Stuffington Bear Factory...

Field Trip!! I am not sure who was more excited...me or Dillon! Dillon was excited to be going on a field trip, but not any ol' field trip, one that would allow him to bring home a toy! He was equally excited that I was a chaperone. I was simply excited to be going on his field trip. As the children get older, its a constant reminder of how these days come and go so fast.

Field Trip Destination: Stuffington Bear Factory (similar to Build A Bear)

Transportation: Back of a Bumpy Bus

As a chaperone I was given 4 children to keep safe! 4 children, pshhhh no problem I have 4 of my own, I thought! What the teacher didn't tell us was that each child got to pick their "best friend" and then were paired with another group of best friends! Dillon's best friend this year is Draegen (yes you read that right, its a very "original" name to say the least). When together these two are more than just double trouble, try quadruple trouble! With these two wild boys, I had two sweet girls that just drove the boys nuts! As you can see here on the bus ride to Stuffington's!

Unlike Build A Bear, Stuffington's is very old school. They take the children in a "classroom" and explain to them the entire history of the teddy bear. After learning about how the teddy bear came to be, they took the children on a tour of the "factory". I referred to Stuffington's as old school, because when you enter the factory area there are several industrial grade sewing machines being run by workers actually sewing bears together while we toured the room. There was a wall full of fabric, a huge cutting table with the best top of the line cutting tools, piles of sorted parts to sew different kinds of bears, tons of different eyes and mouths, and their stuffing machine! Once the tour was complete, it was time to pick a bear, stuff it, stitch it closed, brush and comb it, bathe it, and pick ribbons!