American Girl Place, Atlanta, GA

As part of our summer's over hurrah to Atlanta, Jaime and I took the girls to American Girl Place after visiting Georgia Aquarium. I have been to American Girl Place in NYC twice and just loved it, so the day I found out I was having a little girl, I started to dream of the day I'd get to take Addie Kate. Learning they had built one this close to us, I jumped at the opportunity! (Tommy refuses to go back in that place after going to the one in NYC to get Addie Kate her first doll - he says it's entirely too pink for him!)

Unfortunately, the American Girl Place in Atlanta was quite the disappointment for me. The one in NYC is just amazing, no other word to describe it. The one in Atlanta is, basically, a store. There is a restaurant, and the restaurant is cute, but that's it. Now for Addie Kate who has never been to the one in NYC, she loved it. She loved getting her hands on all the dolls. She loved playing with all the toys (the $200 double jogging stroller especially). It was very hard for me to not buy her every single thing after seeing how much fun and joy they brought her. (That doesn't mean she won't get them all one day!)

I loved following her around the store and watching her explore everything! And I loved having our girlie little lunch there too. Addie Kate just loved the fact that her doll got to sit with her in her own high chair. She loved "feeding" her doll her own little, tiny muffin! She tried to feed her doll some of her water and all sorts of things!

Poor Addie Kate was exhausted! Bless her heart, we had numerous tantrums and I know it was nothing but exhaustion. (She had just barely started to fall asleep right as we pulled into American Girl Place!) The biggest tantrum was when she had to stop pushing the double stroller around the store so that we could eat. The second was when she took off running from me and followed a waitress into the kitchen, and proceeded to get slammed in the head with the swinging door, thus knocking her backwards! I felt so bad for her, and the waiters and waitresses were terrified, but hopefully she at least learned a lesson from it! (And then on the way home, a ridiculously awful meltdown at a McDonalds in Commerce, GA. She even crawled under a booth - ugh!)

All in all, I was delighted to be able to take her to American Girl Place and the aquarium. We had a wonderful day with great friends. I can't wait to take her to the real American Girl Place(s) in Chicago and NYC. As for aquariums, if I ever find one nicer than GA Aquarium, I'd be surprised! Regardless, I can't wait to explore them all with her anyway! Seeing the looks on her faces at all these new things is worth more than anything I can think of!

My angel baby and me having our lunch:

Addie Kate feeding her Bitty Baby:

And feeding her the muffin!