This has been a yummy day so far.
My sister used to live near an Original Pancake House and my parents have been wanting to go to one. There is one about 40 min from our house near a mall with a Disney Store, so we set off on a day trip this morning. If you have never been to an Original Pancake House, it is delicious and the portions are not huge. I highly recommend sharing the apple pancake (which takes up to 30 minutes). It is gooey, apply deliciousness. For children, the restaurant that we were at offers 3 free buttermilk pancakes or 5 dollar pancakes as free kids meals (limit 2 kids per paying adult). There were other kids meals that were in the $3-4 range. The kids meals did not include a beverage. Since my daughter likes pancakes, she opted for the silver dollar pancakes. My father and I split a western omelette which came with 3 pancakes. The omelette was huge (4 eggs) with generous ingredients. The omelette was fluffy, but with a crisp outside which I really enjoyed. The accompanying pancakes were good, but nothing special. The prices are a bit high for breakfast ($34 for 3 adults & 1 child), but you get a lot of food. Even with sharing the omelette my father and I each took some home as well as some of our pancakes. We also took home some of my daughter's pancakes, half of my mother's egg scramble, and about 1/3 of the apple pancake. If you are going to go, prepare to wait. We arrived at the location in Toledo, OH about 10a on a Saturday morning and were able to be seated at a table right away. However, when we left at 11a, the lobby was quite crowded with people waiting for a table.
After breakfast, we went to a mall with a Disney Store. My daughter loves Disney and we do not have a Disney Store in our local mall so this was a treat for her. She also got to explore a new mall play area. We stopped by Auntie Anne's for our free pretzels since it was free pretzel day. We had to wait in line for about 5 minutes for our pretzels. My daughter and I shared a cinnamon sugar and an original. This was her first taste of the cinnamon sugar pretzel (which I love) and she was hooked. Glad I have someone to share a cinnamon sugar pretzel with in the future.
After our pretzels, Grandma & Grandpa took her to Build-A-Bear Workshop to build a St Patrick's Day bear. She loved picking out the unstuffed bear and then helping to fill it by stepping on the foot paddle. Then she got to decide if it was stuffed right or whether it needed more or less stuffing. She also got to pick out a heart or in this case a shamrock to put in it. They do a whole routine with the heart where the kids rub it, kiss it, spin in a circle, and several other things all symbolizing different things. She did convince Grandma that the bear needed clothes, although we talked her out of shoes. After we fluffed the bear, we registered it online to generate the birth certificate. She got to name the bear herself, choosing the name Clovers. She loves the bear. She carried him through the mall herself and hugged it in the car while she slept. I tried to get her back to sleep when we got home without success. After laying in bed for awhile with me, she said she was done and got up, kissing Clovers and telling her she would see her tonight at bedtime.
We had a great day. I am still full from breakfast and the pretzels.
