American Girl Doll Store Day 1!

Well we just got back last night from the trip of Hailey's life!! Hailey, myself, and my mom went to Los Angeles, CA for the last 5 days. Why you might ask. To go to Disneyland? No. The Beach? No. To go to a doll store! But not just any doll store as you will see if you manage to make it through all my posts!

A little history: My Grandma started the obsession out by giving Hailey a Bitty Baby by American Girl Dolls when she was 1. Then Karis came along and got one and then Ella and then Sadie and well you get the picture. The girls loved their dolls so much that their gifts often centered around the dolls. You would not believe the adorable doll clothes you can get for a Bitty Baby. So cute....and they come with shoes and accessories. Of course my Mom helped out too! She bought doll furniture and more clothes. So now that Hailey is 5 she has been playing with these dolls and their clothes for years. (And a little plug here- the dolls have held up better than any other dolls we own and they have been played with the most!) When Hailey turned 5 she got the Bitty Baby with hair which is like the next step before the big doll.

OK enough history.....except for a couple months ago my Mom told Hailey she was taking her to LA to the store and Hailey literally had a countdown going. I have never seen her so into anything or so excited. So the big day FINALLY came. We left E-burg around 7 and she had her doll's clothes packed and her in the carrier ready to go. We drove to Seattle, parked the car, and made it on the plane. (I frankly think my family members are all quite shocked we made it around LA by ourselves with no major mishaps.) (And if you are wondering Scott stayed home with the little girls- although they did get to take a big fun trip to Prosser to see Grandpa Hoefer and many other Hoefers!)

Hailey did great on the plane. I was so nervous that her ears would hurt but the tubes must have worked well because she never complained. She said, "Yippee!" as the plane took off because Scott told her that's what he did when he was a little boy. She also kept wanting to call Karis to tell her where we were. It was really sweet for Scott and I to both see how much the girls missed each other and wanted to talk to the other so much. So we made it to LA and took a cab to our hotel. We loved our hotel- I will post that later. As soon as we got settled we went to the store. Oh and this will be another post too but we used public transportation the whole time (the bus) and I have some hilarious stories to tell about that.

Hailey all day asked when we would get to the store....it was a long wait for her but we finally made it and she was in heaven!! Seriously it is amazing. Two huge floors of dolls, clothes, and furniture, along with several other things I will post about later. The first thing she wanted to do was pick out a big doll. We had originally thought we would wait on this until she was older but she loves to play with the hair so much on her little doll and she takes such good care of her we thought why not let her have one now. The longer hair is much easier to play with and some of her little friends had one so I figured maybe she wasn't too young. So after MUCH deliberation she decided to get the "Girl like you" doll. They have historical dolls and look-alike dolls. She chose a look-alike and one of the sales girls helped her decide which one looked the most like her. I think there are like 25 choices! So she finally chose one and named her Madi after her middle name Madison. Cute. She was so thrilled.

We spent the rest of the evening walking around the store and then we had to hit the rest of the mall. It was an amazing outdoor mall called The Grove with some great stores and a huge fountain that actually danced to the music. Then we went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner where Hailey ordered her first of many meals that she only partially ate. Oh the joys of children and restaurants. I of course managed each time to eat all my food.

We went back to the hotel and got into bed preparing for another fun day at the doll store!