Loving: The Unbalanced Chronicles: Spring Forward to Age 8

Can you believe this baby is turning 8?

Carlee is truly the family doll.

She is her own sweet,

sassy,

smart,

shy,

expressive,

fashionable,

gal!

We LOVE our Carlee Anne

Carlee's weekend started with big fun even though we lost an hour (and I am pretty darn tired right now, so I know I've got many typos today).

It started when her brother surprised her with a fuzzy pillow, balloons, and a Llama bath bomb (because turning 8 is the BOMB).

Then we headed out as the family took a little "doll trip" to Charlotte.

Please join us for a picture walk of our BIG time.

Hotel Stay

We give our hotel stay 9/10. It would have been 10 out of 10 but the indoor pool was closed and that left us a bit bummed out. We scrambled to think of something to do with the girls, but

the good thing about being 8 is that a hotel stay can be fun and magical, no activities needed. 😁 The girls opted to stay at the room (pool free) while the boys went bowling.

I thought it was quite creative when the ladies set up their own dollhouse in the room.

Afterwards they had a very lovely dinner by calling in room service and playing "office" at the desk.

A few minutes at the gym and I let the girls walk the perimeter of the hall while I watched. They were very "grown up".

(Back in the day I would have let them ride the elevator alone but we sadly can't do that anymore due to the state of the world.)

That night we had girl talk.

One thing being a boy mom never allowed was 'girl talk' or any talk with friends.

I was fascinated by tales of the second grade life- school, navigation of friendships, and stories of their pets.

💕

American Girl

The next day, two (tired) girls and two (happy) dolls dressed to perfection for their outing to the doll store to beat all doll stores:

American Girl

We got there a bit early because this was the first time we had ever been to THE American Girl Doll Store!

To kill time, we visited the Disney Store first. This was another new experience for Carlee.

Just as the door unlocked a Disney employee asked the girls to throw magic dust in the air to get the store open and the Disney music began playing. She was awesome!
Later she gifted each girl a Disney key for free because they helped "unlock" the store.

I almost felt bad for swaying the girls to not make a purchase yet because it was so early. It was still grand fun to look at everything.

Disney anything is just amazing.

Soon it was time to visit all the dolls!

The store quite literally had the most beautiful dolls and accessories I have ever looked at before, but the prices....

I do not understand. I do not get it at all.

Poor Darren walked through the store and his blood pressure went up so high he had to exit.

I mean one American Girl hairband for 10.00? a small doll pet for 30.00? and a doll for 150.00?

Whyyyyyyyy?

This might be perfect for the ultimate doll fan but not for the doll owner, whom will not be named, who throws her dolls in the back of a mini van for weeks without getting them back out again.

Daddy and The Doll

We spent a lot of time in the store looking at all the accessories. I would have been in heaven as a child because I adored all doll things related.

The details were to perfection and I personally really enjoyed myself.

They even had a place to hang your doll when you went to the bathroom.

Most dolls come with a book and a female empowerment message. They have a diverse range of dolls for every girl- cancer survivor, a baker, athlete, scientist, and many female historical figures.

Their newest doll, Joss, is a surfer with a hearing aid which I thought was the coolest of cool.

I was going to buy the ear piece separate because it looks like the one Carlee wears at school. She hates to wear it and I thought this might offer encouragement. For a whopping 15.00 for a tiny plastic accessory, I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Image result for american girl doll cochlear implant

I still love it for all little girls.

For her birthday, Carlee had the option of getting her doll's nails painted, ears pierced, or hair done. She picked a special style from the menu options-

half- ponytail twist with braid.

The salon will only do hair on a real American Girl doll (with label sewn in).

Thankfully Carlee was gifted an AG doll from another child for this trip. The hairdresser told us that this doll was 'Ruthie'.

Image result for american girl doll ruthie

This is one of the few dolls that have grey eyes like Carlee!

Doll Hair Done

Our bistro reservation was a bit later. Of course the girls found lots and lots of things they wanted to buy at AG but I detoured them to....

Claires.

And the Girl Heavens opened.

I showed the girls how much more they could get for the price of this-

They were running an awesome sale.

We got two small glitter makeup cases, lipgloss, matching BFF bracelets, pink hair extensions, and 2 sets of fake nails decorated in Paris and Pandas for the same price as ONE AG pet pal.

It's all about being a savvy consumer. I wonder if they have American Woman Doll- economically savvy and on the move?

You can imagine those dolls get heavy after a while. This was me walking down the mall:

Bistro

Our last stop (and my favorite) was the American Girl Doll Bistro. Any doll brand is welcome too!

I reserved the birthday package but when we arrived the entire staff was singing 'Happy Birthday' to another child. Carlee was not having it. She did not want to go in unless we told the wait staff- NO Singing to this birthday girl.

The waitress was great and reassured her.

(They also had matching choker necklaces so that made Carlee feel at ease.)

I loved the decor, the atmosphere, and the conversation starter game.

Each doll had their own seat and table setting. After, the girls got to keep the plates and cups for their own dolls.

The cloth napkins were held by bands the girls also got to keep for their hair.