The kids were a bit scared of the mouse at storytime

One of The Valley’s best Barnes and Noble’s is a newly built 2 story free standing Barnes at San Tan Village.  Located @ the 202 and Willam’s Field.  They are in the prime location of shopping, dining and fun in the new San Tan Village. This Barnes and Noble boasts a huge selection of books, a great discount book area, a cafe and a huge kids section.  Of course my kids love to go so they can ride the escalator!

Anyways, Story time is everyday at 11AM.  It is a different book with a new theme every time.  The craft is unique and supports the story.  Plus, at the kids section they have a huge Thomas The Train track with a lot of very loved Thomas and his friend’s.  But, BEWARE!  They have the Thomas collection for sale there at an exorbitant price!  Plus it is surrounded with lots of kids toys and stuffed animals!

These people certainly know how to up sale!  A Special guest we had at story time time today was the mouse from, “If you give a mouse a cookie”  It was a fun surprise guest that the kids liked and yet were strangely afraid of at the same time because I believe the mouse suite blinded the wearer and so the mouse had to be lead around by the arm and directed where to sit.  And, it was plain just a HUGE mouse!

We did manage  a few fun pics and headed over to the craft area where they were making fairy wands.  Seeing as we have all boys they were not that interested in the wands.  We perused the books and purchased a few good one’s for the kids.  This particular Barnes and Noble’s check out was a bit slow as they had 10 registers and no one manning them!  But, we had yet another fun story time at  Barnes and Noble at San Tan Mall.

Family Time with The Mouse

Side Shot of Scary Mouse

Playing With The Trains

Ginormouse Barnes and Noble at San Tan Mall

The Desert Shrimp Festival is a gathering put on by the Gila Bend Chamber of Commerce. Its held the first full week of November every year. This year the magic is happening on Nov 7th 10am-10pm and Nov 8th from 10am-6pm at the Gila Bend Community Center Park. This event will have numerous arts and crafts booths as well as many food booths to keep you busy. This is a family affair with shrimp eating contests, shrimp cooking expos, and bobbing for shrimp….and I hear the shrimp are floating in cocktail sauce. You be the judge!

There will be a kids coloring booth, kids sand castle building, and many more activities. This is truly a family fun event to show off and promote more of the amazing things we have here in AZ, and this shindig that fits the bill. These are locally grown shrimp in environmentally friendly ponds keeping the shrimp free from chemicals, hormones, mercury and preservatives. The best and safest shrimp you can buy, right her in AZ. If you want a great story to tell and fantastic memories don’t miss the hoopla of the 7th Annual Desert Shrimp Festival

	7th Annual Desert Shrimp Fest
Dates:	Saturday Nov 7th 10am-10pm Sunday   Nov 8th 10am-6pm
Location:	Gila Bend Community Center Park
Price:	$3.00 for adults
Events:	Shrimp eating contest Shrimp cooking contest Shrimp Bobbing Contest Tour the Shrimp Farm Carnival Kids Sand Castle Building Live Music Door Prizes Gila Bend All-Class Reunion

Parking Garage – Yes, I know that it sounds kind of lame, but not all the malls in Arizona have parking garages.  Parking can be a nightmare if you are going to Chandler Fashion Center or Arizona Mills.  I think all malls should have a parking garage, especially when it is over 110 outside.

Food Selection – I was impressed that they had Pita Jungle in the food court, but I opted for Panda instead since there was a shorter line.

Entertainment – There is a movie theater, water fountain, spa and good people watching.

Store Selection – They have a wide variety of stores, from the large anchor department stores (Dillard’s, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus & soon to be Barney’s of New York) to the normal mall stores (Gap & Pottery Barn) to the designer stores (Michael Kors & Louis Vuitton) to the little off the wall boutiques (iLori & Socrati) .  Here’s a link to the full listing of stores.

Directories – There are several directories…conveniently placed.  I hate going to a mall and not knowing where any of the stores are…that is the way I feel with Chandler Fashion Center and I can never find a directory when I need one, instead it ends up being a large marketing add instead of a directory.

As I mentioned before, the Scottsdale Fashion Square is going through an expansion right now.  They will be complete with the new wing on October 15th adding another 30 stores, including Barney’s of New York.  If you end up on the East end of the mall, you will see that the tiling is being redone and there is a bunch of caution tape.  There were no hassles getting around it though.  I don’t visit this mall that often, but I will probably check out the finished product after the Grand Opening.  Happy Shopping!