ROAD TRIP - DESTINATION AMERICAN GIRL!!!

In July a new store opened in Lynnwood, Washington. My girlfriend and I were very excited as we had been to this store in LA on a couple of vacation trips to that area. We thought it would be kind of neat to now experience it through the eyes of a child and as Dakotah my granddaughter is now 7 and the perfect age for this type of store, we talked about taking her when we went. On the last weekend in September my girlfriend Loretta's husband Robert offered to take us all on a road trip to visit the new AMERICAN GIRL store just outside of Seattle. The weather forecast was pretty grim all week and much to our amazement, when we set off at shortly after 7 am on Friday morning it wasn't raining...bonus! We got through the Douglas border crossing very quickly and were on our way!

Above is Dakotah buckled into her car seat, car seats are the law in Canada until the children are about 9 years old. Our first stop we decided would be Joanne's fabric store, much of our fabric stores have vanished and it is always nice to browse the fabrics at Joanne's. We were a bit early and the store wasn't opened yet so we stopped at Starbucks and Missy D had their version of an egg McMuffin and promptly lost one of her baby teeth....the picture below shows her holding it. Uncle Robert patiently showed her his phone which has GPS on it and assured her that the tooth fairy would be able to find us using the GPS...very important stuff to a seven year old!!

Joanne's finally opened and we spent some time checking out the Halloween isles, great fun!

Auntie Retta was suddenly scared...lololol...spiders and noises and scary masks...

And then we arrived at the store. It was huge, we weren't expecting something of this size as it is a "Bistro" store. But it surprised us by it's size. Everything is laid out on one floor so it is easy to get around and keep track of everything and everyone. I had a very sore knee which for some reason was making me rather slow getting around and Uncle Robert volunteered to be Dakotah's shadow as she darted from here to there all over the store (thank you Robert...)

A/G is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year and above are the mini dolls they have put out to commemorate the special year. We had considered them....until we got near the 18 inch girls and that idea flew out the window...

A/G introduced two new girls to their product line this summer and both are gorgeous with stunning clothing. I think the Marie Grace one is also a new face mold. It was very hard to leave her in the store as she is so cute.

Dakotah bounced from display to display, it is a doll lovers paradise....she didn't know what she liked the best. I told her I would buy her a doll of her very own as part of her Christmas present...and then began the hunt for the perfect doll for her. So many choices...she finally decided on one of the girls of today rather than a historical because she loves to do their hair. She loved Marie Grace but she had an intricate braid across the back of her hair and Dakotah didn't think if she got her she would ever want to take it out and she really wants to do the hair so we found one that she can do that.

This was her final choice, I think it is #35.

Here Dakotah and Auntie Retta examine the dolls, Auntie Retta has the best "eye" for picking out dolls and having them be perfect without a wonky eye or bald spot or something!

Kaya's camp especially the log fire really fascinated Dakotah

And here is our very patient and kind driver/kid chaser/luggage helper/ and all around good guy, Robert who never got to browse the mall or get his coffee as he stayed and helped us out while we were in the store.

Dakotah and her new doll, her very first American Girl

We went out to dinner and of course the dolls had to come too!

This is the display booth they had set up for Kanani, American Girl of the year whose story line takes place in Hawaii. We took along the Royal City Record newspaper as they have a section they often post travel photos in if you take their paper along. I submitted the photo but so far it hasn't been printed.

To our absolute amazement, as we drove down to Lynnwood the temperatures soared upward and not only did we not have the predicted rain but by the time we arrived it was in the 80's and balmy tropical breezes were blowing. We heard it was a tropical front from Hawaii that had come in and it sure felt like we were in Hawaii or someplace other than the Pacific North West land of rain and wind...lol  The Best Western Alderwood where we stayed kindly let Dakotah take a dip in the pool...I say kindly because I am sure the pool is probably closed for the season by the end of September and there were painters working in the area however they were very sweet and let her have a swim.

Our first day at the store was Friday and it was very quiet because it was a school day. Dakotah luckily was enjoying a professional development day and her school was closed, timing is everything. Being the store was quiet we got to see everything and do everything, Dakotah and Uncle Robert had a blast with this door...it revolved and they went round and round...the next day at the store was so busy you couldn't do anything remotely close to that....

I had Dakotah try on the Kanani dress as she is part Polynesian much like Kanani the girl of the year...in truth I wanted to check out their sizing because at some point I would like to get her this dress, she looked so sweet in it....

Thanks for taking us Auntie Retta and Uncle Robert!!! It was another fabulous trip and treat of an outing!