Hello Kit

On a cosy winter day Lady Crazie found the perfect perch on Laura's shoulder as she read to her new little friend Kit.  They found a book in the bookcase about spinning tops (which came with its very own top) and were learning about some of the tricks and techniques of spinning tops.

Laura, Lady Crazie and Kit read about tops

Laura turned the page

Lady Crazie, Laura and Kit look at a picture of lots of different tops

Lady Crazie and Laura

Lady Crazie, Laura and Kit

The bookcase, with another spinning top,
a mini cooper and the little music box from Waldkirch

If you are wondering about Kit and when she arrived, well a certain little girl had her birthday in February and Kit with her mini book was one of the gifts she received.  Kit was one of 3 mini American Girl dolls I bought during my wonderful trip to the AG doll shop with Norvell in Washington DC last November.  Some of the things I bought were Christmas gifts (and I haven't blogged about them all yet) and some were birthday gifts for my younger daughter.

AG shop in Washington DC

Norvell very kindly took me to the American Girl Doll shop in Tyson's Corner shopping Mall in Washington DC during my trip to the city for a work conference during November.  I had a shopping list of items but also wanted to see the way the dolls and their accessories are displayed.

The shop is on two levels and was dressed for Christmas more than a week before Thanksgiving.  It was a Sunday which meant, as Norvell had explained in her emails, that the shop would be busy and filled with little girls making big decisions!  I couldn't resist that spectacle.  In fact it wasn't overwhelmingly crowded though it was busy, which was a relief, as it was possible to take photographs of the displays without having to avoid capturing other people's children in the photos.

Isabelle, Girl of the Year with the window display

The upstairs entrance to the store

AG horse and carriage

AG girls on skis

AG horse and rider

AG horse and foal

AG bicycle and rider (with pet dog who looks like he delivers the newspapers)

AG girls in their fancy dress outfits

The busiest area of the shop was the beauty parlour for dolls, where the shop assistants would do the hair, gently wash dolls who were a little grubby from play, fit earrings etc for the dolls, all the time demonstrating to their owners how to take care of the dolls.

AG doll beauty parlour, this was busy

AG doll gymnast and her friend who perhaps had an accident while doing gymnastics?

AG dolls and American sports (baseball, volleyball and softball)

AG doll party dresses and matching dresses for their owners

Isabelle, girl of the year 2014 (a ballerina)

The wonderful grand piano for AG dolls

AG dolls baking for Christmas

AG doll Kit, the young reporter
(I wish I had photographed the display with all her wonderful accessories)

Kaya and her tepee (much bigger than the tepee's I made for the Sasha dolls)

Kaya in one of her other outfits, with her foal

Julie and a car to wash

Caroline and her sailing skiff

Addy

Samantha

Julie

Addy in her different outfits

The Christmas tree in the AG shop

in the shopping mall we spotted these two AG dolls at a restaurant

I will not reveal what I bought in the shop (yet) and I had to be careful about size and weight because of my luggage allowance.  Norvell bought Kit's reporter set for her dolls as she said that of all the accessories, Kit's are her favourite.  Kit's typewriter was amazingly detailed (this was not part of the reporter kit). I don't know why I didn't take a photo of the wonderful display of Kit and her accessories, they were good.  Norvell made sure I had a catalogue from the shop, which my younger daughter loved when I got home.

We must have spent at least an hour in the shop just looking and choosing and exclaiming.  I'm not fond of the full size AG dolls, as their body shape doesn't appeal to me (yes, they are cuddly but they have very broad shoulders and chunky torsos), however some of their accessories are amazing and I do like the mini dolls (my younger daughter has 2 already).  However, having seen the AG horses up close, I definitely prefer the Canadian made Our Generation (Battat) horses instead (which is what we have got) and have discovered that a small selection of the Our Generation dolls and some accessories including the horses are now available in Smyths Toy Superstores in the UK.  I'm not that keen on the Our Generation dolls, they are nice quality (and much cheaper than the AG dolls) however I definitely prefer the Gotz 19.5 doll faces.  Some of the Our Generation accessories are good.

I would like to thank Norvell for a wonderful day - I felt truly welcomed to Washington DC and hope to meet her again at a future Sasha doll festival (yes, our family are saving and planning for 2016...).

Cowboys, country girls and Indians

A few months ago our friend Henry was trying out his Cowboy outfit and asking his mum for more horses so he could play Cowboys and Indians with his friends.  This gave Henry's mum Lorraine and I an idea for some summer fun.  While Henry was visiting the USA for the 2014 Sasha festival he went to the Grand Canyon and saw an Indian tepee and this gave me a further idea for our summer fun day.  A date was set and Henry, Molly, Stevie, Peggy Sue and Kayla brought Stratford the horse with them to visit Laura, Reuben, Miranda, Florence, Nicholas James, the babies, Emily the white horse & the Gotz pony yesterday.  In the days before their visit, I worked to grant Henry his tepee wish...

A certain little bear called Clemence (a cousin of Mossy from Sasha Village) decided to get involved.  These are some of his observations:

In the Indian village Miranda was visiting the babies in one of the tepees.  

Clemence wandered up to Miranda to ask "where is Laura".
"I don't know, you will have to go and look for her" said Miranda

Florence was pretending to be an Indian woman
looking after the babies Leo and Mabel in a tepee

Clemence spotted Peggy Sue and asked her "have you seen Laura".
Peggy Sue replied that she didn't know.

Leo and Mabel caught sight of Clemence and wanted a cuddle.

Clemence gave Mabel a great big cuddle

Peggy Sue realised that there were some babies in the tepee
but at least there weren't as many as at the Sasha Festival earlier this year!

Leo and Mabel came out to see Peggy Sue

Leo babbled to Peggy Sue...

...while Mabel held up her arms for a cuddle!

Peggy Sue sat down on the grass with the babies and Clemence the bear.
She felt slightly less overwhelmed by babies than at the festival!

For anyone who doesn't understand why Peggy Sue (a very old wooden Shoenhut doll) went to the 2014 Sasha festival you need to visit Lorraine's blog and what happened to her when she got there!

Kayla the American Indian girl was sitting enjoying the sunshine in front of her tepee.
She could see the beautiful horse called Stratford grazing nearby.

Molly came to visit Kayla and asked all about what it was like living in a tepee.

Kayla decided to show Molly some of her treasures,
such as her bow and arrow, papoose, little drum
and her new friend the Canadian Indian boy (from my doll cabinet).

She explained that the Bison painted
on her tepee meant courage and honour.
Other symbols on her tepee also have meanings.

In the meantime Henry the Cowboy mounted his horse

Clemence the bear climbed onto Stratford to ask Henry "have you seen Laura?".  

"No, I haven't seen her yet" said Henry,
who was really pleased to see Mossy's cousin and gave him a great big hug.

Laura was riding Emily, her beautiful white horse

Stevie came to admire Emily

Laura told Stevie how wonderful her horse was to ride

Clemence approached Stevie and asked "Have you seen Laura?"

"Yes, I have" said Stevie, "She is riding her horse".
Clemence was so pleased he gave Stevie a cuddle

"Laura!" cried Clemence "I've found you at last"

Henry and Stratford trotted round to Laura and Stevie came to greet Stratford

Stevie stroked Stratford on the nose as Henry and Laura chatted

Meanwhile Reuben was stroking the pony which Nicholas James was trying to ride

"You know Reuben, I wish I could ride Stratford,
I feel a bit silly riding this little pony" said Nicholas James

Lorraine and I had a lot of fun and laughs trying to get the two tepees to stand on a windy afternoon in my back garden.  They stood fine on the dining room table, but proved a bit fiddly in the garden so I'm experimenting with a solution to make them really easy to put up (and stay up!).  Henry has taken his tepee home with him.  More about the tepees in another post.

Florence and the Navajo mat from Lorraine

Florence sitting in our tepee with the lovely woven mat which Lorraine brought for my daughter all the way from the Navajo Indians near the Grand Canyon.  The Navajo traditional house is a hogan (made of wood and mud) rather than a tepee.  Lorraine also gave my daughter a beautiful silver bracelet from the Navajo.

We tried to dress all the girls as if they were from the time of Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House on the Prairie), though Laura is wearing more modern cowgirl clothes (part of the 2012 Festival raffle doll ensemble won by Laura H).  I know that Nicholas James would love a cowboy outfit especially after seeing Henry's clothes, so I'll need to try making something.  Reuben quite fancies a Native American costume, though he knows that wearing a full feather headdress is something only the revered elders of a tribe are allowed to wear, so he is asking for a couple of feathers in a headband instead.