The Stinson Family

Justin, Heather, Hadley, and Canaan



Thursday, August 7, 2014

Build-a-Bear and Rainforest Cafe

We have been just a little bit excited in the Stinson house recently.  First of all, Canaan got his cast off a whopping two weeks early; which was totally unexpected!  Then, Hadley is starting school very soon and that brings it's own bag of emotions.  We decided to have some special family time right before school started back (for Justin and I) by heading to Nashville's Opry Mills Mall.  We had never done Build-a-Bear, so we surprised Hadley by letting her take part in this fun activity.  She was pretty timid at first, not fully understanding what was going to happen to this bear. 

The sweet employee walked Hadley through the process, encouraging her to put more stuffing in the bear to make it juuuust right.  She had her hug it and see if it felt right after putting the stuffing in.  Hadley definitely approved.
Next came putting the bear's heart in so that it could really come to life.  Hadley rubbed the heart against her forehead to make her bear smart and rubbed it in her hands to make it kind. 
Next, she gave the bear a special bath with grooming supplies and everything.  She combed the bear and sprayed (pretend) smelly lotions and fragrances on it.
It was so believable to her that she had to smell it when she finished the bath.  She just knew she had made that bear smell really good!  Hadley decided to name her bear, Minnie, and we printed out a birth certificate before we left.  She also bought her bear ONE school related item...a backpack.
I will be the first to tell her that we do not spoil our kiddos with gifts "just because."  In fact, our kids really don't get gifts at all unless it's Christmas or their Birthday.  But, this was a special occasion.  I thought it was precious, though, because Hadley was SO proud of her bear and so surprised that she got to do this, that as we were walking through the middle of the mall she looked up at me and said, "Thank you so much for my bear, mommy."  It melted my heart.
Our other special treat of the day was to eat at Rainforest Cafe.  This was Canaan's first experience to eat in this kind of interactive environment and I was really looking forward to seeing his sweet expressions.  He's so much easier to maneuver now with no cast.  Imagine that, right?  Oh how I love my two favorite boys.
And this picture pretty well sums up those sweet expressions I was looking forward to.  This was during a storm, when the gorillas right beside us were really acting up.  He was a little scared but totally dug it.  While we waited for our food, I walked him around the restaurant and checked out the tigers and elephants.  He was certainly stimulated in this restaurant, looking around constantly to check everything out.  I am so thankful for fun family time and being able to make memories with the ones I love.  I have loved every minute of this summer (except the breaking of the leg and four weeks in a cast; boo) and wish it didn't have to end.  But, hey, how would we pay for this fun if it weren't for our jobs? LOL!






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