Posted in My Kids

I don't remember when I first heard about the American Girl Place, but I know I have been planning a trip there, in my mind, for a very long time.  One of the FUN things we did while I was having time away was take a trip to Los Angeles and visit the American Girl Place.

Here are some of the highlights from our very special day!

Here we are arriving.
My 4 year old wanted to walk us to the door and for me to take his Bitty Baby Brother as my guest for the day!  (Yes, we are in to Bitty Baby's too!  We actually have 4 of them.  My daughter got her 1st one when on the day her baby brother was born.  Then she got the blond twins for her 3rd birthday and the brunette girl for her 4th birthday.  We split the twin set with some friends that year.  Now that her brother is older she gave the boy twin to him so they can play together.  He LOVES his baby brother doll!) My husband took the boys to the La Brea Tar Pit while we were having our girl time.  So they boys had a fun day too!

Here we are ready to enter!

This is the medallion in front of the store.
It reads: American Girl celebrates a girls inner star. That little whisper that encourages her to stand tall, reach high and dream big.

Here we are finally inside! 
Here we check out the Just Like You dolls.  I wish I had taken video to capture all the bouncing up and down my daughter did! LOL

Then we checked out the Julie display downstairs. 
This is the newest Historical doll in the American Girl Collection.  She is from 1974!  (More on this later!  LOL)

Next we visited the Doll Hair Salon
Yep, they have a doll hair salon!  LOL

Here is Felicity getting her hair done.

I think this would be the perfect job for me when my kids are grown!  LOL

Here is Felicity with her new do!

Now it is time to go upstairs!
Upstairs each of the girls have their own room.  The first room we came to was Felicity's.  This was very exciting since Felicity is the doll my daughter got for Christmas.

Here my daughter poses with Felicity's horse.

Next we visited Julie's room.
This was very fun for me because the night before we went to the American Girl Place I realized that Julie and I are the same age!  LOL  She is 10 years old in 1974 and I would have been 9 years old in 1974.  I am not too sure how I feel about being the same age as a "Historical" doll, but I had LOTS of fun looking at her room!  There were two other Mom's in the room when we visited and it turned out we were all born in 1965!  We had a lot of fun looking at all the "Historical" items and laughing!

Here I am in Julie's room
This was pretty much my favorite thing they had there.  Each of the girls had a display window like this that was set up as a vignette of the period.  The coolest thing was in each one there was a "window" you could look out.  In the window there was a video playing of what would have been going on outside.  So for Julie's window you saw 1974 San Francisco.  For Felicity you saw 1774 Williamsburg with horses going by.  For Kaya you were actually looking out the flap of the Tee Pee and saw horses and the cooking fire.  It was soooooo awesome!  Julie's window was set up to look like you were in her Mom's Store in San Francisco.  It was so fun showing my daughter authentic ponchos, pet rocks, lava lamps, fuzzy foot rugs, smiley face cups and macrame!  They certainly captured my childhood!

Here is my daughter checking out what things were like in Mom's day!


One last pose with "my" girl!
I am sure I had that same outfit in 1974! LOL  I would have loved to have brought Julie home with ME!

Now for lunch at the cafe!
According to the menu the women who started American Girl first had the idea when she was a child.  Her Mother took her into the city to go to the symphony.  Before the symphony they went to a very formal cafe for lunch.  From that time on she dreamed of a special place for Mother's and Daughter's to share a very special experience.  I can tell you her dream came true!  I have eaten in many fancy places in my ABC TV days.  Nothing topped this!  We were treated like royalty!  We were served 4 course.  Hot cinnamon rolls, fruit and veggies, our entree and dessert.  Everything was perfect!  The decor, the table cloths, napkins, china, food.

They even had special chairs and a tea set for our dolls!

Here is baby brother enjoying his tea
This picture you can best see the decor.  Everything was black, white and bright pink!

Lunch is served!
My daughter said I had to post this one.  She was very hungry and rolling her eyes at me for making her pose for "another" picture before she ate!  LOL  It is not easy being my kid!

My salad
This was the best salad!  It had chicken, goat cheese, cranberry's and pumpkin bread croutons with raspberry dressing.  Those croutons were amazing!  My daughter and I plan to try to make some one of these days!

Time for BIRTHDAY CAKE!
The reason for this visit was to celebrate my daughters 7th Birthday.  She doesn't actually turn 7 until February 25th.  But, this was a good time for us to make a trip to Los Angeles.  I had told her awhile back that she could choose this year between a BIG birthday party or going to American Girl Place in Los Angeles.  She had NO trouble making this decision!  LOL

Okay, there is A LOT more to tell you about our special day, but since this post is getting really loooooong, I will post the rest tomorrow.


Click HERE to read part 2 of our day at the American Girl Place.