Happy Birthday Leah!

 Leah turned 7 on December 30th.  She really wanted an American Girl doll for Christmas, but Jason and I thought it would be fun to take a trip up to the Mall of America to let her pick one out herself for her birthday.  And it was so much fun!

Despite the freezing cold weather, we had a great time.

The hotel was a complete hit, as hotels always are.

And the Mall of America was really, really big!  The escalators were probably the kids' favorite part.

After a stop at the Lego store for Adam,

 and the Disney store for Emma,

 we made our way over to the American Girl store, where Leah met her doll Sarah.

 

I couldn't resist the opportunity to have a birthday party lunch at the bistro, which was delightful.  We sat in the restaurant for nearly two hours- I think it was the first leisurely meal we've ever had with the kids.

 But with their new toys in hand, the kids were all happy to sit and eat and play.  It was such a fun lunch!

 Then Miss Sarah was off to get her hair done.

After that we headed over to the aquarium, where we lost each child at least twice.  

 It was still quite mesmerizing.

 Then we had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, a restaurant that is so much fun, but one that I always promise myself I'll never go to again.  Too loud and too expensive. But too fun to resist!

The second day we went back to the Mall of America to play at the indoor amusement park.  It certainly wasn't Disney World, but we all had a great time riding the rides.

Or watching other people ride them.

When we'd finally had our fill, we stopped by Ikea for a bit before making the long drive home.  

A few days later we had a very low key birthday party with some of Leah's friends from church and school.  I didn't even make a cake... 

But the kids still had a great time playing "Pin the Nose on Olaf"

 building snowmen from marshmallows,

and playing with Leah's new presents.

Whew!  This post definitely makes it seem like "too much birthday" but it really was just right.  Jason is going to be out of town for 3 of the next 5 weeks, so it was really important to us to make some fun family memories over Christmas break while we had the chance.  And we succeeded!  It was a perfect family getaway and now I think we are all ready to get back to our normal life.