It's story time peeps.......
Once upon a time (three years ago to be precise) we traversed to continents to visit the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave - the good ole USA. It was a holiday that was to start in New York(for me) go upstate to the mountains and forests(for LSO) and end in Disney World(for little Madame) Something for all of us!
Before we embarked on this epic trip we sat Little Madame down and showed her the hotel we would be staying at in New York. It was a 4 star hotel that LSO had found and managed to get ridiculously good rates on because they were renovating. While we were looking at the hotel Little Madame saw a side bar with the picture of a beautiful doll on it. An America Girl Doll. The hotel could arrange a tea at the store that sold the dolls. The child would be picked up in a limo and taken to the store where she could get a doll, chose an outfit and have tea and cake. Big green eyes turned to me and asked if she could PLEASE do this? Well at $300.00, this outing was just not an option. I gently explained to her that we were also going to Disney World and she needed to be careful as there was not an endless amount of money...... Not another word was mentioned about this doll
Until we arrived at the Hotel...... On seeing we had a little girl the concierge asked whether we would be visiting the AMERICAN GIRL store? The answer from our 5 year old was a very simple - NO thank you very much! Long days of sight seeing, blocks and block and BLOCKS of walking were the order of the day. On one of these days we happened upon - yes you guessed it, the American Girl store. We asked if she wanted to go in and she reluctantly said yes. Now I kid you not when I say she walked around the store with her hands behind her back.
We asked again would you like one? No thank you was the reply, lets go..... Oh well I did try. The entire week I watched as she looked at every little girl who was carrying one. She looked with longing eyes but was adamant that she didn't want one. Our trip was amazing and Disney World was the HIGHLIGHT..... even if you are a grown up, it is fun, fun FUN!!!
And they came home and lived happily ever after..... NOT A CHANCE!!!
A few weeks after we got home, I found Little Madame sitting on her bedroom floor crying her little eyes out! I gathered her up and asked what the problem was?
"I have made a terrible, TERRIBLE mistake Mama" came the reply.
Take a deep breath - "What my angel?"
"I should have bought an American Girl Mama, I really wanted on but was so scared that if I bought one, I would not have had money to spend in Disney World" Was the tear filled reply.
Ah bless! my poor little angel. so operation Get-an-American-girl-before-Christmas went into full swing. It wasn't difficult, my sister was in Canada and she got one for us.... The joy on Little Madames face on Christmas morning was well worth it!
And they lived happily ever after..... Mmmmm NOT A CHANCE!
This is turning into a long post peeps, so I am going to wrap it up with pictures....
This is Isabella she is Little Madame's BESTIE! The redhead is her friend Ava(she is Targets more affordable version)
Bella has a horse and a tent......
And beautiful shoes and really cute accessories.......
I have downloaded patterns and made them clothes, they have their own dogs and a handy travel bag
Because they go everywhere with us. Bella has been to England, Scotland and Dubai, they even goes camping when we do.....
Which is what this post was supposed to be about ...... I bought 2 duvet covers that were on sale and cut the one to make the girls bedding and the other went onto Little Madame's bed, so they have the same!
When we purchased the $135.00 doll(which is ALOT of SA Rands) I thought she might play with it for a bit and lose intrest you know what children are like. But Wow, has she ever proved me wrong! 4 years on and Bella is still her constant companion, her best friend, her sleeping partner, her gymnastics buddy and confidant.
We are hoping to go to the USA again next year, we told Little Madame this news a few days ago, shortly after we told her, I heard her chatting to Bella - 'You are going to go home my girl, we can visit your sisters in the store where Father Christmas bought you, and buy you lots of special things' Yikes, I never thought about that.... I had better start saving.....xxx
