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.