Reese's 6th birthday meant it was time for a destination celebration. And Reese knew exactly where she wanted to go. Just like her older sister before her, Reese wanted to ring in her new year at the American Girl store in Chicago. Thankfully, Reese's birthday trip to Chicago did not have the same dramatic start that Callie's did when we had forgotten to book a hotel room and left our American Girl birthday package tickets at home. This time we were even able to walk to the store.
Although the American Girl doll activities had a little bit of a change up from our last visit three years ago, our first order of business was selecting Reese's birthday doll. Unlike her sister, who got one of the decade dolls, Reese had her eyes set on Lea, the girl of the year. Lea certainly seems to match Reese's personality since she is an explorer with an adventurous spirit.
A new activity this time around was designing custom t-shirts for you and your doll. Both Reese and Callie got in the game on this one. Needless to say, our trip this time around was a little bit more expensive because Callie was aware of the opportunities and sought to capitalize on them. Three years ago, Reese was just happy to be in the store with her sister.
They still do lunch right at American Girl. Reese and Callie were joined at the table by their respective dolls and John and Sarah were joined at the table by their respective glasses of wine. It made the experience for everyone. We also were very happy to yet again get a table on the outer edge of the room by the window.
The birthday cake they brought out was bigger than Reese's head, but she loved the attention. We didn't skimp on any of the birthday trappings, which mean that the girls got birthday gift bags, hats, and much much more.
John consistently provides evidence of his great approach to fatherhood. He truly enjoys spending time with the girls and is willing to take these adventures in stride and not be a naysayer. In short, he put his Major Dreamkiller persona aside for the day and went with the flow. This meant he spent multiple hours at the American Girl doll store, an experience he did not think he would have to go through more than once.
Of course we could not send Lea out into the world with her out of the box hairdo. Reese knew that the American Girl doll store had a beauty salon and could not wait to get her opportunity to dictate Lea's fashion. She's even talked about going back to get Lea's ears pierced. We had to draw the line somewhere. As you can see from this picture, Reese soaked up the experience.
Another great thing about the timing of Reese's birthday is that we got to enjoy Chicago during the Christmas season. One of the places we knew we wanted to go was the Christkindlmarket in downtown. The market has all sorts of booth selling ornaments and other trinkets. It was a very cold day and even started to snow, but it was a lot of fun.
One of the highlights was the hot cider and mulled wine they sold in commemorative mugs. The girls enjoyed the cider, especially Reese, since she is more of our hot beverage aficionado. We must admit it was quite crowded, which didn't put her father in the best of spirits. However, a moment that brought us all back to reality was when we were fighting the crowds to see on particular vendor and Reese dropped and broke her mug. This set of a bit of a meltdown, to which the crowd responded with a great deal of sympathy. Fortunately Reese eventually recovered and we still made it home with three mugs.
The day was not over, though, and we walked the streets of downtown while snow was falling and the Christmas spirit was in the air. We found a great tavern for dinner and slid our way on the sidewalks back to the hotel. At the end of a long and action-packed day the girls were still in good form, smiling and enjoying their matching t-shirts with Lea and Julie.
We had planned to leave in the afternoon on Sunday, but the forecast for heavier snowfalls forced a change in plans. It did not stop us, however, from getting up early and finding another great breakfast place in the city. We walked around a little bit, visited our friend the Bean, and bid farewell until our next visit to the Windy City. It has always treated us well.
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