American Girl

Last Sunday Hannah had a very special day.
We left the house at 8:30am to meet up with the girls from her Daisy Troop and their moms, and we drove to The Grove in LA to take them to the American Girl Store.

Each of the girls sold enough cookies to earn a generous gift card to the American Girl store to buy a doll.

My girls haven't really been big on dolls and I wasn't sure how excited Hannah would be about it.

I misunderstood the plans for the day at first and was under the impression that Claire could come along.  Later I found out that it was really meant to be a special afternoon for just the Daisy and her mom.  We had lunch reservations in the American Girl cafe for just that many, and so I had to break the news to Claire.  She was bummed, but Mr. Hass promised to take her out for a special lunch date and we promised to bring her back a new outfit for the American Girl doll that Gma Hass sent her (a hand me down from a friend) and she seemed satisfied with that.

This was my first time to The Grove.  It was neat and looked like a great place to walk around and shop.  But we went straight in to the AG store.

The girls were very excited.
We spent the first hour checking out what was on the first floor.

Ready to go spend her gift card...

And later ready to purchase her doll.

She also got to choose an outfit for her doll and she went with the "Tropical Bloom" outfit.

For Claire we decided that she would love the ballerina outfit...

This store was huge.
Soooo many dolls.
Soooo many choices.
And then the outfits!
Sooooo many outfits!
Outfits for you to match!

The first floor had a hospital in case your doll... gets sick?  Head falls off?  I'm not sure.

There was also a Doll Hair Salon...

So of course I talked to the Doll Hairstylist to find out how best to manage this American Girl Doll's hair.
She said to spritz it with water and brush regularly or else it gets frizzy.
She also said that we could arrange for Dolly to have her hair styled, by appointment or walk in availability, for $25 and up depending on the selected style.
I said no thank you, and then I decided that if something ever happens to my voice and I can't talk to my clients all day, I could consider getting a job at the Doll Hair Salon.  ;)

These two reminded me of my friend Frances and I doing each other's hair.  

Hannah selected a doll from the look alike collection.
You can choose your hair color and eye color and find the doll that looks most like you.
Her match was Doll #22.

Can you see the resemblance?

Of course we had to buy the over priced $8 hair brush.  For obvious reasons.  ;)

We had some time to kill before our lunch reservations so we stepped outside from some fresh air and a few pictures.

Back inside we checked in for lunch, and waited in a long hall for the dining room doors to be opened up.
When the doors finally opened all the little girls screamed with excitement and we were led by our server through the cutest girly dining room.  The benches were black and white stripes.  The chairs were navy with pink polka dots.  Big hot pink chadeliers hung above each table.  And the girls each had a small high chair slid onto the table beside their own chairs for their new dolls.

It was a four course meal, starting with cinnamon rolls for all.
Then a fruit, cheese and pretzel plate came out while we made our final menu choices.
The napkin rings were actually hair ties with hot pink bows for your daughter or their doll.  You can see Hannah's and mine next to my iced tea.

I had salmon with roasted potatoes and asparagus, and Hannah had chicken tenders with a side of macaroni and cheese and fruit.

Then the server brought out tiny cups and saucers for the Dolls.
Hannah wore her new Minnie Mouse dangle earrings (first dangley pair!) and necklace with her name that she picked out the day before at Disneyland.  It was so fun to see her having such a fun weekend.

Joining Girl Scouts has been such a fun thing for Hannah (and I).

She has really hit it off with this group of girls and it thrills me to see her growing up and learning how to cultivate friendships, and experience new things with these girls like her first sleepover.

She had a great time and it was a special day for us both.

An Unexpected Trip to Disneyland And A Visit With Aunt Tania & Uncle Nick

A while back we found out that Mr. H's sister Tania, and her husband Nick were going to be chaperoning the high school band (Nick is the band director) on a trip to California from Boise.  They were only going to be here throughout the weekend and the only day we maybe could have seen them was Saturday.
But that day they would be chaperoning the kids at Disneyland from 9am-10pm,  and since we don't have Disney passes, and we are about to move into our new house in 13 days (!!!!!), we just couldn't justify spending the money on tickets to the park for the day.  We were so bummed that Tania and Nick were going to be so close and hated to miss them.  And then days before they told us they had 4 extra tickets and we could use them if we wanted.

We were thrilled.  We didn't tell the girls until that morning because they were out a little later the night before at their Father/Daughter Dance and we wanted them to get as much rest the night before as they possibly could.  Sunday we knew Hannah and I had to leave the house by 8:30am to be in LA all day with her Daisy Troop, and we did not want to push our luck adding Disneyland into the mix on Saturday.  

Needless to say, the girls were thrilled when we told them our plans Saturday morning.
We got ready quick, packed up some snacks, and left the house without any expectations...

We got there about 9:30am and Tania and Nick met us at the gate.

Poor Nick was at the hospital the night before with one of the students who fainted after getting dehydrated.  He didn't get back to his hotel room until 4:30am!!  And they were woken up at 6am.  He didn't complain once and I said he certainly earned trooper of the year award!!!

There was definitely a lot of people at the park, and I was worried going on a Saturday that it might be just craziness, but for whatever reason we had no trouble with long lines or crowds.  We can't believe how smoothly the day went at Disney, again!

We tried to do the popular things right away before lines got too long.
Nick and Tania hadn't been to Disneyland since 1999! So we let them lead the way and they wanted to hop onto Pirates of the Carribean.

Next we did Big Thunder Mountain since that was closed the day we came in November.
Claire was just barely tall enough to ride it,
and she DID NOT LIKE IT.
Hannah was not really a fan either.

This was right after.  Poor Clairey was still trying to recover.  ;)

Watching the Star Wars show while Mr. H and Tania and Nick grabbed a Fast Pass for Space Mountain.

Next up was Jungle Cruise.

Then we all climbed up Tarzan's treehouse.

And then it was time for lunch.
We ate just after noon at this little cafe right next to Pirates.
The food was pretty good.  Mr. H had black bean cakes and I had a yummy salad with artichoke hearts and feta and pecans and other yummy stuff.  The girls split a kids meal and we had lots of pickles. Because who doesn't like pickles?
After lunch we went to The Haunted Mansion.  
We waited in line for about 20 minutes and that was the longest line we stood in all day.  

Tea cups after lunch anyone?  hahaha.

We tried the line to see the Frozen princesses a couple of times but it was always at least a two hour wait.  No way.  Maybe in a few months when the hype has calmed down a bit.

At 2:30 Mr. H and Tania and Nick headed back to Space Mt. to use their Fast Pass, and I took the girls to sit down at a theater to see a show.  They loved it.

Next up was Dole Whips in the Tikki Room.  

Those things are so delicious.

Mr. H and his sis.  

Oh and I was there too, in case you needed to see for yourself.  :)

It was getting close to 5pm, and we decided to head towards the exit since Hannah and I had such an early/busy day on Sunday.

When we got to Main St. we realized the Parade was about to start, and we just so happened to be standing in the perfect place for the girls to see.  So we stuck around for that.

I'm so glad we did, because just like last time, the girls LOVED it.

Claire was in heaven after Ariel waved and blew kisses at her.

And they couldn't get enough of the dancing princesses right in front of them.

And they giggled with excitement when Rapunzel came floating by with her tower.

So glad the timing worked out for that!

We said our goodbyes to Aunt Tania and Uncle Nick and started to make our way toward the exit when we were all drawn in to this neat American patriotic ceremony that was taking place.

First they were asking any US Service Men and Women to come forward when they called out their division, and then the Nationial Anthem was sung.  

Then the lowered the flag until later that night and we watched it come down, and watched as the men and women stood and saluted.

And then we got to watch the folding of the flags.

So very cool!

What a neat thing to get to watch.

And on that patriotic note, we decided to head into the Lincoln Memorial theater since Mr. H nor I had ever been in there before.

The girls were impressed looking at The Capitol building.

We only had to wait a few minutes before the next 15 minute showing of the tribute to President Lincoln.

It was neat, and we were glad to stop in to see it.

It even held the girls attention the whole time.  

What a fun and perfect day we unexpectedly got to spend with family.
We got home around 6:30, drove thru our favorite Miguel's for dinner and then got the girls showered and in bed for another busy day to come.