By Jeff
I have a very clear recollection of my Dad taking each of us kids out for a "daddy and me" day around our birthdays. In fact in what may have been a very difficult ordeal for him, on my 11th he sat through the animated Transformers movie.
Using that as inspiration I planned a full day of fun things for Ethan and I to do for his actual birthday as opposed to the day we have his party.
Things started off with a pancake breakfast in which Susi was able to join us.
After that Ethan and I returned home briefly where I assembled the scooter from his Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Brenden and Cousins Birk, and Svea.
Of course we had to take it for a test drive.
Soon it was time to leave to our 2
nd stop – the Children’s Museum up in Everett.
We played in the pretend plane and bus.
We ran around on their rooftop playground and slides. And we splashed in their water exhibit.
Two hours later lunch was upon us and the only thing Ethan like more than chicken nuggets and fries from Mickey D’s, is a Mickey’s D’s with a playground. So off to the Juanita location where I’m sure it is perfectly healthy to eat a happy meal and then run around screaming.
At this point in the day we went to the newly remodeled Disney Store at Bellevue Square. On my last trip to San Francisco I saw that in their Disney store they had a station where kids could pick specific parts and create their own versions of cars from the Cars movies. I thought it looked like something Ethan would love and when I heard they added this in the remodel, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to take him in. At this point I want to say that what could have been just a normal present buying experience was made extra special by the staff, and specifically by our salesperson, Lauren. She really went above and beyond. She walked Ethan through all the different choices – Ethan picked a stunt version of Mater with white wall tires, dragon rims, jet engines on the sides, and a police light on top. Ethan was made a part of the process, helping to snap the pieces together and even getting to help use the power screwdriver. When we were done, she announced to the whole store that Ethan just built his first car and had everyone cheer for him. He had a huge smile on his face. Later she surprised us with a big Mickey Mouse button that said “Happy Birthday Ethan” but that wasn’t all.
The video screen that displays movie clips and Disney shorts soon flashed a Happy Birthday message and they once again announced to the store that this time it was his Birthday.
The lighting flashed and they even had animated fireworks on some of the displays.
We stopped in for a present and got a great experience.
We played at the mall play area for a while and stopped by the Lego store as well but then it was time to move on.
Since I knew the weather was going to be nice we stopped by the Splash Park in Bellevue’s Crossroads Park.
Ethan has been here a few times before and loves it.
The great part was that Susi was able to leave work early and surprise him.
In fact when it was time to leave he wanted to ride in mommy’s car.
At home we finished opening his presents with the grand finale being his very own Bouncy House. (We looked at renting one for his birthday party but discovered it was just as cheap to buy one as rent one.) His friend from next door, Isaac, came over for a little while to help test it out.
Then we fished up the day with dinner at Red Robin, where he has had dinner on all of his birthdays so far – hard to beat signing and free ice cream.
A very eventful day for a four old (and an exhausting day for his dad).
