So, I'm going to need to hijack Greg's cell phone to get the photos of Cate at the American Girl Place. We told Cate that her visit there was a Christmas gift -- and a hefty one at that! I had heard of the store's magical abilities and was not disappointed. It's like girl heaven when you walk in those doors. Little girls (of a wide range of ages, I might add) and their dolls.

There are a myriad of ways that the American Girl company has devised to pull extra cash out of your wallet. There's the doll picture studio where you can get an (overpriced) photo of your girl and her doll. There's the doll hair salon, where $20 will get your doll a hair brushing that takes over 20 minutes, plus a new style. There's the area to buy American Girl books, the area to buy matching clothes for your girl and her doll, and the area devoted to each specific doll, the area devoted to the bitty baby line of dolls....it goes on and on.

Surprisingly, the cafe was the part I thought most worth the money. Cate and I had mother/daughter dinner while the boys went out to do their own testosterone thing. They provided a lovely chair for Molly (Cate's doll) as well as her own teaset. The menu was full of things that young girls love to eat, served in amusing and clever ways. Cate ordered the pizza, which came cup up to look like a tic-tac-toe board with pepperoni serving as the "o" and strips of green peppers as the "x". Very cute. She was served sparkling cider in a champagne glass. My favorite part was the conversation box -- a box full of little strips of paper with questions to discuss during dinner. It had questions like "what's the hardest thing you've ever done?" or "what is the nicest compliment you've ever received?" There were hundreds of these questions that we discussed over dinner and it was such a sweet time to sit and listen to Cate's answers, which sometimes surprised me with their depth of thought. It was a very special evening for mom and daughter.

Cate owns several American Girl dolls -- Molly and Molly's best friend Emily (the doll that had to be sent to the American Girl hospital a while back after Christopher drew on her face with permanent marker. Grrr.) were both presents from Santa on different years. She also has some older dolls that are in fairly poor condition that were hand me down gifts from her favorite babysitter, Grace. Molly travelled with us.

One amusing side note....Cate had been very interested in having Molly's hair done at the salon, but they were booked up by the time we arrived. This turned out to be a very good thing. Later that night at midnight Cate woke up vomiting. Yes, the joys of parenthood -- and I bet the hotel maids were ever so pleased when they discovered our bedding. Molly was sleeping with Cate that evening and Molly needed a hair wash after the events of the night. In short, it would have been $20 wasted if she had just had her hair done at the doll salon.