Do you remember last summer when we drove to Kansas City to visit the American Girl store? If I had become pregnant during that trip, I would be preparing to give birth right about now!
Coincidentally, St. Louis is currently preparing for the grand opening of their very first American Girl store! On Saturday morning, the front door will open, and hundreds of American Girls will fly out!
Fun Fact: If you enter an American Girl store and purchase a baby plus all of the things the baby will need (high chair, bed, clothes, etc.), you will spend more money than Jeff and I did when we welcomed Meredith into the world! And that included a five day hospital stay! (Okay. We had good insurance. But still!)
ANYWAY, because Meredith and Harper love the American Girl dolls, books, and movies, they were absolutely thrilled when the new St. Louis store was announced. They were even MORE thrilled when we were invited to be test customers at the American Girl Bistro this afternoon. (Get this: I picked the girls up from school almost two hours early to eat at the bistro. That is NOT the kind of mom I am! I schedule their dentist appointments on days when there is no school! What are you doing to me, American Girl?)
We arrived at the store early enough to do a bit of browsing before we ate.
(The bistro was running about 45 minutes behind on the reservations, so we actually had time to do a LOT of browsing before we ate. As you can tell by Harper’s face, we didn’t mind a bit.)
(Please know that I’m really not liking Flickr’s new photo editing options. I’m no good at it! Argh! But back to my story!)
Check it out. This is McKenna. She is the Girl of the Year for 2012, and she’s a gymnast, and she has a really amazing purple loft bed, and she’s injured.
(Because Harper’s heart bleeds (and rejoices!) when anyone is suffering from a bum wheel, we actually came home with a set of American Girl crutches this afternoon. They will go very well with the American Girl wheelchair that Harper purchased last summer. I’m not kidding about this.)
The six of us (four humans, two dolls) were eventually seated, and it was 100% heartwarming (and slightly weird, but you just have to go with it) when the girls’ dolls were treated like real people. (When the server brought our drinks, she brought teacups for the dolls and mentioned that they looked thirsty. This is when I began to cry. (Not really.) (But almost.))
We started our meal with a curly fry appetizer. (We had ordered fruit kebobs, but when the server brought fries, it almost seemed like she knew us better than we know ourselves. Sure, we pretend to want fruit, but really? Yes. The fries hit the spot.)
I decided to go with the afternoon tea platter as my meal option, mainly because I’m a sucker for meals served on a tower with a pot of steaming chai.
The bottom layer? Fruit kebob and yogurt. In the middle? Two cheese and tomato star sandwiches and a tiny bowl filled with the best macaroni and cheese I’ve had in a long time. On top? A chocolate chip cookie, a brownie, and a cupcake. Perfection.
When Meredith finished her meal, she proclaimed it to be the best meal she has had in her life. In her LIFE!
On the way home, Harper said that today was the greatest day ever.
The grand opening is Saturday. I highly recommend the macaroni. (And the crutches.) ‘ ‘ ‘text/javascript’>
that looks like SO MUCH FUN! I’m sure Bel will be begging for a trip of her own in a few years (she’d go now, if I let her, but I think we’ll hold out for awhile longer).
1. Look at your sassypants girls in front of that store. That looks AWESOME and I’m a little jealous.
2. I have boys, and I don’t think they’d put up with that. In fact, though I love their rowdiness, I’m getting tired of the din and destruction.
3. That was the best day ever, I’m positive.
4. Apropos of nothing, I just knit a chicken that is 1 inch tall. It’s smaller even than American Girl scale, but you know, you could make them slightly bigger and then the AGs would have pets.
Aw, what a great day for the girls. My little girl just turned 5, and I have yet to introduce her to AG. I’m glad to know when the time is right we can visit STL because it’s half the distance of Chgo. In other news, I got a pedicure and re-joined WW last night. In my absence, my husband took our daughter to the mall for a $48 Build A Bear. What’s the occasion? There wasn’t one. Can you imagine him getting loose inside AG? Sigh. We’ll have to sell the house.
I love this so much. I’m not even a doll person. I sometimes buy a Barbie because I think she looks blatantly sexual on purpose (Hello? Roller Girl Barbie!), but I was never the type to play with dolls. But this? This is so cute it hurts my teeth.
One of my girls is fascinated by injury as well. We have the wheelchair and the “feel better kit” which has crutches, a leg cast, an arm cast, and an ice pack. Her doll always looks like she’s been to war or something.
You are so lucky to have been invited to be test guests! As you know, Emma, too is a little too obsessed with injury, burns, amputations. Makes me feel a little better that she’s not the only one. What a fabulous photo of all of you at the table!
Adorable! Just made reservations at the Dallas American Girl as a side trip while we’re on vacation, but excited to have one closer to home in STL.
Is it heartless of me to admit that reading this made me look down and thank the metal crimping things that block my tubes?
When I read this –
“The bistro was running about 45 minutes behind on the reservations, so we actually had time to do a LOT of browsing before we ate.”
– I immediately told my computer screen, “Oh, sure. They were ‘running behind.’ These stores know what they’re doing! They WANTED you to browse. That’s how they get you! The longer you browse the more you buy!”
What is wrong with me? Cynicism is eating my heart away! But what’s left is loving this whole thing. What a fun day!
I’m stoked that they’re opening this store mainly because Marley has been begging for an American Girl doll for the past three years and we’re finally going to get her one. But this way it won’t require a trip to Chicago or KC.
As a 3-boy household, we are all super heroes all the time. I adore my rowdy rapscallions (you know I do!) but I must admit that like Stephanie this entry makes me jealous!
Just thinking out loud here… why isn’t there a Marvel Super Hero cafe and store somewhere that my family could visit?
Wow! What a cool day!
My almost-10-year-old is begging for an American Girl doll for her birthday. I’ve denied my daughters the joy of owning AG dolls thus far because every! single! doll that comes into our house ends up naked in a matter of hours (I don’t think I’ll ever know why), and bald in a matter of days. (They both want to be “Hair Cuttery Ladies” when they grow up.) After all the money we’ve wasted on Build-a-Bear attire, most of which is crammed into a shoebox that never sees the light of day, I’ve established very specific criteria for them to meet before joining the AG family: Grow up, get married, produce offspring, and keep offspring alive, accounted for, clothed, and unshaved until I’m satisfied they’re ready for the responsibility of taking care of their things. Then *MAYBE* Santa will bring them each an AG doll. I’d still have to think about it…
What a wonderful treat for the girls! This makes me miss my own American Girl fanatic. She turns twenty next week…I absolutely, flat out refused to get rid of her 3 AG dolls and the two extra large totes full of accessories…someday, let’s hope in the not too near future, she’ll be able to pass them on to her own daughter. She is now living on the opposite coast going to college. Maybe I’ll take her a doll or two when I go visit….hmmm
Sweet Sassyfats: Until she received these dolls, she truly was not much of a “doll” girl. Barbies never really did anything for her. She and her friends played w/ these dolls for years!
Your wonderful day makes my heart sing.
That is fantastic! Gift cards for all occasions!! And…there goes all your money…….
As a woman who spent hours and hours tracking down Playmobil crutches and a wheelchair, I’m delighted that you own such toy items. Yay for American Girl with her disability awareness! (I can only hope she has cool spoke covers like we do (on our real wheelchair, not the Playmobil one. It had no spoke covers, cool or otherwise. Shoddy.))
<–has always wanted to buy a doll that looks just like her
I just had a great time! Thanks for taking me along. And I would eat anything from one of those plate towers, too.