The American Girl Experience

This weekend I had the pleasure of hosting the Kelly family once again in NYC. This time instead of staying in a hotel they stayed with me! It was a flying trip for them and their main goal for coming was to take their older daughter, Samantha to the American Girls store to buy her very own American Girl doll. I was really excited because as a little girl I always dreamed of owning my own American Girl doll. I would dog ear the catalog whenever I got it. Back then they only had a handful of dolls, each with a time period and story and I went back and forth about which girl I'd pick if I could ever have one. Sadly I never could but its ok. Now there are more girls with stories and lots lots more accessories and you can get a doll that looks like you to have.

My guests arrived Friday night really late and we got them settled in and parked pretty quickly and got to bed around 2. Saturday morning we got up as early as we could stand and I made breakfast and coffee to get us started. After eating we headed out to American Girls. We spent some time finding the perfect doll and looking around the store. They have a salon where you can bring your doll to have a new hair do and a cafe where you can have a special luncheon with your doll. After Samantha picked her doll we headed to Lego. We did a quick walk-through because the Lego store is so small and always crowded. Next we headed to FAO Schwartz. We spent lots more time here browsing and finding toys for Jared and Olivia. Jared chose an orangutan and some lego kits and Olivia got a stuffed owl.

After all this we stopped for a snack and a break outside FAO Schwartz. We were feeling really tired after that late night and long day of shopping. We headed to the subway and decided to go home and make some supper, trying to keep things affordable for everybody. Halfway home though, Brett and Jessica decided they wanted to at least SEE Coney Island and Nathan's hot dogs sounded awfully good. We took the train all the way there and got a delicious feast of hot dogs and corn dogs and fries. Then we took a moment to take in the boardwalk and then decided we'd definitely had enough and headed home. It was an early bedtime for everyone once we got back.