Morning at the Mall

If the title surprises you, that's as it should be. I'm just not a mall-type these days. But when your mother gives her younger six grandchildren a Build-A-Bear trip, that is where you have to go to find one. (Personally, I think they should rename it Build-A-Thing, since there are precious few actual bears to choose from.) As you can imagine, the six were incredibly excited about the upcoming trip. J. had the day off work, so this morning seemed like a good time to go.

G.

L. (More about the hood in a moment)

Y.

H.

H.

K.

G.

K. (He's stepping on the pedal to run the machine that fills the toy with fluff.)

After the toys were chosen, stuffed, washed (in the pretend washing station), dressed, and paid for, it was time for lunch. The total was less than I had anticipated, so we did the almost unheard of thing, and went to the food court. They loved the wonders of getting to choose what to have. Three chose pizza (K., G., and L.), and three chose Chinese (R., Y., and H.). No great surprise there at all.

You'll notice L. is still wearing her hood in this photo. It was just a bit before the security guard came by and asked her (nicely) to take the hood down, since hoods were not allowed in the store. Yes, a bit annoying, but I'd much rather have a rule enforced for the whole population rather than just some. And, the reason she was wearing the hood at all, it turns out (other than she just likes it) is that L. conveniently ignored my 'brush your hair' directive before we left the house.

J. and I also realized that in the past ten years of so, we have spent far more time in giant Chinese malls rather than American ones. We've decided that all American malls now have a vague Chinese-feel to them for us.

So here are the six with their new friends.

Y.

G.

K.

L. (no the hair is still not brushed, I will tackle that tomorrow)

H.

R.

Everyone had a ball, adores their chosen animals, and says a great big thank you to Grammy for the wonderful treat!