Night Out for the Girls

For Melissa and her best friend who lives next door, there is nothing as exciting in this world right now than American Girl dolls. As often as they can, which is nearly every day, they take turns rounding up their dolls, clothes, and accessories and go traipsing over to each other's houses to spend hours upon hours playing make believe with their special dolls. It is a great way for them to spend their time....much better than vegging in front of the computer or TV....and when they need a break, they go for a spin on the plasma cars.

My neighbor and I have talked many times over the last two years about taking the girls to the American Girl doll mega store in Chicago. As of November (only one month ago), there is now a store in the MOA! Our procrastination has paid off! The girls have been hopping with ants in their pants ever since the store opened, but time has been too little to make it out there (mostly due to hockey commitments, as we both have two boys in the sport). We decided we had to put an end to the torture plaguing our girls, and finally made the move to visit the store over the Christmas break. Reservations were scarce in availability, but we were lucky enough to come across a cancellation for tonight.....our girls' dreams would finally come true!

This may all seem like a bit of overkill, but for an eight and nine year old girl, this night was like paradise. The store was a massive two story structure in the middle of the Mall, right along the shores of Nickelodeon Universe. The inside was decorated in beautiful shades of pink, down to every last detail, even in the bathroom. Dolls decorated each aisle, as well as the myriad of accessories and endless possibilities to stimulate the imagination. One could spend hours in that store (as we spent about 3), and still not see it all.

Our reserved table awaited us upstairs, under the canopy of a giant pink petalled flower. The girls (Melissa, Laura, and neighbor Kirsten), grabbed a tight hold of their dolls in one hand, and booster seats for the dolls in the other as they practically bounced to our table. Once carefully seated, dolls and all, they perused the menu of good, kid-friendly foods. They were extremely tickled when the waitress brought out real drinks in tiny tin cups for the dolls too! For $15, we each got to choose our own appetizer and meal. It was so much food, and so good, really, that we had plenty to bring home. We had so much left over, that we could have easily fed Jonny, Crispy, Tubby, and maybe even Grandma ? who were waiting for us somewhere in The Universe below.

Laura was so happy to be dressed up in tights, and to be part of this big girl experience. At one point she said, "This is so awesome! I never want to leave this place!" The older girls had all of their expectations met, and were pleased with the small purchases they came away with. My neighbor and I were satisfied with the price, and a satisfactory experience for all. Grandma and the boys were glad that our long experience was finally over. We went our separate ways, with Grandma taking the 4 Musketeers down to the farm for a few days, my neighbors heading home, and Tubby and I making a quiet drive in the dark back to our quiet house. What a nice evening!