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