American Girl Extravaganza!

A trip to American Girl for Abby's and Ally's 7th birthdays has been in the works for quite some time now, and the day finally came yesterday! Tam and I decided to split the difference between their birthdays and take them right in between, so Abby won't actually be 7 for a few more weeks. After dropping Adam and Jacob off at the Museum of Science & Industry for a father/son day, Mom, Tammy, Allison, Abby and I headed downtown to N. Michigan and a parking garage that wasn't built for Suburbans. FUN!

We walked over to the American Girl store with two giddy girls skipping along side us the whole way. It was CHAOS in there!! I think every mother and daughter in the entire Chicagoland area was in that store - talk about claustrophobic! We couldn't move without close personal contact with complete strangers. Ick. But we made it upstairs to put our names on the waiting list for lunch in the cafe (tried for a reservation beforehand, but they were booked solid) and then to the "Just Like You" room. That's where the girls found the dolls they had picked out from the catalog months ago. Abby chose GT24 (light skin with freckles, wavy blond hair, brown eyes) and Ally picked GT25 (light skin, black/brown hair, brown eyes) - and the likeness between each girl and her doll is pretty amazing!


We were almost ready to start shopping for "accessories" - but the girls noticed that practically every other girl in the room was CARRYING a doll while they shopped, so it then became necessary to immediately purchase the dolls and get them out of the boxes. Fine by me - it's all a part of the experience, right? Once that was done, the search was on! Each girl had a set amount of spending money with which to shop, so there was some serious decision making going on in there. Adam told me before we left that his boss, Butch, said something like, "Good luck getting out of there spending under $500!" Well, that was not even close to an option for us, but I can certainly understand now just how it could be done - VERY easily!!

They narrowed their choices down to under budget, which meant doing a LOT of deep thinking and mind-changing, leaving many items behind - but at least Christmases and Birthdays should be pretty easy for Adam and me from this point on! We made our purchases and then found a spot with some breathing room and a bench where the girls could immediately change their dolls into one of their new outfits. Then Tammy braided their hair just like the pros in the salon around the corner (and for FAR less than what they were charging!). Just as she was finishing up, it was time to check on our standing on the waiting list for lunch - we were 2nd, so it seemed that our chances were pretty good. We waited, along with about 10 other groups, to "win the lottery" and get called to the podium... and we were!

They ushered us into a dining room like no other - black, white and hot pink EVERYTHING - including the silk flower lamp shades and high backed chairs. They provided the girls with chairs for their dolls that hook right onto the table, allowing their new friends to dine right along with them. Lunch started with appetizers of hot cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit kabobs and a veggie plate. Abby chose chicken tenders and Ally had pizza, but their minds were elsewhere as the server (a nice man in a hot pink apron) told them that they would be receiving a surprise since we were there to celebrate the girls' birthday. They spent most of lunch dreaming up what the surprise would be - talk about anticipation! The surprise turned out to be birthday candles in their dessert, which consisted of a piece of cake, chocolate mousse AND a pink "glittery" cookie! Can you say SUGAR RUSH???

That concluded our visit to American Girl. From there we walked to Garrett's for a bag of the best popcorn IN THE WORLD (Chicago Mix). The girls were enthralled with the street performers out front - a drummer and a tap dancer. I think they could have sat there for hours! But we dragged them away and across the street, back to Watertower and the oh-so-fun parking garage. Then to the Museum to pick up Adam and Jacob before heading back home. Overall a great day!! That is, until Abby fell out of a tree and then threw up on me later in the evening, but that's a story for another time!