A few weeks ago, Eleanor chose a trip to Build-A-Bear Workshop as her reward for keeping her temper and emotions in check. (I'll post more about this later in the week, it's been a collaborative effort between Ellie, me, and a game-changing parenting book from 1964. Sue...I owe you one!) Tuesday, Ellie earned the reward, and the rest of the week we'd been building up to the Saturday trip to the mall – the BIG mall. The one that takes a good hour (1 hour and 20 minutes in a snowstorm) to get to, in the Suburban since the weather was so bad, at $3.80/gallon for gas, in a vehicle that gets about 12 miles per each of those almost $4 gallons. This trip...was a
BIG DEAL.
Wednesday night I visited the mall website. I reminded myself where Build-A-Bear was, even printed out a coupon for $5 off our purchase.
Saturday morning we were dressed and ready to go a little after 9:00am, drove the many slippery and snowy miles to arrive at 11:00am on the dot. The excitement was palpable!
Into the mall we go, potty break first then beeline for Build-A-Bear Workshop! As I get closer to the store's noted location, all I see is a big, black, painted plywood enclosure. No sign. No nothin'. **Deep breath** I calmly walk the girls over to the mall map. Yes...that's where Build-A-Bear is. At this point Ellie and Josie are asking questions. We found a bench and pulled out my phone to consult the mall website. Once it comes up I go immediately to the store's page. I even call the phone number. A lovely recording tells me that they are open at 10:00am, along with a bunch of cheerful nonsense about birthday parties and directions to the store. They fail to mention that THE STINKING STORE IS GONE!
Long story short, we went directly to the Guest Services office. They swore the website says the store is closed for remodeling until spring. I quickly prove otherwise, shaking with so much frustration that I can barely hold my phone. Where as I was seconds away from bursting into tears, Ellie and Josie held it together. They were sad of course, but no tears, no tantrums. We walked back to the bench and talked about our options – think of something else that would be special, or wait until spring and come back. Josie was all for waiting until Ellie spotted a Pillow Pets kiosk a few yards away. (Apparently my kids are all about the over-commercialized stuffed animals.) They've both been asking for a "mini" Pillow Pet for months, but we didn't think it was necessary to have two sizes of the same toy, but yesterday changed all that.
So...two Pillow Pets, a ride on the carousel, and dessert with lunch, and my two little girls came home with smiles on their faces.
