Two Very American Girls

Abbie and Daisy have been saving their tokens (rewards they earn for good behavior, extra chores, good deeds, etc.) for nearly a year to buy American Girl dolls. Tripp suggested that we take them on a trip to the American Girl Doll store in California to pick out their dolls (mommy was all for ordering them through the mail). I was a little worried that Abbie would have a tough time choosing a doll...she struggles with decisions...and would miss out on all the fun of the store. The day finally arrived that we were planning on going to the California. Early that morning the doorbell rang and this is what we found outside the door....

two beautiful American Girl Twins waiting for the girls! In fact, it was the twins that belong to our dear friends Emma & Susannah Boyle. These darling young women are the ones who introduced Abbie and Daisy to American Girl Dolls and always kindly allowed the girls to play with their dolls when babysitting them at their house. As Abbie would say, they "Doorbell Donged" us and left the dolls for our girls with a sweet note about how the dolls wanted to come live at our house and visit the American Girl Store with us. Abbie and Daisy were in complete shock with their mouths hitting the floor. They couldn't move. I finally told them to go pick up their new dolls.
They loved those dolls all day and night...carrying them absolutely everywhere. We couldn't ask for sweeter friends than cute Emma and Susannah.
We left for L.A. later that day. Tripp booked a fancy hotel for the girls to make a trip a little special. He even let them order ice cream in the room before bed.
The next morning the kids brought their dolls to breakfast the the darling staff found a table for all of us to sit at and even gave the dolls cups and saucers for their "tea".
After arriving at The Grove, we took a minute to stop and watch the beautiful fountain before diving into the American Girl shop. I thought the girls might struggle with their choices but Daisy went right to Julie and was ready to go and Abbie looked around a tiny bit but really had her heart set on Kanani. With that, we bought the dolls and booked appointments for photos and hair appointments and started looking around for clothes.
After shopping for clothes and books (we read in the library for awhile and picked out a couple of books) we took a break and tried our first Pinkberry. Yum.

Then it was back for final choices on outfits (both girls earned extra tokens to buy some clothes with) and hair appointments for each doll. So fancy.


It was a beautiful day so we decided to sit outside in the park for awhile and wait for our tea time. Of course our dolls needed some fresh air as well.

Tea was pretty cute. The girls didn't love the food but they did love having their dolls right up at the table with us and having miniature tea sets to use with them. Super fun. It was a great way to end the day. Daddy totally got suckered into the entire affair and we left the store with an extra bike, snow cone stand and outfit I told the girls they had to ask for at a birthday or Christmas time. I have to love that daddy loves his girls though.

Both girls zonked on the drive to Paul and Laura's house. I don't remember the last time Abbie fell asleep in car. She just doesn't sleep in the car anymore so I know she was really pooped out.
At Paul and Laura's we were introduced to a new Wii game (at least to us) Dance Dance 2...or something like that. All the kids played and loved it.
Cooper is such a love. Don't get me wrong, we adore all of Paul and Laura's kids but there is just something about little Cooper. Daisy always says, "Cooper is so cute...and I am too." He just went up to Tripp and gave him a huge snuggle.
Cooper and Daisy playing their version of Connect Four.
Seth was game man. He kept getting out games and trying to talk people into playing with him. Cooper and Daisy were usually on board. Seth was always nice enough to go along with it even though they didn't usually know what was going on. He's a good seed that Seth.....
A big "Thanks" to Paul and Laura for ending our weekend on such a high note. It was a lot of fun staying with them Saturday night and it was super cool of them not to care that it was really just one night. They didn't fuss over the short trip and us just crashing after the AGS experience and trying to squeeze in a visit. We love that group....