It all started with a scavenger hunt on Christmas morn. Six clues later,
the Blossoms were delighted to discover that in 17 days, we were venturing to New York City to spend the day at American Girl Place. They made it their first order of business to tweak the now obsolete Christmas countdown to an American Girl trip countdown.
The day began at 4:30 am, with the girlies choring in the dark first, and then clambering into the van with a hot "cuppa" for each of us.
The drive went smoothly, as we avoided rush hour and pulled into our pre-reserved parking garage space. We walked ten minutes to American Girl Place, which the Blossoms actually spotted first, with shouts of, "THERE IT IS. I SEE THE AMERICAN GIRL STARS!!!
The store is divided into different sections - contemporary characters, Girl of the Year, BeForever dolls, Just Like You dolls, Bitty Babies and Wellie Wishers. There are beautiful displays to just look at and a plethora of displays to be played with and rearranged by lovely little girlies like mine.
Blossom3 and Blossom4 are checking out a recording studio set for the Melody character, straight out of the 1960s.
I loved how the displays brought to life the girls and the nuances of history they've read about.
There was a section devoted to the MegaConstrux American Girl sets. Since our girlies are into Legos, they found this area to be very intriguing.
Check out this model of NYC made entire out of Lego-type blocks. Their favorite characters were sprinkled throughout the display... and mine too!
And that NYC skyline!
The Rugged Mountain Man enjoyed watching the Blossoms savor all the girlie American Girl nuances.
Eventually though, those feet got tired.
We'd arrived at 10:15 am, so it was time to take a break with a Samantha movie before our next reservation
at the doll salon!!!! Clad in American Girl cranberry colored shirts, the Blossoms lined up to have their dolls' hair made to look new again.
They'd labored over which hairstyle to choose for the previous seventeen days.
Their stylists did a phenomenal job and even threw in a few insider tips on how to take care of their dolls' hair. We ended up being thoroughly pleased with this splurge. It's been a month and the Blossoms STILL haven't taken the hair styles out. The stylists know what they are doing and make it last. Ten thumbs up from all the females in this house!
The little things made a big impact too; the girlies thoroughly enjoyed riding the escalators up and down to each section. We visited each section numerous times.
The snazzy pink Christmas decorations added to the glitz and glam that four girlies whole-heartedly appreciated.
Blossom1 was also particularly inspired by Tenney's banjo.
She came home and made this guitar for her doll, Elizabeth. I'm impressed!
With our morning muffins and McDonald's stop a very distant memory, we were more than ready for our reservation at the American Girl Cafe. We watched Grace and explored the book section while we waited to be summoned.
Let's just say that their signature pink lemonade may have stolen the show at the Cafe. For those of you who've read the American Girl books, the pink lemonade is from Samantha's birthday celebration. It's quintessentially American Girl! Even McKenna was tickled to have her own pink lemonade.
The Blossoms got their dolls settled in their doll seats, all the while delighted with doll-sized cups, plates and place mats. They proceeded to sip an inordinate amount of pink lemonade, not that I blame them or anything.
Afterward, we perused every display again, about sixty times, so they could pick their outfit to take home. Such a difficult decision, but they did manage to resolve it as you can see by this shot the next morning. Fancy doll hair and fancy doll outfits!
Though Daddy probably would've been done at American Girl Place after only half an hour, we didn't depart until 4:00 pm! He and I agreed that we wanted the Blossoms to squeeze every last drop of delight out of our visit there. And we did.
#bestdayever
We walked the streets of New York, constantly admiring the skyline.
The flags of the world were a hit too, as Blossom2 has a particular interest in flags and their countries.
We perused the Rockefeller Center and ice rink, as well as the Lego Store that you can see off to the right in the above picture. It was very crowded, so we just did a walk-through, enjoying the magnificent Lego creations there.
The Blossoms were very tired by this time and dusk was rapidly drawing near.
After walking through the magnificent St. Patrick's cathedral,
we journeyed back to our van, sighing with satisfaction in resting our feet and having seen something the Blossoms and I have wanted to do and see for a long, long time.
Navigating homeward during rush hour was long, difficult and a bit strange. The Rugged Mountain Man had to learn to drive like a New Yorker. We were also a bit puzzled by the police in Times Square donning riot gear, bulletproof vests and grabbing tear gas amidst peacefully strolling pedestrians. Perhaps they were preparing for the normal Friday night party crowd?
As the temperature was rapidly dropping and excessive rain fell with an ice storm looming on the horizon, we made our way out of the city at a snail's pace. The Rugged Mountain Man and I made a stellar navigation team; he at the wheel and I wielding smart phones, maps, snacks and an extra set of eyes. We were grateful to beat the storm home and sent prayers of gratitude to the Lord as we lay in our beds for only a half an hour when the sleet began to ping off our bedroom windows.
During our dinner at the Cafe, Blossom3 was asking fun little ice-breaker questions off the back of her dolly place mat. When she posed the question "What is the greatest adventure you've ever been on?" we looked at one another, grinned and piped up in total unison, "THIS ONE!"
Although... the Rugged Mountain Man says next time, we are going to Wyoming,
where there are no people.
Dominique
