Mollie's First Trip to Birch Run and Bronner's

The last time I went to Birch Run was when I first suspected I might be expecting ... remember this and this?

Well, I finally made it back to Birch Run, and this time the little lady was in tow.  She seemed to enjoy the experience enough.

She even dozed off in the dressing room of Banana Republic ... the same dressing room where I first became aware of her presence.

She was much more lively in the Ann Taylor dressing room, inspecting the clothes with Oma.

I purchased a few cute tops with my birthday money, then we headed off to Bronner's.  For those of you who aren't familiar, Bronner's is the world's largest Christmas store, located in Frankenmuth, Michigan.  Here is a view of the South Entrance.



This elf greeted us on the way in.  I love how borderline kitschy everything is here!

See ... I wasn't kidding!

To say this store is chaotic is to be understating things quite a bit.  But, even with ADD dragging my attention in every which direction, I still love this store!  There is something about it ... I don't know.  Mollie seemed to like it too, but she was definitely distracted while we were there.

So much to look at!

Seriously, the store is floor-to-ceiling Christmas!  There is the selling space below, then little vignettes above of Christmas scenes (many of which you can actually purchase).

Mollie kept looking at me like, "Can you believe this place?!"

Everywhere you look, there are ornaments or decorations.  Some of which are quite traditional ...

... and some of which are not.

Of course, they are pretty well aware of how close Christmas is and don't mind displaying it prominently.  I, on the other hand, was a bit freaked out at how few days there are left until Christmas is upon us.  Whew!

It makes me wonder if this would be what the North Pole would look like ...

While we waited for Oma to bring the car around, we snapped a little picture in the South Entrance lobby.

We had a very fun day, just the girls.  (Baylor stayed at home with Daddy and Grandpa E having fun and doing some bingo shopping!)