Drinking the Kool Aid

I had a hard time coming up with a title for this entry.  "A Rite of Passage", "A New Chapter", "Every Girl's Dream" all came to mind, but drinking the kool aid seemed appropriate as well.

Mecca for girls. . .and their crazed mothers.

Yesterday we trekked up to Atlanta to the AG store so Sunshine could spend the gift cards that she received for Christmas.  Luckily, I had the forethought to ask whether she wanted to shop first or have lunch first.  And even better, I booked reservations in the cafe as there was a 5 hour wait for walk ups.

AG is an amazing place for little girls.  Dolls with every hair/eye color combination smile at you from every corner.  Historical dolls have these wonderful displays & suck you in.  Sunshine's decided that Santa will be bringing her Kit next Christmas.  I guess she'll be telling GoGo about it??

 There were little girls & their dolls EVERYWHERE.  And their mothers.  And their fathers looking like they'd rather be at the Starbucks outside in the mall.  And their griping brothers who wanted to be anywhere but AG.  We had a fair amount of gift cards to spend in the store but it seemed paltry in comparison to some of these people purchasing what looked like the equivalent of their mortgage payment.

We did some preshopping online & with the catalog so Sunshine knew how much she could buy.  Unfortunately the skating outfit & ballet outfits were sold out so we're ordering them.  It's amazing how quickly things add up in there! Sunshine went back & forth between the books, the historical dolls & the clothes.  Luckily, her doll came with pierced ears & we agreed that the next time we go (see the kool aid?  Next time we go) she can have her hair done.  We finished our shopping in about 30 minutes & spent about 15 working our way through the check out line.  I was actually impressed by how quickly it moved, all things considered.

We were about 15 minutes early for our reservation so I ran our bag out to the car while Sunshine waited inside with Hunter (who has taken to using a wheelchair in malls as it's easier than hobbling around on crutches).

New AG addicts at lunch

Our lunch was fun & luckily by the time we were finished eating, the store had almost cleared out.  The volume in the restaurant had died down considerably as well.  We had a 1pm reservation so I'm thinking the next time we go, we might want to do a later reservation or maybe do tea (as Hunter's aunt suggested later when we were visiting with her & her family.  For the record, her daughter was an AG fan as well & is the proud owner of Samantha)

Sunshine, her Elizabeth doll, her mini-Felicity doll & monster ice cream sundae

While Sunshine has decided that Kit will be her next doll, she's also decided that a regular size Felicity would be nice.  You know, for Elizabeth, since they're besties & all.  You know how you can't go into Target for toilet paper w/out spending $150?  They pump the same stuff into the air at AG.  While we were at lunch, I found myself scouring Ebay looking for deals on Felicity.  I had the sense to put my phone down while I ate & enjoyed the experience.  I fully admit to searching when we got home after 9pm & may or may not have a couple auctions saved into my watch list.

Our final haul of the day?  Two mini dolls (Felicity & Kit), 2 outfits, the Every Day Play earrings set, undies & 2 outfits to be ordered.  

Sunshine wants to go back for her birthday & honestly, I think it would be great.  I'm pretty sure that Kool Aid lasts a long time!