Meet Baxter

On Sunday Mitch and I decided to brave the crowds and go to the Mall of America to do several things:  1) walk around in a cooler environment than the outdoors, 2) eat lunch out, since we won't be able to do that for a very long time, and 3) go to Build-a-Bear and make Thor his very own stuffed animal.  After careful consideration of all the options, we selected this "asthma and allergy friendly" pup, which we have named "Baxter". 

Being Build-a-Bear virgins, we had no idea that there was so much care taken in creating your own bear (or puppy).  If you've never done it, once you pick your animal, you take it to the stuffers, who make sure you put a "heart" in the puppy (after rubbing the heart in various places on your body, like your brain for smarts, your funny bone for silliness, and give it a kiss - all things that I thoroughly enjoyed watching Mitch do).  

Then they put a UPC tag inside him (in case he gets lost),stuff him and tie him up.  After that, you go to the computer and create a "birth certificate" for your new puppy, which we did not do because we were misled that we could do it at home online.  (Our poor puppy!)  I'll have to make a return trip to get that done so little Baxter doesn't feel like an orphan.

  

After the stuffing, you have all sorts of options on "dressing" your bear.  You can get pretty much every outfit imaginable - sports teams, career wear, costumes - the possibilities are really endless.  Baxter looked really good in a simple pair of aviators, but we didn't think they were newborn-friendly, what with the choking hazard and all.  

To top it off, you can go online and create a virtual "bear" that can live in "Build-a-Bearville".  Kids can go and create outfits, bear condos, and have their bear live in this virtual world.  These Build-a-Bear guys really know how to work it. 

Mitch and I had so much fun building Baxter and playing with him all evening.  We hope Thor loves him, as this is the closest he is going to get to having a dog in the house.