Wow, what an amazing day we all had today celebrating Hayden's birthday! When he woke up this morning, he got to open his presents from us: 3 books, a Handy Manny DVD and a huge Imaginext Dragon Castle playset. After we played for a while, I made him a stack of pancakes and decorated them with colored frosting and a number 3. We sang him Happy Birthday and he loved it.
We got out of the house pretty early and made it to Phoenix around 10. Hayden napped all of the way there, so he was ready for fun and lasted all day. The photos pretty much tell the whole story of the day, but here are a few highlights of the things that were really special.
When we got to the zoo, I gave them his Phoenix Zoo Birthday pass and he was presented with a birthday button, and card that got him a bunch of attractions for free. He was so proud to wear his button and enjoyed showing it off all day.
After we rode the train around the zoo and had lunch, we went to the petting zoo and farm area and Hayden loved all of the animals, especially the goats. We spent nearly a half hour there and he just went from goat to goat talking to them and petting them, happy as can be.
We had been talking about riding a camel for a while and Hayden actually really wanted to do it. When we got there and he got to the top of the stairs, I thought he might not do it, but MeeMaw jumped up there with him and he loved it! I even have video which is awesome.
We of course saw all of the animals and exhibits and the zoo is just amazing. The animals are clearly very well cared for and happy and the habitats are huge. His favorite animal on display was the orangutans. He liked them so much he went back to see them again before we left.
After 6 hours of walking at the zoo, we were all tuckered out and ready for some rest. Hayden went to the gift shop on the way out and I let him choose anything he wanted to take home. He chose a zookeeper playset with a crocodile and a zoo watch thing, which he loved.
We went to Casa Grande to find a nice meal before heading home and all of the restaurants around were not allergy-friendly so we ended up finding Cracker Barrel, since they have a milk allergy menu upon request. We ate dinner which turned out to be very good food and headed home (he got to have lots of cool sugary treats today in leiu of cake since he has his amazing space cake coming Sunday!). We read Hayden his Dr. Seuss "Happy Birthday to You" book and he's headed off to bed. What an amazing Birthday for our sweet little man. Enjoy the pictures!
