Better Than Fair

Because of wedding travels, work plans, and summer days that flew by way too fast, we decided to celebrate Emma's birthday nice and early this year- with another trip to the Mall of America!

I started hatching a plot long ago for Emma to get her American Girl doll at age 6 rather than waiting for her to turn 7.  My reasoning went something like this- Leah got her doll when she turned 7 because that's the first birthday we really could afford it.  Then Adam got to pick out his big ticket Lego set at age 7 because that was the first year he really could put one together.  It seemed we had ourselves a tradition, except that I could see that, at age 10 and a half, Leah is still interested in playing with her doll.  Next year, when she's heading toward 12, she may not be quite as interested.  So I decided that taking Emma up to the good ol' MOA this year was a better than fair opportunity for Emma (for getting her doll), Leah (for getting a doll playmate a year early), and the rest of us (for getting a fun summer trip- this trip was in the works long before we planned to go to Utah this summer and even before we decided to go to Disney World last January).

((You can tell that I had to pitch this scheme to Jason more than once to get him on board- he's all about fair.))

So off we went!  And by all accounts, I was right!  It was a super fun trip for all of us!  First things first, of course.  We went straight to the American Girl store and picked up Emma's doll.

She had to decide between caramel hair but no freckles, or light brown hair and freckles... and freckles won!  She had been debating over her doll's name for weeks, but proudly announced that her name was Allison as soon as they met.

 Then off she went to get her first dolly hairstyle while the rest of us went to dinner at Shake Shack.

 Allison and Sarah have been getting along just fine, and I've been so proud of Leah's willingness to share all of her AG things with Emma's doll.  She set a good example, and then Emma has been (mostly) willing to follow the kindness by sharing her new things as well.  See!  Win-win all around.

Especially when shakes and burgers are involved.  Shake Shack is what Zombie Burger wants to be, but we love both.  (And rarely frequent either, of course.)

Finally!  Two hands for Miss 6!

After a stop at Ikea and baths for everyone, we snuggled up with pudding cups from the lobby and watched a movie in bed.  I think we all enjoy this rare treat because it is something that we never, ever do at home.  

Then the next day we were back in action and ready to hit Nickelodeon Universe.  Oh my goodness the kids were so, so excited.

Jason really was there too, but I don't seem to have many pictures of him.  Mostly because he was going on the daredevil rides with the big kids while I was taking care of the little ones.  Noah especially had ZERO interest in riding anything even remotely scary after his brush with death on Swipers Sweeper.  Not that I can blame him.  That ride is horrible.

And not unlike Disney World, I stopped trying after he lost it when we tried to board the ferris wheel.  Not the ferris wheel!!

But he had a great time doing the Pineapple Popper and the big trucks and Blues Ska-Doo over and over and over again.  I probably didn't need to buy myself a wristband, given the number of rides that I actually rode (maybe 4?).  But that was okay with me.  It was all about being together!

 We took a nice break in the middle of the day to enjoy a birthday party! 

It was so fun to watch the roller coasters zoom by again and again, and everyone gobbled up their fancy food and enjoyed the bit of rest before we headed back over to the amusement park by way of the Lego Store, of course.

 And as soon as we got in the car, it was naptime!  We had had a whole lot of fun!

All in all, it was a fabulous birthday celebration for Miss Emma.  We had a great time celebrating her together as a family.  And we definitely enjoyed the watching the sun set on the Land of 10,000 Lakes on our way home!