Back to School American Girl Style

As is our normal routine, the princess and I headed out on our Back to School trip last week.  This year I decided to take on a little bit longer trip and I HAD planned to make it all a surprise.  But, in one of those moments when pure chaos was happening and my brain was feeling very overloaded (My sister and I call this whacking a mole. As soon as you get one mole whacked another one pops up until your just whacking away nonstop).  I said the wrong thing and gave the trip away.  Thankfully it was only about a week before we left, but we still endured (and I really mean endured) about 7000 questions.

We set out early Thursday morning and made our first stop in Concord to check out the back to school sales at the outlet mall.  We found a few good deals and then got back on the road.  You will notice as I relay this venture that we never spend much time in the car.  I'm pretty sure that the princess has one of the smallest bladders in the world.

We made it to the home of the giant butt, I mean peach, and stopped to have some lunch at the lovely Chick-Fil-A.  In true princess fashion she picked this stop because of their new cookies.  She plans all her meals with the possibility of what she will get for desert!  

We then set off for our final destination with a few stops at gas stations and rest areas and 7 hours later we finally arrived in Alpharetta, GA. Why, you ask, did I pick this place?  Well, it is one of the few homes of the American Girl store.  If you have no idea what this is, no worries, just think Mega Doll World!

We had a fun afternoon playing in the pool, the hot tub, walking to a nice Mexican Dinner and then hitting up Starbucks for a nightcap.  Back at the hotel we ended up in a room with a single queen bed which meant we both had to snuggle in with her dolls, stuffed animals, and other assorted items of comfort.  She, of course, loved this arrangement!

The next morning we hit up the pool again and then got ready and headed to out to the store.  What I didn't know before we got there was how much information the princess had stuck up in her head about American Girls Dolls.  As we wandered around the store she was telling me little facts about every doll we looked at.

Heading out!

Before we left I had made reservations at the Bistro that is a part of the store.  Honestly, I felt a bit weird, making reservations, but SO glad I did because the place was hopping busy!  Your doll (this is one we borrowed from the store) gets her own chair, place setting, and menu!  There was a wide range of girls in the store from a 4 year old who was sitting next to us with her grandmother to a gaggle of 12 year olds celebrating a birthday. The Bistro is set up so you pay a flat rate to eat no matter what you order.  They have fancy names for things like pizza, hot dogs, and chicken strips, and then they really have some fancy food.  I had pasta and veggies that was in some sort of wine sauce.  It was really good.

Once we got through eating lunch we went back out into the store and I had lots of fun telling the princess that she could now pick out her very own doll.  Even though we had already looked at every doll in the store and talked about the finer points of each one we had to do it all over again when she realized she would be taking one home with her.  She finally settled on the ME doll, which, as you can see, is supposed to look just you her.  Other than the freckles, this girl is a dead ringer! Her name is Clare.

After our shopping excursion we hit the car for the long drive back.  Unfortunately this time we hit a major traffic snag and spent about 90 minutes covering 4 miles of interstate just over the NC border.  The accident stopping traffic involved a beer truck that had collided with a bridge so there was beer pouring out all over the road.  By the time we got to the point of the wreck I was ready to lean out the door with a straw!

All in all we had a great couple of days, but as the princess says herself, the best part of any trip is coming home!