I love Scholar's Choice for all the teacher toys and the Pacey toys! Pacey loves Scholar's Choice because of all the toys they have labelled .. "Please Try Me!" It is a toddler's paradise and the staff is so kind and patient and they absolutely love kids. When we were there, there were two little girls who were there looking around while their mom was in Safeway. They were looking at all the craft things and were talking about "if I had ten bucks I would buy …." "if I had five bucks I would buy …" One of the staff came to them and asked them if they liked crafts. They both nodded but ensured her that they had no money and were just "wish shopping." A really cute response. The staff disappeared for a while to the back and came back and had two colourful containers. She told them that the cans were craft surprises and she couldn't tell them what was in the cans that they would have to open them at home, but once they opened them they were responsible to use all the craft items and their imagination and to come back and show her what they made. The looks on these two girls faces was incredible - you would have thought she had offered them the best thing in the store. It was just really nice to see someone do something nice for someone else that they didn't even know or with no reward or consequence in mind. It certainly gives me something to think about …
While I contemplated this curious and enlightening exchange, my girl had other ideas in mind - have a look at the photos and keep in mind that we were only in the store for maybe 13 minutes. Every time I tried to wrap up our little shop, she would say "No mommy, I keep looking."
We had a great day! We had to wait for our girl to wake up - she's such a sleeper!!! When she finally woke up she could not believe that the Easter Bunny had been here! We started our day with the treat and message from the Easter Bunny, who left quite a mess when he ate his carrots and lettuce. Then we had our Egg Hunt (completely fun), got our Baskets from E.B. and had a surprise visit from Baby Easter Bunny who left presents in Pacey's crib! Everyone, including Bampa and the dogs enjoyed the fun! We all were invited to Grumpa and Gramle's for some Easter Dinner fun! It was a really great day. See the slide show below for some highlights ...
It's finally here - Pacey is SO excited for the Eastah Bunny to come to her house and visit her. She has been talking about it for ages now and it is finally here! We spent the day keeping busy - going for a bike ride, playing some games, watching the Charlie Brown Easter movie and preparing the house for E.B's visit!
We decorated Easter Eggs!!! This was a lot of fun! She really loved stirring and creating the dye, but the waiting part was tough! She really did not understand why the eggs were not instantly that colour. I realized rather quickly I would need to move fast with my distractions, so … We made supper!
After supper, Pacey and I were talking about leaving a special surprise for E.B. She wanted to leave him many of her toys but I said he would have a hard time carrying them with so many presents to deliver. Finally we decided to leave him a snack to refuel for his long journey. I asked her what rabbits like to eat and she said "I cannot believe it. I do not know" So I told her carrots and lettuce and celery and they like to drink water. We checked out the fridges and had to make a mad dash to Safeway. Off we went …
We went with a plan - we talked about the plan in the car, in the parking lot, and even while we shopped. The plan was carrots and lettuce. Carrots … and … Lettuce.
The plan failed. Pacey became convinced that the Easter bunny would much rather have a frozen pizza and minnie mouse band aids. We spent a lot more time in Safeway than I had anticipated, but once we were back on track with the plan - we were good to go!
For a while, Jason has been wanting to get Pacey a bike. She wasn't even crawling when he first started talking about it! We went last night to Toys R Us and checked out some bikes, but didn't have any luck - just ask Jason about standing in line with the ticket for the bike we picked - Oy! Not fun! He was done after that and sent me out on my own with Pacey to choose her bike.
She got distracted...
So I texted Jason … "came for a bike, coming home with a vette." My phone was buzzing off the hook after that!!! He honestly thought I bought this for her! What does that say about me? Anyhow I got the reaction I was looking for and yes folks, we did come home with a bike that Pacey picked all by herself.
Best part of the morning … Peppa Pig time!!! Pacey was going through some peppa withdrawal I think! The first thing she said when she woke up was .. "Mommy I need a little bit peppa pig please." So, as any mother would do when her child asks so politely, I turned on the computer and pressed play on the preloaded peppasodes. She did not move or speak for an hour - perfect for packing up for a long drive home!
It was such a great little vacation! I am so glad we ended up going. We contemplated for a while if we would go, and then when the weather was so crummy at the start of the week and highways were closed, it seemed as though we weren't going to go. In the end, it was a really great trip. We got some good deals, had a nice visit, and had a lot of fun with our little Pee wee.
We left Fargo around 11 am, after stopping at Caribou Coffee for a morning smoothie and stopped in Grand Forks on our way home for some lunch and a grocery shop. We had a little time on our hands so we stopped in at the mall, where a little boy wanted to take Pacey for a ride! It was adorable - even if the kid's grandmother ripped me off!
It's hard to believe that North Dakota just got through a pretty major snow storm that had the highway closed for 2 days! The weather is amazing! I am hoping that the weather in Winnipeg is similar! It's been so nice to wear spring jackets and see the sunshine! What a treat!
We started another heavy day of shopping by another visit to Toys R Us - lot's of fun! Pacey had fun choosing some Easter treats for Kai and Vayda - although our opinions differed a little on what might be fun for them and what she thought would be fun - not sure a 9 year old and a nearly 7 year old would be too much into Team Umi Zoomi and Peter Rabbit. We also had to spend Bampa's ticket (ticket is what Pacey calls money). Bampa gave her some before we left to buy a special treat. It took a lot of deliberation but she finally decided on some pretty cool make pretend food and pots and pans. She was a happy little lady!
After Toys R Us - we did some serious shopping at TJ MAX, Carter's, and Scheels (pretty awesome place for sports fans like us!!!) We ventured on to Costco, where Pacey and mommy had a nap in the parking lot while Daddy and Gramma went inside for a shop. When they came back, we were ready to stop off at Sam's Club - thanks to Marni and Chris!!! Wow! What an amazing place - Pacey and Daddy LOVED the samples and Mommy loved the deals - we had loads of fun in this store. Pacey's favourite sample was some corn if you can imagine!!! We decided after Sam's that we would head back to the hotel for a rest before going out for dinner.
We went out to dinner. We tried some pretty fancy places but they were all booked and the wait was quite a long time, especially for a two year old with wandering feet and a need to explore. Finally, we settled on Olive Garden and it turned out to be pretty convenient - while Gramma and Daddy waited, Mommy and Pacey went to the nearby Hobby Lobby and wandered around.
Pacey does not do very well in restaurants. She starts off amazing, happy, cheerful, funny and all the waitresses and surrounding guests really do love her … at first. But it doesn't take long for boredom to set in. She turns into a clown - easily finding the most ridiculous things to do. The two collages above show her in the before and after stages. In all honesty, I am not sure which I prefer!!!
We woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed after a pretty solid sleep in the big bed! All friends were in tact, none had fallen out of bed - we knew this because Pacey conducted a roll call about 5 minutes after waking up. She definitely has mommy's need to organize embedded in her - and I love it!
All morning we talked about going to see the Easter Bunny at his house. We looked at pictures of kids sitting with Easter Bunny's and we talked about how she was going to sit on Mommy Easter Bunny's lap and get a picture taken. She was amped up, she was psyched, she was ready to go! She talked about it the entire way to the mall and made a bee line to the Easter Bunny house when we got there - one hour too soon. We walked around the mall and for the full hour got told we were going the wrong way and shown the proper direction to the Easter Bunny's house.
As you can see, she was not having sitting on the bunny's lap on her own. She was pretty pumped up to wave and blow kisses, but when the time came and I was about to sit her down, she looked up at that sort of creepy bunny face and lost her cool. She put on a big cry and was digging her nails into my neck. There was no way she was going to sit down, and there was no way I was going to be the only parent in this picture … hence a family Easter photo - cut and paste this one friends, it's a framer! The photographer was brilliant and was able to turn a screaming two year old into a happy giggling little girl in a matter of minutes - in all truth, I do think the picture turned out great!
Daddy got Pacey an Easter bunny cookie from Mrs. Fields - I think she enjoyed the cookie more than her visit with EB.
FUN AT THE MALL ...
We decided instead of having a light lunch and dinner, we would just have a late lunch or early dinner - which worked perfectly for me! Jason's pick was Buffalo Wild Wings. Pacey and I did not really enjoy our meal but we did enjoy the funny hats they had kicking around! We looked at several and decided "Wing Nut" was the best fit for Rae-rae. While daddy and Gramma ate their supper, mommy had fun chasing me back and forth from the arcade games to the video games! We didn't eat much but we sure had fun!
Back to the Hotel where we played Where's Pacey? for a while!
Pacey was not very happy when mommy and daddy went out shopping without her. She got to stay with Gramma, though and they had fun making puzzles and creating towers. Then Pacey got tuckered out and slept for over an hour - which was good, Mommy and Daddy were very productive shoppers in that hour!
A Trip to the Puppy Store with P!
Capping it all off with a Caribou Coffee - and a Cookie's and Cream Cooler for our girl!
She was not a fan of the chunks of cookie - I get it, I am a texture eater too.
A girl after my own heart - a blackboard, a few good books and her favourite drink - does it get any better?
Oh - can't forget to add all that with one of your best friends! Of course David had his very own seat at Caribou Coffee!