Our American (Birthday) Girl!

June 28, 2004 - the day our precious angel was born, four years ago - hard to believe. What a great birthday we all had on that Sat., June 28, 2008! Woke up to Peyton's favorite breakfast - her dad's scrambled eggs and toast - then headed out for "the city" - downtown Chicago. We got to American Girl Place about 9:30am, and good thing we did. By 10am it was already PACKED! The city was also packed that weekend with the Taste of Chicago going on, the Cubs/White Sox game, AND Gay-Pride weekend...OH MY!

Peyton was soooo cute and so funny walking around this amazing place (the doll store), as though she couldn't see it all fast enough! Soooooo many dolls and sooooo many outfits. We went in with the intention of only buying her an outfit for the new AG doll Grandma Hines had found at a garage sale, but Daddy was quite taken with the place and Peyton's reaction and decided we should buy her the 2008 doll - Mia, Girl of the Year - .....and some outfits for her! We spent about an hour and half in the store and then made our way towards Rainforest Cafe. The place was right up Peyton's alley with the animals, rain, and even a mascot to take her picture with (after all, she is a Disney girl, you know, and LOVES the characters)!

From there we walked around downtown, hitting famous Michigan Avenue and all the great (expensive) shops. The people watching was the best! We did manage to find a great $4.99 bargain at the Disney Store - a new Ariel swimsuit for Peyton. I think that's the cheapest I've ever gotten out of that store! By 2:30pm Peyton was toast and we headed home for a rest and Peyton's request for dinner - grilled steak and homemade mashed potatoes. It was a great day!