American Girls

Don’t you love this picture?  All of us are there, thanks to the mirror, but you might miss Joel if you don’t look carefully…

My girls are obsessed with American Girl.  Totally obsessed.  Before our trip to Chicago, they combed the catalogs, trying to decide what they would buy when we arrived at The American Girl Place, where all of their dreams would come true.  On the drive to Chicago, when they asked when we’d get there, they were not referring to the city, or our hotel, or anywhere but American Girl Land.

So, on our first train ride into the city, where we planned to eat “lunch” at Ghirardelli (that would be The Maestro’s obsession, or at least, one of them), they begged and begged and begged to just see The American Girl Place first.  Since Ghirardelli is a short walk away, we let them.

And we couldn’t tear them away.

Finally, the promise of really good ice cream for lunch (and not even any healthy food!)(don’t judge, we were on vacation) managed to loosen the magnetic pull of the American Girl Wonderland.

But it only lasted until the ice cream was safely in their bellies, and after that it was a marathon to see everything that is in that huge store.

This is a really bad picture….

After their first purchases were safely made, we headed back out into the real world and took the bus to The Art Institute.

Don’t worry, though.  We went back like three more times.  The girls couldn’t stand the thought of not going again.  And again.  And, well, again.

One of those times was for dinner in The American Girl Cafe.  At first we said no way in heck were we doing that because we aren’t made of money and it wasn’t cheap.  But, something told us it would not only be worth it, but that it would probably be the highlight of our vacation for the girls.  And so we bucked up and forked over the bucks.

I can’t even describe to you how amazing it all was.  While we were waiting in line to check in (reservations required), the xylophone notes were hit and the doors popped open, revealing a pink and white and black world filled with flowers and polka dots and people in pink aprons.  It literally made me cry (yes, I’m a little weird that way).

We were shown to our seats, given little chairs for our three dolls, and served our first course: Cinnamon Buns.  Mmmmmmmmm.

The table settings were too cute for words: The tiny menus, the hair pretties (we got to keep them) used as napkin rings, and the general fanciness of it all was almost too much to handle.

Trying to decide what to eat off of the menu was also a bit intimidating!  So many wonderful choices!  I ended up with salmon, Bria and Chloe ended up with pasta, Joel and my mom ordered a chicken marsala and Sophia ordered chicken strips.  All of it was excellent.

While we waited, the dolls got some tea…

…we got some yummy hot chocolate…

…and we played a question and answer game that came in the middle of the table.

Then we got some lovely appetizers to pass around.

And I didn’t take pictures anymore once our food came.  I ate and I enjoyed.  As did the rest of the table.

But then there was dessert.

Now, had I known, I might have called 3 weeks early and paid for the birthday package for Sophia, which includes some fun stuff for her doll and a beautiful cake.  But I didn’t know.  But they still put a little candle in our perfectly adorable dessert and sang to her.

Do you need a close up of that dessert and it’s cuteness?  I thought so.

We finished up, fully satisfied with the entire experience.  Totally worth it, and I highly recommend doing it if you ever have the chance!

And I’m pretty sure my American Girls would agree!