3 Years Old!

My baby boy is 3 years old! He sure proved that he is a big boy to us yesterday. A generous friend gifted us with free tickets to Santa's Workshop and we saved them for Connor's birthday. What a fun park! It was so neat that almost every ride was for little ones to go on by themselves or with an adult. Connor had a BLAST!

But first, he got to open all his birthday presents that morning. I had seen this idea online to wrap a kid's bedroom door with crepe paper so they're forced to tear their way out. Thus, giving Mom and Dad a little more time to wake up and catch them before they go diving into all the gifts.

 It worked! Sort of. Initially we could hear Connor get up and express confusion. He then attempted to save all his stuff animals and shove them all underneath the paper to safety. Then he tried doing an Army crawl underneath to "escape". Nick and I laid in bed laughing until Nick took pity on Connor and showed him he could tear the paper off the door very easily. After that, he had fun tearing it all down. Needless to say, the diversion worked and we were all up together to watch Connor enjoy his birthday fun.

 My dad gave him Gumby and Pokey, and Connor is now obsessed with them.

 He loved the toy soldiers from Grandma and Grandpa Butterworth

Puzzles!

a truck from Uncle Michael

turkey hat from Grandma O. Too funny!

We had to get over to Santa's Workshop early to beat the crowds. Everyone is going up to see Santa and they ran out of parking yesterday. So, we got there shortly after opening and found a good spot. We were given 4 free tickets, so when we arrived we gave one to a family in line behind us and they were SO excited. :) Merry Christmas.

Then, it was rides, rides, and more rides. It was freezing cold and windy but Connor was a trooper and stayed bundled up and just had fun. My dad had given him a great pair of warm snow boots and an Under Armor shirt, so that helped a lot.

First up was an old fashioned car ride:

Then a motorcycle:

bobsleds?

a really big slide :)

Then we came to some crazy ride that spun in a circle, went up into the air and sideways and was just super fast. When it started up, I thought it looked fun but then it quickly started to get a little wild. We thought we'd skip it, but no Connor insisted on going on it. I have to give Nick a lot of credit, he took Connor on the ride with a cheerful attitude. I was worried that Connor would end up getting scared but no. That crazy boy had the biggest grin on his face throughout the entire ride! Really too bad I couldn't get a good picture of him.

Poor Nick wanted to sit down after this, but Connor grabbed his hand and was ready for another ride. Ha ha! All I could say was here is a preview of Disneyland!

 After the Christmas tree ride...

 And a solo ride in a ladybug...

AND the carousel...

We were finally given permission by the birthday boy to have some lunch! One of the other great things about this park is the food is CHEAP. Nothing like Disneyland. The three of us had hot dogs, french fries and drinks all for $11. And Connor ate his entire meal, unusual for him, so he worked up a good appetite.

This next ride was so sad. It was a rocket and it went really fast, but of course Connor wanted to ride it. The sad part is, his hat slipped over his eyes and he spent the ride with his head down, holding on for dear life. We had to laugh. Luckily, Connor wasn't at all upset. He just jumped off and ran to the next ride.

The next ride was a big hit: trucks, cars and motorcycles. The kids all rode twice and switched vehicles. Connor loved the fire truck.

 And the bus:

Nick and Connor rode the candy cane roller coaster and sat right up front, but I couldn't get a good picture of them.

 Connor rode the race car ride a couple of times too. We could see him turning the wheel frantically, leaning right to left and making faces as though he were trying to push a gas pedal to make it go faster. We were cracking up.

Then, Connor got to visit and feed the reindeer:

And ride on an airplane ride, complete with guns which for some reason cracked me up. This ride was called Santa's Dive Bombers. lol!

After all this, we stopped for a snack. $6 for a giant soft pretzel with cheese and a big plate of funnel cake! Sorry but having grown up in Southern California and spending $6 on a small drink at any amusement park, I am still amazed at the food prices here. :)

So, for the whole day we spent a whopping $18 at the park. Awesome!

Later, we went on a a train ride and saw more of Santa's reindeer. 

Then went on the car ride one last time!

The official North Pole sleigh near the exit. By late afternoon, it was freezing. It was in the 30's, but in the mountains the sun had gone down a bit and so we had no sunshine and lots of wind. I literally could not feel my legs and poor Connor was exhausted at last. So we left, after a very fun 5 hours.

Connor was asleep in less than 30 seconds after we got into the car. :) We had a bit of a rest, then took him to Red Robin for his birthday dinner.

Considering the long day we'd had, Connor was very happy and well behaved at the restaurant. We enjoyed a great dinner and then the servers brought Connor his ice cream birthday sundae. It was really cute because at first, all he could see was ICE CREAM and dug right in, oblivious to all else. Then after a few seconds, he realized everyone was singing to him. The look on his face was too funny. 

I managed to get a brief video before the singing ended:

What a day! We all had so much fun, and all in all it was a hugely successful birthday celebration. 

Thank you to all our family and friends that sent Connor gifts and helped make his day so special!! We love you.