Who Knew We Were Virginians?

[jenseib]

I have three of the dolls, the last one due to your posting about the sale! I would love to go to the American Girl store, but don't have any little girls to go with.

You're more than welcome to take Claire..She would be happy to spend your money.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Annnnnd, the trip has begun! Albeit slowly, but it's begun.

Wasn't there a Cheesecake Factory in Disney Quest a long time ago? I'm almost positive that there was because we ate there. Anyway, whatever it was, it was good. Sounds like your dinner was good too. Well, after you actually got into the restaurant, that is.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Tom is rather handsome. What a shame about the rain and the traffic. I can't believe that they forgot you at The Cheesecake Factory. We have always been lucky and have been seated straightaway and we have eaten at The Cheesecake Factory in Anaheim, Houston and Seattle. I have only managed to try their cheesecake once though.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

Annnnnd, the trip has begun! Albeit slowly, but it's begun.

Wasn't there a Cheesecake Factory in Disney Quest a long time ago? I'm almost positive that there was because we ate there. Anyway, whatever it was, it was good. Sounds like your dinner was good too. Well, after you actually got into the restaurant, that is.

It was kind of a slow nice get away weekend!
I am not sure. I never went to DTD till 2007. I had about an 8 year break before that of no Disney at all!

Tom is rather handsome. What a shame about the rain and the traffic. I can't believe that they forgot you at The Cheesecake Factory. We have always been lucky and have been seated straightaway and we have eaten at The Cheesecake Factory in Anaheim, Houston and Seattle. I have only managed to try their cheesecake once though.

Corinna

Thanks. I am really enjoying Tom. I like the better gas mileage too.
We usually get the cheesecake to go because I just can't stuff myself any more after the meal. I wish we had one closer to my home.

 

[Wicket's Mom]

I can imagine all the things Miss Claire would love to have from the American Girl store! LOL! My GDs don't like dolls, which is so sad to me. Their mom is all about them being engineers & not much on girlie stuff. I buy them Star Wars stuff, Legos & video games.

We have a new mall called the Greene which looks almost identical to Easton Center. Easton has more stores as it's older, both are cool places to shop.

 

[udflyer00]

Oh i can't wait to hear how this trip goes. Was this yours and Claire's 1st American Girl doll? They are cute, but man they are not cheap... My wife took our 2 girls with her sister and her daughter in the fall as well to the new store. They had fun. My youngest got a doll as a birthday present, and of course they had to send it to the Hair Stylest ($20), and she (DD 5) didn't even let the hair style make it home... I heard it was cute though! haha...

 

[scottny]

I hate driving near trucks in the rain.

I have that problem at restaurants as you will see in my TR. Very annoying.

The cheesecake looked good. Reese's is my favorite there.

 

[jenseib]

I can imagine all the things Miss Claire would love to have from the American Girl store! LOL! My GDs don't like dolls, which is so sad to me. Their mom is all about them being engineers & not much on girlie stuff. I buy them Star Wars stuff, Legos & video games.

We have a new mall called the Greene which looks almost identical to Easton Center. Easton has more stores as it's older, both are cool places to shop.

AWWWW...Thats sad. Paige was more of a tom boy too and she didn't like as many girly things at all. I was that way too as a kid, but I am so glad Claire is girly now for my spoiling and fun.
I just wish Easton was inside. I hate being in the cold or heat and going from store to store.

Oh i can't wait to hear how this trip goes. Was this yours and Claire's 1st American Girl doll? They are cute, but man they are not cheap... My wife took our 2 girls with her sister and her daughter in the fall as well to the new store. They had fun. My youngest got a doll as a birthday present, and of course they had to send it to the Hair Stylest ($20), and she (DD 5) didn't even let the hair style make it home... I heard it was cute though! haha...

She had 2 dolls, but this was our first visit to a store. She got 2 last year as gifts for Christmas and she was in love. She loves to just look at the catalogs and circle all the things she thinks she needs.
We did the hair style too. They really know how to take your money fast there.

I hate driving near trucks in the rain.

I have that problem at restaurants as you will see in my TR. Very annoying.

The cheesecake looked good. Reese's is my favorite there.

I do too. Trucks can be scary in bad weather. If they are having issues they need to slow down or pull off.
I swear lately I have a sign on my head that says forget about me and when you remember me ...give me slow service.
I love the Reeses too! I think this time I went with a different kind of peanut butter one to try.

 

[jenseib]

Sept. 21, Sat.



We got up and started getting ready. Amanda was kind of relaxing and then realized she needed to get ready. She had misjudged her time for some reason, so she had to rush around in the end.
Claire was bouncing off the wall waiting to go.
For some stupid reason, I forgot to pack myself socks. I have no clue how I forgot to do that, but I only had the pair I wore down with me. Amanda let me borrow a pair and I told her I would buy some while we were out for the day.
As we sat there waiting to leave, I mentioned that I was waiting for a phone call from Dad saying that he would meet us at the American Girl store. LOL!!!! If you read my Williamsburg report, you know that the morning we were going to fly out Dad decided to join us and called to let us know he would be driving to Williamsburg to meet us.
Well I guess the AG store is not quite as exciting as he never called.

We piled in Mom’s car once again and Amanda drove us to the mall. This mall has a lot of great stores ……BUT…….it’s an outdoor mall. I hate those kinds of malls. I can see if it was Florida, but in Ohio it’s either raining, snowing, too cold or way too hot. There are only a few days a year where the weather is comfortable enough to walk from store to store.
Amanda decided she would drop us off near the store and then she would find a parking spot, but as we drove around we could see the place was basically empty. We found a spot nearby and all walked together. Amanda said she has never been to the mall before opening and had no clue that parking could be that easy then. Sadly it was a drizzly day and we had to wear coats and umbrellas.

We arrived about 15 minutes or so before opening and there were a few others waiting already as well. We stood in a covered area next to the store and Claire looked through the window.



And this was what it was like outside. We got a little downpour before they opened.







Finally the doors opened and Claire and I made the mad dash to the back to get in line to have her dolls hair done. Something I did not know was the store had another entrance back there so there were already people in line when we got there. It took a few minutes for the workers to get things started, but we lucked out and got the last doll styling chair available, so our wait wasn’t too long.





It was really loud in there and hard to hear anything. Our girl didn’t talk very loud and I could barely hear her. Also I kind of felt like she was still new and wasn’t very skilled. I heard how they can really fix the hair up nice and sadly, Claire’s doll Marie Grace needed some fixing. Claire picked out a basic braid for her doll and our girl went to brushing the hair out.



She did the braid and it looked awful to me. Claire liked it though. But the girl couldn’t do anything for the curls around the face that she brushed out. She told me to put perm rods in it to recurl them. They sell them at the store, but being that I did hair for many years, I have a ton of them at home…..though I have yet to get them out and put them in to freshen the curls. Anyways…the braid was not all that nice and she handed me the doll and to look over, there was a strand of hair completely left out and I pointed that out to her. I knew that would drive me nuts all day and I think if I am paying for a hairstyle it should be done right, so she started by trying to tuck it in and gave up and redid the braid. This time it did look better, but still not at nice as I thought she would have done. But Claire was happy and that is all the counts. I asked Claire if she would like to pierce Marie Grace’s ears and she said no, so we paid for the hairstyle and then started the shopping.

While we were getting the hair done, our Aunt Laura, who also lives in Columbus kept texting Amanda. She wanted to have dinner with all of us that evening. That was fine, but it was made into a big production because she was giving Amanda choices and Amanda was stressing out. I kept saying I didn’t care. She could choose. She was going back and forth and looking at menus and I just said as long as there was something Claire would eat, we would make due with where ever. It shouldn’t have been stressful, but no one would choose a place. My only issue was that I only brought jeans along for the trip, so I couldn’t go anywhere too fancy. Of course Mom then said that she would buy me some nice pants to wear if needed. Ok then, I don’t care where we go! I think Mom and Amanda finally decided on a place and that crisis was ended.

After the hair was done and the dinner plans were made, it was time to shop! Claire took off with Amanda and within a few minutes had a stack of boxes she brought back to me. Claire knew exactly what she wanted as she had been circling things in a catalog for weeks. I just had to laugh. Skip had given her $100 to spend and she was making sure she used every dime of it. Her choices were odd to me, but what do I know. She picked out a pet dog, a pair of PJ’s for the doll, the crutches set, and a set for braces….and a few other things. I got a shopping bag and put them in there and we browsed around some more. We then looked at dolls. Claire had 2 already, Marie Grace and Cecile. I had the intention of buying her a new one while there, but never told her so. So we looked at dolls and I asked if she had a favorite and it came down to 2 that she said she liked best. I told her if she could pick one, which would it be and she said Caroline. I said, OK, go ahead and grab her and we’ll get her. She was beyond excited! This was a dream come true.
Mom and Amanda had been shopping around and Mom picked out a few things to get for all 3 granddaughters in the AG age range. She then came up to me and grabbed a bunch of boxes out of my bag and said she would pay for those as well. Ok then. Sure thing!
I then let Claire pick out some of Caroline’s outfits since she still basically had her spending money left.
Mom got in line to pay for her items and shortly after I did as well.

Claire was pretty darn excited with all her new purchases.



Of course she started asking when we would be going home so she could play with it all, but we informed her it would be awhile since we still had lunch at the bistro there to do as well as a bit of other shopping.



We then realized that we had charms with some of the outfits and we also had charms at home, but we didn’t buy a necklace for them, so I asked one of the clerks where I could find one. She told me they were at the counter and they are supposed to offer them to you when you check out, which never happened. But I decided while we were here I might as well and got back in line …which I forgot to mention was LONG! These lines weaved back and forth, but they did move fairly fast. I got the necklace purchased and we still had a bit of time before lunch so we did look around a little bit more.







The Bistro there is very small, with only a few tables. I have heard it is next to impossible to get a reservation unless you book very far ahead of time. I was lucky to have my sister’s reservation. When she went down, she didn’t have one and had to wait about 4 hours for an opening as a walk up.
While wasting time I had seen many people walk up and ask about getting a seat and the same thing was told to everyone, basically they were full but they might be able to get in after several hours. The thing is….NO ONE was in there. I personally would be annoyed to be told I had a wait and not a single person was even in there. Sure they might not be open yet, but if they did open earlier they would make a killing.
So we decided to go and check in early and we were seated right away. I think we were the first to be seated that day. And it was probably 15-20 minutes till anyone came in after us.



They have seats for your dolls too.









We had a look at the menu and ordered some appetizers and Amanda explained she could only eat twigs and berries and she found something that she could eat as well.
I will say the food is kind of pricey for what you get and I didn’t think it was over the top good either. I think the appetizers were better than the main course.

Marie Grace was even given a plate and cup in her size..





We had pretzel bites and quesadillas to start with. Very good, but not much to them.

Claire got chicken strips to eat and I think a smoothie or shake to drink. I think the rest of us went with water.



I don’t remember what the rest of us had, but I am thinking I had a burger. Again it was just OK. Nothing special, but it filled the belly and Claire was super excited about eating here. It was all about the experience. Sadly service was extremely slow. I am sure they could take twice as many people if they were faster. At times I actually wondered if we had been forgotten. And there weren’t many people there, though when we left the place was full…..but it only had like 10 tables.
The bill came and Mom treated us to the meal, which was totally unnecessary, but appreciated.

As we left I saw people checking in and they were told they were running almost an hour behind already. I am not sure how this could be? I mean we were in the first seating and people came in after us? But I guess the issue was probably that the service was so slow that none of us were leaving as fast as needed be.

We walked outside and it felt nice out and the rain had pretty much stopped now. There is this cute fountain right by the store and kids (and parents) were trying to figure out how to make the frogs spit water. I really don’t think it was manual, but there were a few that were convinced they were doing something to make them spit.





I told Claire to stop so I could take her picture, but she was giving me weird looks.





We then headed to the car to take the packages back. We passed a Lane Bryant on the way, so we decided to come back and take a look around. Mom quickly had things in her hands for Amanda and I to try on. I ended up getting a cute top and black pants. Amanda was trying on several things still so Claire and I headed off to Macys to get me some socks. I found a pack of socks for the same price one pair was at Lane Bryant’s there. I just needed basic black, white or brown socks and these were perfect!

We met back up and then headed back to Amanda’s. After all, Claire was antsy to play with her things.
She pulled everything out and took inventory and we laughed that her doll soon had a broken arm with cast, crutches and cast for a broken leg and braces on its teeth. We all lounged around and I had some work that had to be done and I had to call it in, so I headed off alone to do that. Sadly this vendor I was working with are a bunch of idiots and I ended up calling 3 more times over the weekend to get things squared away right.
I decided it was time for a nap so I slept in the bed and I think Mom and Amanda both dozed on the couches …and Claire …..well she just kept playing with her dolls.

 

[jenseib]

After we all got a refreshing nap we got ready for dinner with my Aunt and Uncle. The place that was decided on was the Fish Market. Now if you read my Williamsburg family trip report, then you might remember we ate there the night before heading out. And during the night, several of us had cramps and were not feeling well. We all had lobster. So I vowed this time I would get something different.

We arrived a bit early and had to wait a few minutes before being seated.



Aunt Laura and Jan arrived shortly after us and we soon were seated.

I looked over the menu and Aunt Laura told me the lobster offered on special was actually a better kind as it came from colder waters. I was still leery about it, but in the end I decided to get it. Claire didn’t like her chicken strips last time as she said they tasted fishy …..I assume the probably deep fried them in the same oil as they do fish, so she went with some pasta alfredo.
Service again was a bit slow and my Aunt was having a fit. They eat here all the time and it’s not a cheap place and she expects great service. Finally our meals came out. My Aunt took one bite and sent it back. She said it was cold and she was very upset about that. Soon a manager came out and asked how the meals were. I did admit that mine was not hot either and Claire’s was basically cold. Though we both ate them anyways and they were tasty.



The manager apologized about it and credited all 3 of our meals. Now I never would have asked that or even said anything about it because it was good, just not warm. But when she asked me directly I told her the truth about both our meals. Amanda later told me her meals was cold too, but she didn’t want to make a scene.
The good news is, I was fine and never felt sick later in the evening either. I really did enjoy the meal, I just wish it was warmer and came out faster. Even bread was slow coming this evening.
We did end the meal with some sharkfin pie…which is just this piece of wonderfulness. It is described as
butter fudge ice cream, honey roasted peanuts, fudge, peanut butter, & oreo cookie crust. My meal came with it, so Claire and I shared and I think some others might have had a bite too. I think a few others might have gotten some dessert as well. Once again, I was stuffed beyond stuffed and ate way too much, but it was very good.
I had sat next to Aunt Laura and she had given me a few ideas of where to go the next day. I had decided before the trip that since we were staying a full day on Sunday we should check out some of the local attractions. I had a few lined up in my mind on what I wanted to do, but being it was a Sunday, timing might not work out so well. I knew the top of my list was the Franklin Park Conservatory as they had a Chihuly exhibit going on …and for those who do not know, he is the guy who did the chandeliers on the Magic and Wonder.

Jan paid for the meal and we all thanked him and then headed out on our way.
When we got back to Amanda’s we got comfy and found The Big Bang Theory on TV. I love this show and it was a marathon of episodes on so we watched several before calling it a night. It was such a nice day and a nice get away.

 

[jedijill]

Claire really cleaned up at the AG store! Grandma's are so generous. That was nice of the manager to comp your meals. Glad you didn't get sick this time!

You should come to the AG store in Denver. There is a Cheesecake Factory right next to it and the CF has the doll seats too.

Jill in CO

 

[dolphingirl47]

Claire did well out of this trip. A friend of mine posted on Facebook the other day that her daughter's doll had her ears pierced. I was amused that they are doing this for dolls. I liked the look of the bistro, but the waiting time is crazy.

Sounds like that restaurant is a place to advise. I am glad that you did not get ill this time and that dessert was nice.

I am really looking forward to the installment about the Chihuly exhibition. I am a huge fan.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

Claire really cleaned up at the AG store! Grandma's are so generous. That was nice of the manager to comp your meals. Glad you didn't get sick this time!

You should come to the AG store in Denver. There is a Cheesecake Factory right next to it and the CF has the doll seats too.

Jill in CO

She made out like a bandit!!!
Now that would be heaven..AG store and cheesecake!!!!

Claire did well out of this trip. A friend of mine posted on Facebook the other day that her daughter's doll had her ears pierced. I was amused that they are doing this for dolls. I liked the look of the bistro, but the waiting time is crazy.

Sounds like that restaurant is a place to advise. I am glad that you did not get ill this time and that dessert was nice.

I am really looking forward to the installment about the Chihuly exhibition. I am a huge fan.

Corinna

I knew you would like to see those pictures. There wasn't a ton, but what they had was interesting and it was a fun day..different than what i would normally do.

 

[Beth D]

Hooray mini TR! I love hearing about girly shopping since I only have a boy.

It sounds as if you had bad restaurant Karma on this trip. I have always found we've had to wait at the Cheesecake Factory as well. Something about that place always takes quote a while...

The dolls and the seats in the restaurants are too cute! Don't you love when family picks up the tab on stuff and it's not expected?

Your new car is nice and cute! Love the red.

Oh -and for the Lego's at Legoland - most of the sets there are the same as DTD, or at your local toy store, and not any cheaper. If you can, don't buy them there unless it's a special set.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Have mercy! I had absolutely no idea that the American Doll thing was such a big thing! All I knew about were the dolls themselves and the outfits. Thank goodness these weren't around when Lacey was younger. Would have been a major ouchy to my wallet.

I can't say that I blame your Aunt for speaking up about the meals. If it were cold and ya'll were asked about it, then it was good to tell the manager. Not that you were looking for anything free but they need to know.

 

[jenseib]

Hooray mini TR! I love hearing about girly shopping since I only have a boy.

It sounds as if you had bad restaurant Karma on this trip. I have always found we've had to wait at the Cheesecake Factory as well. Something about that place always takes quote a while...

The dolls and the seats in the restaurants are too cute! Don't you love when family picks up the tab on stuff and it's not expected?

Your new car is nice and cute! Love the red.

Oh -and for the Lego's at Legoland - most of the sets there are the same as DTD, or at your local toy store, and not any cheaper. If you can, don't buy them there unless it's a special set.

I am beginning to think I bring bad luck to restaurants as this seems to be an issue a lot lately.
The seats are so cute and Claire was so excited to have her doll eat with us.
She kept asking her if she was enjoying herself.
It was nice to have many of my meals paid for. Not expected at all, but nice.
I am sure we'll have to leave with something from there, but I'll lean for something cheap.....it's going to have to fit in a suitcase too.

Have mercy! I had absolutely no idea that the American Doll thing was such a big thing! All I knew about were the dolls themselves and the outfits. Thank goodness these weren't around when Lacey was younger. Would have been a major ouchy to my wallet.

I can't say that I blame your Aunt for speaking up about the meals. If it were cold and ya'll were asked about it, then it was good to tell the manager. Not that you were looking for anything free but they need to know.

It's really a big deal. My sister Gail has taken Alexis to the one in Chicago and I guess that store is just huge with several floors.
Amanda says my Aunt complains all the time though, so I wasn't going to make a big deal out of it. My Aunt is basically rich and yet she likes to complain. Amanda thinks she likes to get free stuff, but I think she likes to complain as she expects better service because she has a lot of money. Who knows, we both could be wrong there.

 

[jenseib]

Sept. 23, Sunday

Again, today I wanted to get a fairly early start as I was hoping to do a few things before they closed. We got up and ready and headed out to the Franklin Park Conservatory. Amanda had been there a few times, but didn’t know the way that well so we both programed the address in our phones. She and Mom rode together and I drove separately. That way, if Claire and I decided to go off to another place, she and Mom could go back to her condo and Mom had planned to leave in the afternoon.

It was quite cold this morning so we bundled up. I wore a sweat shirt and my jean jacket. For some reason I thought most of the conservatory was outside, but it wasn’t luckily.

As we were driving on the expressway all of a sudden there was construction and the road was closed and veered us to the offramp. UH oh! Thankfully Siri was fast to recalculate and soon was spitting out new directions. Amanda’s phone must’ve been slower because I got into the correct lane to turn and Amanda had not yet, but at the last second she whipped over.
Getting to the Conservatory took us through some less desirable parts of town but we made it there safely.



We headed inside and then I remembered I forgot my phone in the car and ran back out to get that just in case.









“Claire, will you pose for me?” and this is what I get…..






My first Chihuly sighting.



There were a lot of fixtures like this as well. I think this was by Bruce Munro who was going to have a Holiday exhibit.



We paid for our tickets and used the restroom. I believe there was a coat room too and I think we all shedded a layer off as it was pretty warm inside.

These were on the ceiling and they were so neat looking. These were part of the holiday display …which Amanda did come back for right after Christmas and said it was all beautiful lit up.





The map we were given did give us an idea where some of the Chihuly pieces were and we set off to take a look.



They were very interesting and so pretty.























This was the inside of one of the bowls.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I would have never known what the heck or who Chihuly was if you hadn't written it. Yep, I'm from the backwoods. The glass sculptures look beautiful and I am sure that they were amazing to see up close.

 

[natebenma]

I got us packed and put everything in the car in the early afternoon so we would be ready to head down. Since my car was brand new, I took a few pictures&of Tom. Yes, my car has a name and it is Tom. It is a Chevy Cruze and Skip thought it should be called Tom Cruze&.yes he is full of laughs just like that every single day.

I'm guessing the navigational device in the car (Tom Cruze) is called "Suri"




What an awful drive to start your trip! Traffic and Truckers and Rain, Oh my!

Then the last thing you needed was to be passed over at the restaurant.

I think the only time I have been to a Cheesecake Factory was when I was working, before the boys were born, a lifetime ago!


************************************************************************************************

That was quite an outing at AG.

Hairstylings and Ear piercings for your doll. What else can you have done? Mani/pedi? When my Barbie needed a new hair style it was just me and a pair of scissors and she was never the same!

Love the accessories you can get!

YAY for the new doll!

Lunch would have annoyed me! I hate places that don't seem organized.

I'm glad it had stopped raining- the outside spaces of the mall look very pretty.

*************************************************************
Another less than perfect meal at the Fish Market, but at least nobody got sick!

Amanda- aren't sticks and berries supposed to be served cold?

A great dessert can wipe away a lot of sins with the meal!

*************************************************************

They have some beautiful Chihuly glass sculptures in Atlantis and I knew a couple of cruise ships have some spectacular ones as well.

The conservatory looks beautiful. How did Claire like it?

 

[dolphingirl47]

I am in Chihuly heaven. This first piece is one of the most stunning of his pieces that I have seen.

Corinna