Ella's Day of Fun!

A few weeks ago, my mother in law told me she was going to be in charge of Ben's cousin's daughter for the day. She wanted to know if I had any suggestions for something fun to do, and if I wanted to come along. BINGO. My childhood was defined by hours spent pouring over my American Girl catalogs. I had dolls and accessories and outfits. Seriously, every single birthday and Christmas gift I received from age 5 to age 10 was American Girl. When I was a kid, they had one AG store, in Chicago. I went there once, the year it opened, right when I was borderline about to grow out of it. In years since, they have opened all over the country, including Dallas. This was my opportunity to return,  so I suggested we take Ella there! Soon, planning turned into a huge day of fun in Dallas with her!

Our first stop was the Galleria Nordstrom, after a car ride of singing Veggie Tales. Our goal was to return a few things for Ben and I, and maybe find Ella some school shoes. She loved the Toms but she was wayyyy in between sizes, so that was sad! We settled on the silver metallic saltwater sandals. :)

Then we walked through the doors of American Girl. What an overwhelmingly fun place! All the products are set up to be seen and Ella (okay, and me) ran around like crazy trying to quickly see everything and soak it in. Every picture I tried to make her pose for she looks not so happy because I was making her stop her self given tour of the store.

Our adventure at the restaurant began with picking out a doll to eat with us. Ella was blown away by this. When we tried to bless our food, she started praying herself and said "Dear God, thank you for Victoria and for Jan and for me and for getting to borrow this doll."

Before we ordered anything, the waitress brought a little cup of pink lemonade to the table "for the doll!" Ella loved this and only really drunk out of the little cup. She kept having me give it refills. :)

The menu was SO fun and presented so well for little girls. You got to choose an appetizer and a main course. We loved our appetizers of pretzel bites with cheese sauce and fruit fondue (with strawberry yogurt for dipping!) The main courses were great too, there were great kids options as well as adult options. I had a delicious chicken sandwich with avocado and a side of sweet potato fries! They had me at sweet potato fries. My drink, pictured above, was a "Strawberry Sparkler". It was strawberry and orange juice and sprite and it was so delicious and fun! Let's be real, Ella told me at one point "why do you keep saying this is so fun?" Haha!

Our last stop was Sprinkles cupcakes, another favorite, for a little treat! We got to use the cupcake ATM which Ella loved!

Moral of this blog post: Ella's day of fun OR Victoria's day of fun? Not sure. Maybe both. :) I kind of wish I was five. :) Seriously though, this trip did make me think a lot about celebrating your children's interests and it gave me a lot to think about for the future.

Do we have any American Girl fans out there? or Nordstrom? or Sprinkles? What have y'all been up to lately? :)

Happy back to school to so many precious people in my life! For the first time since I actually was five, I'm not starting school this fall. It's a weird feeling, but I'm thankful for how the Lord is working and how he is going to bless this season in His timing!

PS I don't know what is happening with these pictures and why they are showing up so grainy! I'll get to checking that out later today!