This October, I tried to convince her that growing up is over rated and she must turn 9 this birthday, again. Little miss Haana did not buy it.
Leading up to her birthday little miss Haana made it abundantly clear what she wanted. She wanted a treasure hunt. We'd been doing treasure hunts on Papa's birthdays initially, and then on the little girl's birthdays for some time now. The expectation had been building up!
I had gotten her new clothes for her birthday (since she had been getting bigger lately), socks and winter jacket. These will be the treasures I will hide. She needed new shoes too. To make sure she gets the right size, I made Papa and Gugu go and get her new pair of shoes the weekend before her birthday.
As I do every year, I had planned to take the day of her birthday off from work. Little miss Haana's school was off as well. The day before, after the kids were asleep, I sat on the couch with a notebook and a pen. I listed on a scrap paper all the things I had gotten her, and then started coming up with little poems with hints for her to solve. This will be the treasure hunt. It shouldn't be too simple that she uncovers the treasure too soon. It shouldn't be too hard that she doesn't find it at all. It needed to be just right. And it needed to take her upstairs and downstairs, in the garage and back to the backyard. Out and about, and all the way around!
On the BIG day, Papa and I made sure the cake was already in the oven before the little girl woke up. After her morning dudu (milk), it was time for the treasure hunt. It went just I had hoped it would! She loved every minute of it, and went round and round around the whole house uncovering her treasures.
After her treasures were discovered, we cut the cake! It was cake for breakfast. Little miss Haana and I got dressed and headed out after that. It was a beautiful fall day and we took our convertible top down and headed to my favourite place - rose garden. We strolled and then ran around. It is monarch butterfly migration season in October, and the garden was full of fluttering monarchs everywhere! We talked to a couple folks who seemed to be catching monarchs in the garden. They were part of a nation wide research group that tags butterflies to track details about the monarch migration. Little miss Haana caught and held a monarch butterfly in her hand while the lady tagged the he-butterfly with a tiny sticker too. We talked to them about all kinds of things, little miss Haana dazzled everyone with how much butterfly trivia she knew.
Soon it was time for lunch. Papa, Haana and I were going to head to her favorite place for lunch - benihana. It was a great lunch experience at benihana as always.
Later that afternoon, we knocked off another item little miss Haana had on her list of things she wanted to do, a bubble bath. We filled the bathtub with bubbles and played in there. Soon little Bobby boy wanted to join in the fun too and later we let him.
For dinner, we made aloo paratha (potato stuffed tortillas cooked with oil). This was another item little miss Haana had wanted for sometime. Just like that the wonderful birthday was coming to a close. Lots of friends and family called. It was a wonderful day. And soon it was time for bed. I love you sweet girl! Happy birthday!!
No comments:
Post a Comment