American Girls...

In birthday celebration, the girls took an afternoon to experience The American Girl Place...and an experience it was! Kate loved helping cousin Ali push her bitty baby complete with stroller to the store. Little did she know that she would soon have one of her own to push! Kate loves baby dolls, and she was in heaven. She would gather up every baby she found and push them around, soothe them, give them a bottle...she set a new "Oh my gosh!" record as she ran from car seat...to crib...to outfit...to diaper bag..to ____(fill in the blank with any baby item you can think of). We walked around the store at least 20 times, and every time I was in as much amazement as she was. After lunch, seasoned store vetran, cousin Josie, took her doll down to the Doll Beauty Salon to have her hair fashionably styled while we finished looking around. The place is complete with a doll hospital, photo studio, live theatre, and Cafe, where we had late lunch reservations. It was like a real life tea party! Each of the girls had their own seats, and there was a high chair for each of their babies to sit right next to them. There were teacups and saucers for the dolls, but a new realm of amazement was achieved when Kate had to go potty. Each stall is equpped with a doll-sized harness/seat system so you can keep that baby safe and sound while you tinkle! The traffic out of Los Angeles was a horrible pain when it was time to leave, but it was well worth it when those truly precious moments came--like when the man at the airline gate-checked Kate's little stroller for her, and then the look on Doug's face at the airport when he first spotted Kate pushing her stroller right next to mommy pushing Jessa's stroller. Kate broke into a run (while pushing the stroller) as soon as she saw daddy, but got so excited she tripped over it and fell. Luckily daddy was there to scoop her right up, and Jessa squealed in delight. It's always nice to come home.