Our Wild Man turned THREE last week and we decided to go the EASY route this year and do the whole shebang at the parent-dreaded Chuck E. Cheese!  Wade and Haylee, of course, were thrilled with the plan.

Since the party wasn’t until the evening I decided to let the Birthday Boy open a gift in the morning to really spread out the birthday fun. 

He loved it!

It’s Toy Story 3, in case you were blinded by the glare from my great photography skills. My sis would be so proud!

Here he is opening it… :)

Later that night we headed off to party with CEC! They have amped up their Birthday Fun since the last time we did a party there, in part I’m sure due to the competition they now face with places like Monkey Joe’s and Sports Connection. 

Warning…short complaining rant ahead… read at your own risk…

We ended  up with an inexperienced hostess/helper and things were confusing almost from the beginning. From the kids having to stand around waiting on tokens, putting the cake in front of Wade about FIVE minutes before it was even time to light the candles {after which she went and sat down}, the overpriced cake tasting like it had been in the fridge for 3 days {turns out they freeze them}, to getting the check handed to me right before we opened presents and then asked for right after we finished opening presents {with a look}.  I guess I was supposed to miss the gift opening so I could give her the check?

We ended up getting $$ off and a coupon to come back and get pizza and tokens from the manager so that was good.  Last time we did a party we loved the hostess we had and tipped her extra. {This hostess actually said as she handed me the check… “Tips are not required but are appreciated.”}

In spite of all that stress on me,  WADE had a fabulous time!  And that was the point of the whole night.  :)

I just loved the inflatable birthday crown that he called a “helmet.”  A couple of times he did this thing where he went cross-eyed trying to look up at it while it was on his head! Soooo funny!

When the “real” CEC came out, Wade did this quick shocked doubletake between the “real” CEC and the “fake” one that stands still on the stage.  He was in awe that there were TWO of them!

One of the best things about the night was the Ticket Blaster.  It was oh SO entertaining!!!!! I found the combination of the crown, the huge goggles and the mixture of bravery and confusion so very hilarious. 

The hostess told him to stand like that.  That was the extent of her instructions.

He stood there for a minute in awe just feeling the wind.  :)

He did manage to snag a few!  He got some of the big red and yellow ones you see floating.  They were worth 50 and 100 tickets each.   So that helped.  :)

You have no idea how badly I wish I had videoed it. It was definitely a hit and was very entertaining for everyone else too… adult and kids alike.  :)

All in all, the party was great fun and the Wadester had an absolute B L A S T!

So did big sis…  I couldn’t believe it, but she actually had so much fun that she said she might even want to have her birthday party there too!

We survived too!

And Little Man wasn’t exactly hurting for attention either.  He spent some time rotating from person to person, and then Daddy got him to konk out for the rest of the night by strolling him around for a while in the stroller.

Happy Birthday to our Wild Wade!