May 18, 2008 - Mall of America

We took Caelia to Friends 2B Made at Mall of America on Sunday for her Birthday - I can't believe she's going to be 6 years old on Wednesday! Anyway, there are 2 kinds of dolls that you can make, we chose the Sweetheart Dolls for the girls. Think of this place as kind of a girly-girl Build-A-Bear. The dolls are great soft sculpture dolls that the girls got to stuff. Followed by a little dance with a satin heart that they got to put in their new baby doll. After the doll was all stitched shut you move to these adorable little salon chairs where the girls got to use little hair dryers and plastic curling irons to primp their creations. We had to finally pull them away to pick out new clothes and shoes. It was interesting to see their choices - completely on their own they chose their outfits. Caelia was definitely All-American - tennis shoes, stretch pants and a pretty tunic. Lera's choice was completely Ukrainian - high heeled leopard prints shoes, jeans with sparkles and a bright top with sparkles. The amazing part about this is that they were perfectly matching tops, bottoms and shoes. I don't dress this well. Also, for all you moms with looking for a down syndrome doll - Lera's doll has the famous ds piggies (Caelia's does not) they also have the same shaped hands as my girls.
Caelia adores her new doll and carries it with her everywhere. Lera plays with hers but likes to play with the Kitchen stuff more. The plus side of this is that there is absolutely no arguments about whose doll it is. I would suggest letting your daughter check out the website before visiting the store. It is very exciting and hard to just pick one at the store for them but it was much easier at home, so when the indecision came - I knew which one they had picked away from the bustle of the Mall.

We then went to Underwater World. We love this place as well. We have a family membership and go there frequently but this was our first visit with Lera. The alligators were really surprising. I didn't notice there were 2 in the tank until Grandpa lifted Lera up to see the top better and he came leaping up trying to nip her. I can't say how much I love Plexiglas! I don't know how those of you in Florida can be so nonchalant about this dinosaurs. We only got a few pictures because I forgot to charge the camera before we left. Next time...


We finished off our adventure with a trip to the Rainforest Cafe. Caelia loves this place. It has good food and it is kid friendly ---- unless you don't like thunderstorms. Yes, Mama forgot that Lera is afraid of storms. I feel awful that I forgot. When the first one came through, we had just sat down and it didn't seem to really register with her what it was. The second time she looked uncertain and whimpered a bit and I really hoped we would be gone before it happened again but it was busy and crowded so no such luck. The third time the lightening crashed and it thundered she started crying and trying to hide against me. Fortunately, about the time I was thinking that I needed to get her out of there it stopped but she had had enough. I think she handled the largest Mall in the US like a superstar.