Tea Time for Maggie

On Monday Grandma Max, Grandma Stock, Mommy, and Maggie all went to Chicago to take Maggie and her American Girl, Beauty (named after Sleeping Beauty), to the American Girl Store for a hair re-style and an afternoon tea. We had so much fun and certainly filled our day with not only American Girl stuff, but lots of fun stuff!

We left Angola at 6:30 a.m. (forgetting it was 5:30 a.m. in Chicago) and arrived in the city at about 10:00 (actually 9:00). We walked a few blocks down Michigan Avenue to the American Girl Store. Upon entering, all of the adults commented on how amazing it was that it wasn't crowded at all (hmm. . .). We checked Beauty in at the hair salon and went shopping while we waited about 15 minutes for her turn to get her hair styled. Maggie picked out a beautiful dance costume for her doll (see below) and also some accessories for her doll to bake cookies (thanks Grandma Stock!). We also picked out a potty seat for Molly's bitty baby doll.

Then it was Beauty's turn to get her hair done. . . Maggie had so much fun watching her as Beauty sat in her very own salon chair! The stylist took her job very seriously and wanted to make sure Maggie (Beauty's Mommy) was okay with everything she was doing to Beauty's hair. She trimmed a few stray hairs, put the braids in, and Maggie got to pick the ribbons out! When she was done getting the hair done, Maggie had to sign her name to get her doll back.

After our first stop at the American Girl Store (we would be back for tea), we took a taxi (Maggie's first) to Navy Pier. Navy Pier was not very crowded yet (we STILL didn't realize why!) We were a little hungry so we decided to grab a bite to eat for lunch. We checked out a few restaurants (why was everything closed? . . . this is when we finally realized it was only 10:30 a.m. So we went and bought our tickets for the Children's Museum and looked around in their store for a little while while we waited for the restaurants to open. We grabbed a quick lunch, decided to take a ride on the merry go round and Ferris wheel outside before heading back in to the Chicago Children's Museum.

We hadn't really heard much about the Chicago Children's Museum, but is was great. The first Monday of every month it is free (and the only Monday it is open), so it was packed, but we had a great time. Here is Maggie enjoying the dinosaur dig area at the museum.

After the museum, we took a quick break at the Hershey's Chocolate Shop, stopped by the Disney Store, and then headed back to the American Girl Store for the 4:00 tea. The bistro was so cute with black and white striped walls, white table cloths and hot pink accents. We had little tea sandwiches and delicious desserts. Maggie even had her own tea pot! We had a really great time, but were exhausted after a very long and busy day. We arrived back in Angola at about 10:00 p.m. and all slept very well!