Sophie at the Build-A-Bear

On Saturday we needed to get out of the house, and I had to work all day Sunday, so we we wanted to have some fun and do something we hadn't done in a long time. So, we made a trip to the Mall of America and right there in front of us when we walked in was the Build-A-Bear Workshop. We had to go in, of course.



We took about 20 minutes looking at all of the different bears and animals they had. This was our first time, so it was really cool to see all that they had.



Sophie's still pretty young, so she doesn't quite get the whole "pick one" concept - we tried out just about everything they had, and it was a challenge to see what she really liked best.







In the end, she chose a nice soft rabbit, which I call Flopsy.



After you pick the shell, you can choose different sounds to go inside. we picked one that says "I Love You" and one that has 6 different soft and positive phrases. We put one in each arm.




They have a cool machine in the middle that fluffs the cotton and also loads the stuffing into the shells. What's really neat is that you can choose just how firm or soft you want the animal (like a Select Comfort bed!), and we made her bunny nice and soft (so she can snuggle with it).





You also choose a heart to go in, and depending on which one you choose, the cost is donated to different organizations. We chose one to go toward children's cancer research.





The tradition is that you and the child kiss the heart before it's put in. Stacy kissed it first, but despite Sophie's love to kiss stuff, it was hard to get her to do it, and of course I missed the split second that she did it.




But I do have a picture of Sophie putting the heart in!




Stacy chose a nice princess-y outfit for the bunny, and here's the final result! A late Birthday present - yeah, that's the ticket!


Sophie loves her bunny, and we'll take her back - it was a good time. They also have adjoining the store the Build-A-Doll Workshop, which we'll have to visit next time.

Larry

Sophie Goes To The (Wet) Zoo

Yesterday, we went to the First Annual Family Fun Day held by Gillette Children's Hospital at the Como Zoo.



It was very wet (a 30% chance of rain, and as my dad would say, we got all 30% of it) so all of the people were huddled under the tents.



Sophie was really excited to be at the zoo. We ate some hot dogs, hamburgers and chips, and talked to a few other families at our table.



Miss Hope 2008, Mackenzie (I forgot her last name), volunteered her time to visit with the kids, and Sophie was happy to have extra attention.




We got a butterfly face painting for Sophie, and the first thing she did was smear it down her cheek. We called it "motion blur" - you know, because the butterfly was flying so fast...



Sophie also got a temporary tattoo of a bird on her hand.



Once we got inside and could see some animals (most of the ones that are normally outside were hiding), Sophie was able to get up close (on the other side of thick glass, that is) to lions...



And her favorites, the monkeys. Sophie was very excited to watch the monkeys, and had a great time just pointing and walking around as she tried to get a better look.

Despite the rain, I think Sophie had a very good day, and we look forward to taking her to the zoo again. Next time I think we'll go to the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, and do it on a sunny day :)

That's it for tonight - talk to you again soon,

Larry

Dedication Video At Last!

It may be four months late (Holy Moly, has it been that long already?), but I can finally present to you the video of Sophie's dedication at our church. I've included the entire segment of the service - it's about 6 minutes long, but it's worth it.

Sophie's character comes out at about the 2:30 mark, and continues as we pray over her for the subsequent minute... it is so Sophie!

I'm trying to convince Stacy to blog about their girls weekend up in Duluth and Hill City from a few weeks ago - they have a bunch of good pictures, so we'll see if I can convince her.

That's all for tonight,

Larry