Our trip to Build a Bear Workshop!

This weekend, we did something new and fun. We took the kids to make some bears at Build a Bear Workshop! This was a first for both me and the kids.  Bryleigh had been given a gift card to Build a Bear for Christmas, so it was a good excuse to go and do something fun as a family.  

Overall, it went great, but I can tell you one thing I learned- DO NOT go to the Mall of America on a Saturday and not expect a long line at the Build a Bear Workshop!  We got there and were mildly shocked by how many people were in line.  But, we'd driven over an hour to get there, so this was going to happen.

We took our place in line and though the kids got a little antsy, they generally held themselves together pretty well!  Once we got into the store, we let Brennan begin browsing for which animal he wanted to build.  It was a hard choice, but after a couple of mind-changes, he decided on an adorable monkey that will go great in his new jungle room.  (The jungle room is all painted, by the way, and now we are just waiting for the paint to cure to apply the decals.  Pictures will be coming soon!)  We let Brennan help pick out an animal for Bryleigh, too.  We all decided on an adorable tan bear with swirly minky fur.  She is SO soft.

Finally, after a bunch more waiting, it was our turn to get stuffed!  Brennan got to put a heart into his monkey and step on the pedal to blow the stuffing into him.  After the worker was mostly done stuffing B's monkey, she had Brennan give him a hug to see if he was firm enough.  In classic Brennan style he says nope and she continues to fluff him a little more.  She tied the monkey shut and then, B helped the worker stuff Bryleigh's bear, too.

 

 Next we gave the animals a quick air bath and found an outfit for each of them.  Brennan picked out a red fireman's outfit for his monkey and I found a pink plaid dress for Bryleigh's bear.

The last step was to name them.  Brennan thought outside the box and named his monkey 'Fireman', or 'Fireman Engine' to be exact!  So funny.  And Bryleigh didn't have a lot of input, so I named her bear 'Daisy'.  They both turned out adorable and it was a fun time for all of us.  

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