american girl :: atlanta

Mary Reese got her first American Girl doll for her birthday from Nanny Nan and John B.  Debbie gave her a trip to the store in Atlanta.  Popsy and Gigi gave her a gift certificate to use at the store.  Needless to say, she had an American Girl Birthday!

Since her birthday is in November and so much goes on in the November/December months, we decided to wait until February to cash in on the Atlanta trip.  Since we were out of school on Monday, we decided Saturday would be the perfect day to go.

I made us reservations at the Marriott in Alpharetta.  They do up the American Girl theme right!  We left early Saturday morning and arrived around lunch...



Our room was almost ready when we arrived.  After we got checked in, Mary Reese and Kate had their own special check in...



See that doll behind Mary Reese?  She got to register to win it.  They are drawing in March and we have our fingers and toes crossed!

She had to wait for her and Kate's names to be called before going up to the desk...



She was presented a VIG [Very Important Girl] card to use in the gift shop for a snack or in the restaurant for a dessert.  She was handed a special welcome message from the manager of the hotel...



She was invited to a special showing of the Felicity movie...



The hotel even has special tickets to their movie showings.

Finally she got a star sucker...



Actually we all got one!


Finally it was time to check out our Everything PINK American Girl room...



Everything was definitely PINK....



The bed linens were pink, the towels in the bathroom were pink, the alarm clock was pink, the trash cans were pink, the paper and pencils were pink and the bean bag chair in the room was pink!  Mary Reese was in HEAVEN!

Her and Kate relaxing...



The doll bed came with the room.  She got to take it home as a momento of her trip.  There was a doll robe and matching girl robe for them to use during their stay.  [You can purchase the robes to take home but I didn't opt for that $99.00 price tag.  They were short on robes for the dolls, so when we checked in the lady said she would be getting a gown, bunny slippers and book to take home instead of the robe to use during our stay.  Mary Reese was thrilled.]

After we got settled, we headed to the American Girl store at North Point Mall...



Even Molly [Aunt Stacey's AG doll] came along for the ride...





She shopped around spending her gift certificate from her birthday.  She bought her and Kate a new purse, a matching American Girl Atlanta t-shirt, and Kate some new shoes.



We didn't have an appointment at the salon for Kate a new do.  There were no open appointments for that day, but they were still piercing ears...



So Kate got her ears pierced and 4 new pairs of earrings.

We had a dinner reservation at the Bistro...



I found out when we got to the store that there was a huge cheerleading competition in town.  The store was a madhouse.  [After seeing all the merchandise flying out of the store while we were there...it made me wish I owned American Girl stock.]  The cheerleaders had snatched up all the salon hair appointments and bistro reservations.  We were lucky to get in at the Bistro.

All the girls are given a high chair for their doll to use during the meal...



If you don't have your own doll, no worries.  They have extra ones you can borrow while you are there.  The food was delicious!  They have a set price and you get a starter and an entree.  Mary Reese had cheese fondue and chicken fingers with mac & cheese and a fruit skewer.  Debbie had the cheese fondue and I had the pretzel bites for our starters.  We both had the chicken spinach salad with the warm bacon dressing.  Yum!

There were birthday celebrations right and left.  I felt we were about the only table in there not celebrating a birthday.  The cakes looked delicious...white 2 layer with pink pokkadots...super cute.

We skipped out on dessert.  Mary Reese had a movie to get to [and she also had her Hershey with Almonds bar she bought with her VIG card].

Mary Reese and I went down for the movie.  They had sleeping bags set up on the floor for all the girls and their dolls.  They were popping popcorn and had cokes for all the girls and their parents.  After the movie, we stopped by the front desk to let them know we were ready for our milk and cookies...



Cookies for Mary Reese and Kate!



[The nightgown and slippers Kate has on were the ones the hotel offered us since they were out of robes.]

They ate their cookies and drank their milk...



...before hitting the hay!

We got up the next morning and enjoyed a huge breakfast buffet in the hotel's restaurant before heading home [the breakfast was apart of the room].  Even the hotel restaurant had special tables for the American Girl visitors!

While we were girling it up in Atlanta, the boys were trying out for baseball and partying at the first ever Mardi Gras celebration in our town...



They sampled red beans and rice at the cook-off.  Later that night they caught beads and moonpies at the adult parade...



I kept seeing friends posing on facebook.  It was Owen catching beads...



...apparently he was real into it!

It was a fun weekend.  Mary Reese kept saying the entire time were were there "This is the best day ever.  I am having so much fun!"  The experience was PRICELESS!  I was glad to have Monday to recover from all the festivities!