Girls Day!

Hannah is on Spring Break this week.   It's working out nicely since we just moved.  Loriann and Marlee came over yesterday so I also kept Hailey home and today we had plans to take the girls to the Mall of America to the Barbie Dreamhouse Experience.

It's nice to be able to take a break from work and the house to just spend a day together.

We didn't tell the girls that we were going there.  They were pretty sure that we were going on the rides but we kept telling them there was something else.  They didn't have a clue!

We got there early because we weren't sure how busy it would be.  The exhibit doesn't open until noon and we arrived between 10 and 10:30 so we had some time to kill.

As we were thinking of something to do I mentioned to Loriann that Hailey has been asking to get her haircut for weeks now and although I don't really think she is serious, maybe we should see if she was serious about it and go get her hair cut.

She was REAL excited about that idea so we were off to Regis!

As we were approaching the salon I had asked her how short she wanted to cut it.  She put her hand on top of her head and said 'Up to here'.  Yikes....what are we doing?!

We stopped outside of the salon for a quick 'Before' picture.

She was SO proud of herself.  The stylist called her back and she went with no problem.  They talked about what she wanted to do and before they got started the stylist looked over at me for my approval.  I gave her a very nervous and shaky thumbs up.  It's only hair, it will grow back.  Right?!?!

It was so hard to watch her hair be cut off.  Although I was pretty sure she was going to be adorable it was hard to see it go.  Made me nervous that maybe she wouldn't be so happy about it and I wouldn't be able to fix it.  Once it's gone we can't get it back and it was going to be too short for ponytails.  That much I could tell.  She kept getting a glimpse of herself in the mirror and at one point she reached for my hand and when I held hers she kissed my hand and said "I love it mommy".

 OH MY MG!  OH MY SAUSAGE!

Here it is! The 'After' picture.  She looks SO adorable!

She looks so different and she is so happy and proud of herself.

Hannah couldn't stop telling me how cute Hailey looked either.

We sent a message to Brian and he too was in love!

 

We ate at Rainforest Cafe for lunch and during the 'thunderstorms' Hailey kept covering her head with her menu afraid that the rain would be real and mess up her haircut.  After lunch we walked up to the entrance of the Barbie house.  As soon as the girls saw all of the pink they went crazy.  I am not sure they really knew what was happening, they just knew that there were Barbie signs everywhere.

The Barbie Dreamhouse Experience is a temporary exhibit at the Mall of America.

Kids can walk through a life size Barbie house and sit on her furniture, etc.

When you first 'check in' you are handed a bracelet.  The first step is to register the bracelet by creating an avatar.  Throughout the house there are iPad-type games that you can play and props set up to take pictures.  Your bracelet acts as a 'storage' for your games and pictures.  

This is a picture from Barbie's desk in her living room.  There was so much pink.  So. Much.

In Barbie's bedroom you could stand in her closet and try on her virtual outfits.  Hailey loved this part.

The last part of the exhibit is the Entertainment World.  There is a stage, runway, styling salon, movie bus, craft tables, etc.  The girls loved the runway.  They had costumes they could put on and our girls had a blast modeling their outfits and singing along to the Barbie tunes.

When it was time to leave the mall Hannah mentioned again how cute Hailey looked today.

I told her she could get her hair cut if she wanted and after I assured her that you can get a hair cut without chopping all of your hair off she was ready to go 'under the scissors'.

We went to the Regis salon in Maple Grove.

On the way there she searched for hairstyles on my phone and found one of  Jennifer Aniston that she really liked.  She wanted to try layering her hair to give it more style.

It was hard to believe that this was only her 3rd hair cut.  Ever in her life.  We have only gone once for a cut when she was about 3 and then one a few years ago to even things out.

And the 'After' picture

 

My phone died in the middle of her cut so I didn't get any pictures of the pile of hair on the floor or anymore during the cut.  Before we left she reminded me that we had her phone in my purse so we were able to snap a picture of her hair with her phone before we left.

Both girls did so great and they both looked so cute!

Their new styles make them look so old and grown up.  I am so happy that it all worked out and we didn't have anyone in tears today.  Well, anyone besides me.....don't judge.