of me). The whole time we were at Starr, the instructors repeatedly made the activities focus on Max to some extent and it was strange to see Max be the center of attention. He seemed to handle it pretty well and it made him smile a lot so that was pretty cool.

Everyone worked up quite an appetite.

Max had a really great time at both parties and I'm really glad that so many people could attend one or the other. I kind of expected there to be more tears on Max's part, but he handled the excitement relatively well. Now I suppose we have to shift our attention to Halloween...