BIRTHDAY TRIP (Part 1)

Megan and I had a fabulous time in LA last weekend, doing all things American Girl and birthday related. Uncle Dan was an amazing host, putting us up in his place and taking us everywhere we wanted to go for 48 hours... although it felt much shorter to us!

The flight from Sonoma County to LAX was perfect. Megan loved every bit of the process, from security to boarding to flight instructions. She was thrilled when the snack cart came by and offered our choice of beverages to go with the packet of crackers they handed out -- although she was expecting peanuts, the bruchetta toasts were EXCELLENT, she told me.

Uncle Dan whisked us away from the airport and we picked up his boyfriend, Randy, and headed to Dan's place for dinner with some good friends. Art and Gus and their two daughters live upstairs from Dan's studio apartment, so we had built-in playmates, even! Uncle Dan had arranged to have a surprise for Megan, too-- a princess cake and nine candles to blow out! (This would be cake #2 for #9, by the way!)

The next morning we went to breakfast and then hit the Grove mall, where the new American Girl movie was playing and the American Girl store was waiting...

Kit Kittredge was TERRIFIC, just adorable from start to finish. We got special T-shirts to commemorate the event, even. (Uncle Dan didn't want his, for some reason... and we gave mine to Hannah, Megan's cousin, as part of her early birthday present.)

The next step was to hit the American Girl Place, but first we needed to fuel Uncle Dan with some snackies and caffeine... Megan couldn't even eat, she was so excited and anxious to get inside the two-story red building, so we kept it very brief... and then we were off to Little Girl Heaven!!

(Stay tuned for Part 2)