My mom and I took L to Chicago for the day to visit the American Girl store, eat lunch there and grab her Christmas presents from Nina. Thankfully the dinner experience was actually very nice and the food good. I am saying that because each meal, for each person was a set $20, which is very stressful when you have a toddler with you who might eat an entire plate of food or munch on one carrot and claim herself stuffed. You just never know which way it will go.
She ate enough to make me happy and enjoyed her very special day a lot. And of course everything down to the cute tea cups for the dolls and their high chairs was for sale. But I wasn't about to spend more for a demitasse cup for a doll than I would spend on my own china. So we left with a Bitty Kitten instead.
That place is quite the racket. You know you are totally getting taken for a ride when you are buying a DOLL outfit for $34 and yet you do it anyway because it is so darn cute. Or you bring a grandparent with you (enter Nina) who is willing to do it thus saving yourself the financial guilt knowing that your daughter's doll dresses in more expensive clothing than you do.
See? Everyone's happy.
Don't ask me about the train ride home though. We got stuck in one of the worst summer storms that Chicago has ever seen thus rendering the trains severely late and turning a 1 hour train ride into a 3 1/2 hour train ride with a toddler...with no entertainment...at dinner time...and without napping that day...
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So I clicked on the link to the store- I had no idea! OMG- tea time, a hair salon (for the dolls), and even "photo sessions". Crazy stuff.
Glad you had fun!
Ohhhhh...........wonderful treasured memories! We did the AG Place for one of E's b-days - made a special trip to Chicago for it as E has been an AG girl since age 5 when all her aunts and uncles all chipped in and surprised her one Christmas with her special doll and she had no clue what it was all about....imagine Dave & Matt joining us for dinner in the AG dining room.....what good sports and yes the food was very good. E was and is into history at age 16 and learned a lot about history from those books and she would act them out with her doll and her friends all did the same thing.....yes, she would kill me she knew I was telling you this but she remembers the history to this day -- we were in Boston last week and she started laughing because she started relating one of the stories from the AG books to things we were seeing in Boston!.....we loved Target and found less expensive doll items to go along with it and to supplement the original AG items. Her favorite item was the scenes ---- no one had them but her...oh the stories that happen when she would use them. She takes her AG doll w/ her to babysit now and has a grand time reliving her childhood....she readily admits she still loves playing with her dolls because they are still her friends...they have been thru so much together....she has had her Samantha since she was 5 and always played with it but treated it like gold....it was one of her best friends and she was able to play with it....it wasn't a "baby doll" but a little girl like her. So you can enjoy the positive that comes with these things and avoid going overboard and avoid the excess.........yes, the hair solon is a little much....we avoided that! Ha! But the memories of having Samantha and her stories in our life are priceless! E used to cut out the larger pictures of the dolls and mount them on poster board and make large paper dolls out of them to play with her doll.......totally her idea and she would have a total blast making them and playing with them --- free outfits on the paper doll because each magazine would feature a different outfit....ok.......enough of going down memory lane.............hope L enjoys her doll and all the creative fun that comes with it.
Kathy
Oh yes, my mom is already planning her 5th birthday trip there to pick out her first AG Girl doll (right now she has Bitty Baby). I like Kit because she is depression era, lives in Cincinnati and actually looks like L. But it will be her decision if she would rather another.
I do love that the dolls are tied to books and history - makes the price tag a bit more bearable :)
Very fun! What a special day for Lina.
We have an American Girl Doll for Lily, with all of the insane outfits for the doll, Kit. My MIL buys them for her for Christmas.
Good to see you have your doll out.
Our doll is in it's, what we call, coffin in her closet. We take it out at Christmas and then put it back in. My MIL makes me terrified to take it out. If there is a mark on it, I will hear the rath.
Perhaps we could take it out of the coffin and take her to the store : )
Really you had a great special day with Lina.. despite the train ride.
My mom and I visited the AG Place when we were in Chicago a couple of summers ago. I could not believe the moms and girls going crazy and the shell-shocked look on the dads' faces. They truly looked like they had been through the warzone!
Glad you all had fun. It's definately a place to experience... once. :=D
My mom and I visited the AG Place when we were in Chicago a couple of summers ago. I could not believe the moms and girls going crazy and the shell-shocked look on the dads' faces. They truly looked like they had been through the warzone!
Glad you all had fun. It's definately a place to experience... once. :=D
I am way behing on reading but I had to comment on this. I went to AG in 05' and took my 11 year old neices who thought it was too babyish for them. THANK GOD! I can't wait however to take Sophia and Eric. Sophia is way too young just yet but I am looking forward to seeing Eric in the store with her. It's one of those mommy things that I can truly look forward to. I bet he sits and has a tea party with her. How could he not.
Love Kat
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