dksquared: American Girl Place, Washington D.C.

We made our annual Labor Day trip to Virginia this past holiday weekend. We didn't have a lot of plans, which was good because the weather was a bit gloomy (rain coming & going kept us from picnicking at our favorite rest area) and I was fairly sick with what turned out to be bronchitis and ashtma. We try our best to do one family activity when we are in the D.C. area, and when I heard that an American Girl Place had recently opened I knew just what we would be doing. We didn't really have plans to keep it a secret, but it ended up that we didn't tell Kyrie that we were going until the night before. Strangely enough she had already packed both her AG dolls with several outfits for the trip.

Degen liked looking at the Bitty
Babies & Bitty Twins, especially trying out their wheels!

I got my first AG books when I was still in elementary school and it was a fairly small & obscure company. They were a gift from my nanny & pop-pop. After I got the books, I requested a catalog and would spend hours looking at the dolls (back then there were only 3) and all their clothes & accessories. The next Christmas, I saved all my money and bought a doll. We still have that doll put away in a small trunk. I watched the brand grow as I grew and knew that it was a product that I wanted my daughter to experience. For Kyrie's first birthday, I gave her a Bitty Baby and her Nana Billie & Papa Derrel gave her Molly a few years later. This was our second visit to an American Girl Place (we visited the Chicago store and had lunch there when Kyrie was 3). This visit was even better because Kyrie was more aware of all the dolls and really took the time to explore all the displays.

Part of the store is devoted to all the historical dolls and the other part is for the Bitty Babies/Twins and the "me" dolls of today. The details in every little thing are amazing, especially for the historical dolls. Kyrie was most intrigued by the horses and the food accessories, but really she loved everything she saw!

The today dolls come with every type of accessory to fit every kind of girl. Dude & Mimi spoiled Kyrie with a ballet outfit for Baby April and a dessert food set for both dolls. I would have loved to get Kyrie sets for the things that she is involved/interested in like the tennis outfit, the horseback riding (Kyrie has requested riding lessons this fall) and the piano recital set, but the big drawback to AG is that it isn't cheap. We let her get one souvenir from Daddy & Mommy: a doll carrier bag. She immediately put her dolls in the bag and carried them around the mall and when we got back to the hotel she organized all her doll clothes & accessories in the pockets.