She was an American Girl

The whole family went to St. Louis on the 4th of July.  The boys went to see the Cardinals play and the ladies went to The American Girl Store.

I was a little bit happy.

We started with tea in the bistro.  

The food was surprisingly tasty.

Mother bought the girls a new doll that just recently debuted.

My dear mother brought my beloved Samantha  to the outing.  I sent her straight to the hair salon to get her hair done.  Now I believe Samantha is about 28 years old.  I think I got her when I was nine.  

Her hair was looking rough. 

$10 later her hair was a lot better.  

Mother bought her a new dress and sent her home with me.  She's still trying to redeem herself from the big Christmas mistake of '89.  She bought me the entire tea set for Samantha, including her wicker furniture.  She apparently set it all up in my room and then couldn't justify the cost so she sent it all back. 

I never truly recovered until this very lovely day when all was right with the world and I gave my most special doll to my own most special girl.

Mother also bought her shoes.  She was barefoot in public, for Lord's sake.  

G donned her patriotic shades for the 4th.  

The girls also rode the double carousel at the mall.  

We then played all evening in the room before meeting up with the boys at a locally-owned, very unique dinner spot called The Cheesecake Factory.  I do love to support local businesses.

Oh, I really do, but this was really the most convenient.

We departed the next morning with our dolls and headed for 3 nights at Big Cedar Lodge!  

Dance Camp, Carnies and College Besties

Our summer has flown by.  I'm trying to catch up with some of our festivities.  At the end of June Genevieve went to Princess Dance Camp.  She wore her Rapunzel dress for the 2 hour gala event.  She went with Margo and Rosie and they learned a dance, did some crafting, and sang songs.  

Margo wore her Jasmine costume, and Rosie looks thrilled in her Ariel attire.  

The performance was so cute and there was one little girl who threw a royal fit.

Her mother's reaction was awesome.  She could have been on Dance Moms.  

She goes back for another session this week.  She is planning to wear her Cinderella dress, but that's not set in stone.

I don't know, people, I just don't know.

I'm on pins and needles just thinking about it.

What will she wear?

It's kind of like the red carpet at the Oscars.  

We attended our church's annual festival.  Church members volunteer for games and such, but carnies run the actual rides.

I wasn't sure if that made me feel better or not.

I let my darlings go up in a janky ferris wheel.  I think I prayed the entire time.  

Trinity was thrilled when we found Kate's family because that got him out of riding everything.  

These two cut loose on the motorcycle ride.  

Enjoy it, ladies.

You will never ride on the real thing.

Ever.  

I'm not sure G will fight me on that.

If her face if any indication here, she is not a thrill seeker!  

The last Saturday in June Kate and Eloise drove down from Chicago.  

Our tiniest big city dwellers had a pit stop at our house before we journeyed down to Megan's house in Jasper.  

Meg continues to enjoy her career delivering babies and also having three of them herself.  

Jasper is such a cute little town.

I really wouldn't know because we spent two nights at Meg's and never left her house!

Her pool is divine and Meg cooks like no one else I know.

It was like checking in at Blackberry Farm.

Not that I know what that place is like, but I can imagine it is all about pampering and gourmet eating.

It's on my list!

We were either swimming, sleeping, eating, or laughing.

Meg and I have been friends since 4th grade, but we met Kate and Nic at IU when we all pledged Delta Gamma in 1997.

Good grief that was a long time ago.  

Eloise was the sweetest.  

I did not get a decent shot of the 4 of us together!  I got one of us with all of our kiddos but we all basically look homeless. 

G had a love/hate relationship with Nolan.

Mostly love.

There was a lot of hugging.

Then she yelled at him a few times.

Then back to hugging.

We slept in Nolan's double bed for our stay.

The morning we left I stripped the bed and Nolan pointed to both of us and said, "which one of you peed in my bed?"

I laughed so hard I cried.

His sheets get washed often for that reason.

Nic and Caroline floated a lot.

That child is hysterical.  Funnier than my child, which is impressive.

Molly shared her sidewalk chalk.

That wraps up June.

My 37th Birthday!

My birthday was on June 13th, like it is every year.

Trinity had to work.

Genevieve and I did not.

She had vacation bible school at our church until noon and then we got all dolled up for afternoon cake at one of my favorite spots.

The Cake Bakeshop in Broad Ripple is so lovely.

I knew the crowd would be light on a Monday around 2, so I thought this would be a good chance to take my little "lady."  

She perused the menu.

She decided on cotton candy cake and I ordered raspberry champagne cake.  

Since I am the cake connoisseur, trust me when I tell you they make the best cake ever.

The buttercream icing is amazing.

Pure buttah.

G was a tad overwhelmed by her piece and her healthy side entree of cotton candy.

She was shocked by how tasty it was!

I tried to look away as she massacred that beautiful confection.  

My child was definitely more Lizzie Borden than Eliza Doolittle.

Who stabs cake?

For such a swanky place, they do quite well with children.  She received a balloon when we arrived.  

After she finished she sang a rip roaring edition of Let's Go Fly a Kite to our fellow cake patrons.  

She spun around in her sundress to show everyone the open back.

Mother found this dress in France.

Clearly I'm talking about the France pavilion in Epcot at Disney World.

G loves that fancy frock and says "oooo la la" each time she wears it.  

We had leftovers to take home in pretty pink boxes.

G kept it together in honor of my special day.  

We finished up our outing by sitting in our driveway for another 30 minutes while she slept.  

Trinity brought home sushi from my favorite spot and I opened my new purse.  

Summer birthdays are the best.  

Tennessee Trip Part 2

Now one would think after the underground disaster of Ruby Falls we might throw in the towel for the day.

Not us!

Trinity had purchased a 3 attraction pass for Ruby Falls, Rock City, and the Tennessee Aquarium.

He saved like $6 total, and he's not one to waste money.

Plus there were lots of signs that just seemed to be encouraging us to go to Rock City.

Just a whisper in the wind straight to our ears…

SEE ROCK CITY.

We heard this whisper and saw this sign a few times, so we figured we should go.

In true threenager form, Genevieve showed us another one of her personalities and this one was very pleasant.

Sometimes I truly feel like my child is Sally Field in Sybil.  I wonder which personality is going to emerge.

This one was nice, could walk very well, and was eager to SEE ROCK CITY.

So we did!

G was a climbing those trails like a little Billy Goat Gruff.  So Big Billy Goat Gruff (T), Middle Billy Goat Gruff (me), and Little Billy Goat Gruff (duh) explored the rock paths and bridges.

I feared that G might emerge as the troll under the bridge at some point, but we were spared that drama.  

After that busy day we checked into the house I rented on airbnb.  It was my first experience, and I was quite pleased.  For the price of a downtown hotel room, we had a whole house.  I figured that way we could put G to bed at a decent time and not have to turn in ourselves at 7 p.m.

Oh, wait.

There are bunk beds?

So I do get to go to bed at 7!

Woot!

G wanted her best friend to sleep with her.

Her dad is not her best friend.

I relived by camp days in that bottom bunk. 

On Tuesday morning I watched my husband Google how to use a french press, how to grind coffee beans, how many beans to grind, etc.

Making a cup of coffee required 25 minutes of research. 

I found this to be quite funny.  

After Trinity was sufficiently fueled with caffeine we dined at Milk & Honey, a darling spot in Chattanooga. 

We had delicious orange juice.

G loved it. I rarely allow my child to drink juice so this was especially exciting for her.  

Juice=obesity and cavities.

I have strict dietary guidelines in my house.

Whenever she requests juice, I just give her a cupcake.

I have maintained optimal health with a daily diet that includes cake of some sort.

I can only hope I pass this along to my daughter.

We went to the aquarium.

If you have been reading this foolish nonsense of a blog for any length of time you know I love aquariums and cats.

There were no cats at the aquarium.

There was another version of a face in a hole/egg.

Face in a tank full of spider crabs! 

Many aquariums offer an overnight experience.  I almost go into a trance when I visit an aquarium.  I could sleep so well staring up at one of those tanks.

If only I wouldn't be sleeping in a sleeping bag surrounded by strangers.  

Yuck.  

We left our hearts in Nooga and went to see Trinity's parents in Kentucky.  

Owensboro is such a sweet little town.  

Genevieve loves their splash pad and park.  

Abby!  

Slow down on that turtle.  

We rounded out our little trip with a night at sister's house.

Cousin Caroline entertained the littles.  Her other cousins came with their Nana. Ava and Grace are twinsies and are almost exactly a year older than G.

She struggled with knowing who was who.  It was rather funny.

She pointed at them and said, "You and you.  Come get in the bath with me."

This was yet another example of childhood chatter that is no longer socially acceptable in adulthood.  

They were more than happy to join in.

It was such a fun week.