It is amazing to watch her grown into a little person with her own ideas and she is never afraid to express them. Telling Mark and I what to do, along with our dog Dolly, she has perfected. She has an amazing imagination bringing all sorts of inanimate objects to life like cereal boxes, utensils, and shoes. Of course there is a determination and "I do it" attitude that seems to come with all activities. Adalyn tends to be shy in new places and with new people but makes friends easily. So lucky for us we have made several friends in the short time we have been here to help us celebrate her 3rd birthday.
Since we only arrived in June and finding all the things you need to throw a great party is quite the task in Africa, I figured it would be better to celebrate her day at a place where they have everything covered. Last Saturday morning we enjoyed celebrating with a bounce house, play houses, trampoline, bike track, swing sets, a sand pit and even some bunnies with our friends.
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is Adalyn's favorite show so we decided to have it as our party's theme. The party planners at Kinderland did a fabulous job putting together all things Mickey and Minnie to help us celebrate
Sitting under the trees the Mickey and Minnie table was adorable.
Adalyn had to check everything out before the party started. But really she was just trying to taste test everything first. 
The big hit to the party was the candy buffet. When I spoke to the party planner about it I did not ask what kind of candy as she just said an assortment. But in Africa they don't shy away from large portions so each kid was sure to be stuffed. 
I thought they did a great job of coordinating everything into something Mickey or Minnie.
I have learned that in Africa, a cupcake is part of a candy buffet as if that is going to fit into a treat bag with the Mickey suckers behind them.
Since I have a fondness for all thing marshmallow I was thrilled to see marshmallow lollipops. Candies apples are more common here, but pretty difficult to eat so not many kids tried them. I took them home and my domestic, Joyce was excited so I gave her all that we had left. There were also 2 jars full of gummy candies but I am pretty sure Adalyn demolished those before anyone arrived. I guess having a candy buffet at eye level to a 3 year old makes for easy access when Mom and Dad aren't looking. Maybe this sugar high is why she did not take a nap.
I had originally planned for Kinderland to make Adalyn's birthday cakes but at over $100 for each cake, I thought I would then try out a store bought cake. Well here in Africa the cakes are dry and don't taste as sweet so I figured if I am going to spend money on a cake I at least want it to taste good. I reached out to my good friend Amy as she is a cake extraordinaire for direction from the US. Plus with a little Pinterest inspiration I decided to tackle cake baking myself.
The #3 cake is chocolate made out of a bunt pan that has been cut in half and turned into the #3 and I topped it with crackle eggs. The Minnie cake is 2 layers of white almond cake topped with a Minnie head and ears made out of Rice Krispie treats. I found the little circles of Minnie and Mickey at the baking store. The cake mixes here are also not as sweet so I had to find cake mixes that were imported from the US and even then they only had vanilla flavored ones so I had to turn one box into chocolate. I over bought on supplies just in case I screwed it all up. But lucky for me there is a website just for that. I was pretty relieved that they turned out well and even more thankful they tasted good.
Prior to eating lunch Adalyn opened her gifts. The wrapping paper did not stand a chance. It is wonderful to see your child's eyes light up with each gift and want to immediately play with all of them. Some friends and family back in the US even made sure she had gifts from them to open on her birthday, what a treat. 
A huge THANK YOU to all our friends here in South Africa and back home for wonderful gifts.
I guess it was time to burn off some energy before lunch.
I think it is such a brilliant idea that they put the trampolines in the ground here
with a big hole underneath the tarp.
Time to eat and sticking to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme, the kids of course had to have hot dogs.
When I working with the party planner on food she kept insisting that we needed to have quiche. I was not so sure since that is not as typical for a crowd at a kid's party but she said "oh, Americans love my quiches" so I said okay. Well, she was right, they were yummy.
It was pretty cute to see them all sitting down eating together. There were also some party favors on the table and the kid's enjoyed these noise makers that also blew up a balloon at the same time.
I thought Adalyn would for sure put on her Minnie ears since it's a headband of her favorite character, especially since some of the boys were even sporting them, but she passed.
They looked so festive I'm glad I got a picture.
Time to raid the candy buffet!
Adalyn was so proud of her cake, she stood there and let me take about 10 pictures. She did get a little shy when everyone started singing "Happy Birthday", hiding her face towards me.
But she was not shy about gobbling up the cake.
As you can see she enjoyed it.
Of course an African birthday party is not complete without an animal interaction. The kids could feed the bunnies carrots and by feeding them obviously Adalyn was shoving the carrot into the bunnies mouth, even holding onto it's head to make sure it took a bite.
I am pretty sure every animal is trying to find their own "happy place" like the starfish does in "Finding Nemo" when Adalyn comes around. But she loves them so and they are very cute.
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All the kids helped each other get a bunny to feed. Like all animals, these bunnies would run but the kids were much faster and would sweep them up.
Adalyn even found a basket to hold her bunny also filled with carrots. It was pretty cute to watch her walk around so proud of her bunny.
Then she went into their "home" and in no time at all came out with a basket full of 4 bunnies.
She thought it was hilarious and tried to lug them all around.
I was impressed at how she could just snatch them right up, they never stood a chance.
The bunnies were so sweet they stayed in that basket the whole time, not even trying to escape once.
We ended the fun filled day with a family picture in front of the Minnie and Mickey mural. We are very blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives to celebrate with.
We have fond memories of Adalyn's 3rd birthday in Africa.
Adalyn and Mason even give the day an "A" for awesome!
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