Build-a-Bear

Jack's birthday is tomorrow, so to celebrate, we took the commuter train down to the Build-a-Bear factory in Salt Lake yesterday. The kids were so excited to finally be able to ride the train and loved every minute of it. Makele told me this morning that she wished she could go on it again.


Jack chose a puppy. When he saw them in the bin, he said, "no, I don't want that one, it's broken!" He didn't know he was supposed to stuff it - he wanted the example that was already made! Here he is stuffing it and putting the heart in:


His favorite part was the washing station where he stepped on a petal to make air come out of the "facets" and used a brush to brush out his puppy's fur. Makele got a brush too so she could help him. We finally had to drag them away after a full five minutes! I was afraid the dog might not have any fur left!


We picked out a little outfit for the dog and got one for Makele's bear at home (she was really good about helping Jack the whole time and never whined once about wanting one for herself). We then headed over to the computers to give the dog a name and print his birth certificate. When we asked Jack what he wanted to name his dog, he said, "horse!" This didn't come as much of a surprise - that's what he wanted to name our dog, and the other night he told me that would be a good name for the new baby. Then he changed his mind and decided to go with "Dog." Jeff tried to get him to name it something else which I thought was hilarious.

The box was about as big as Jack!

They got a little crazy on the train ride home - here Makele is with her bear's shirt on her head:

And Jack laughing about something Jeff told him not to do (see that little mishievious look in his eyes?):


Even though it was freezing cold, it was nice to be able to get out and do something as a family that the kids really enjoyed.