An all-American (Girl) birthday

As I've mentioned here already (probably several times!), we took Maggie to the American Girl store in Atlanta to celebrate her "real" birthday last Monday. She is very into the AG Bitty Baby doll and loves pouring over each catalog she receives. (The funny thing is that she's not at all into the bigger dolls yet - she skips right over their pages in the catalog, going straight to the end, where the Bitty Baby stuff is, and she didn't give the big dolls a second glance when we visited the store.)

But first things first ... there were gifts to open at home before we hit the road! Maggie's gifts from us included a set of Sleeping Beauty action figures, a couple of pairs of pj's, some books, and a stuffed Bolt.

We had 1 p.m. reservations at the Bistro and arrived nearly an hour early. Maggie and Bitty Baby were so excited!!





We thought she'd go straight for the store, but no ... she spotted this gorgeous carousel a floor above the store and wanted to ride it. You can't say no on a birthday, right??





I loved the carousel's vivid colors ...

... but Maggie just loved riding it!

After two rides, we headed for Mecca. Maggie loved playing with some of the toys, including this doll bathtub.

When I made our reservation, I told them we were celebrating Maggie's fifth birthday. They remembered (or, more likely, the information was entered into their reservation system) ... right down to our server addressing her by name! It really made Maggie feel special! They also gave her a birthday sticker and a little certificate, and since she was so young, they brought her a special menu for younger girls.

I think Maggie got a bigger kick out of the bistro than she did the store itself. Everything in the bistro is geared toward girls and their dolls. Small AG-sized high chairs attach to the tables, and our server brought Bitty Baby her own small dishes and tiny muffin. Even the appetizers, which are included with adult meals, were dainty -- I chose a fruit tray, and Bobby had pretzel bread. (Click on the collage below to see a larger image. Or maybe not ... I hate Blogger and photos sometimes.)

Maggie posed for this picture while we were waiting for our food. The "crown" she's wearing is actually made up of our three paper napkin rings.

After our meal, they brought Maggie this special birthday sundae and sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

Once we finished at the Bistro, we headed back out into the store. Maggie had received quite a bit of birthday money, and we let her spend it at the store. I think it was a little overwhelming for her ... she loved walking around and looking at all the stuff, but she had trouble making up her mind about what to buy. She settled on a blonde-haired Bitty Twin doll (but just the girl twin) and an outfit for the doll, whom she named Addy -- short for Atlanta --- plus a toy rattle and bottle for her. She also got some stick-on earrings for Bitty Baby and Addy after discovering that the folks at the doll salon couldn't pierce BB's ears. (They will pierce the big dolls' ears, but since BB is geared toward little ones, company policy says no tiny earrings.) Perhaps one day, many years from now, Maggie and Bitty Baby can go get their ears pierced together elsewhere!

An entire corner of the store is devoted to AG books and movies. I didn't know this, but there are movies for nearly all of the bigger AG dolls, at least the ones that have historical themes. Maggie became quite engrossed in watching the Felicity movie, set in Colonial Williamsburg during the American revolution, so we bought the movie for her.

We had a wonderful day, and the best part was, of course, spending the whole day together with our sweet five-year-old. Happy birthday, Maggie! We love you!!