Our day in the big apple
and our amazing experience at the American Girl Doll Store!
An amazing and exciting 5th Birthday present for our little girl!
I surprised Mara with a special Mommy and Daughter Day to the Big Apple for her 5th birthday. Even though her birthday isn't for a few more weeks, I thought this would be a good time of the year to take a trip to New York and beat the Christmas crowds. Samara thought it was the best day of her life and had an amazing time. 
Samara took her first train ride to NYC and we went with my friend Selena and her daughter Jenna. The girls were all smiles all day long and had hours of fun shopping, walking, talking and being goofy little girls together. We left around 8:30 and took a train from Hamilton Station to Penn Station in NY. It took us about 1hr 20 mins to get there and then the girls had the time of their lives in the cab ride. They thought it was awesome to be in a car without a car seat and seat belts. Although Mara wanted to be buckled for the first fifteen minutes and then when they got a hold of the tv and maps they started pushing all the buttons and playing in the cab. It was about a 14 block drive from the train to the American Girl Doll Store and from the time we got in the car she must have asked about 20 times, "Are we there yet, Mom?"
Mommy and Mara in our first cab ride together in NYC. She wanted to sit on my lap and buckle together. It was so much fun to let her be a big girl for the day!
The American Girl Doll Store was something I have never experienced before and was a little girls dream. Samara was just amazed at everything she saw and had a hard time deciding where to start. We spent the first hour just trying to decide on a doll so that she had a doll to bring with her to our lunch date. After a long decision and a little help from the store employees we decided on McKenna, the doll of the year. At first Mara wanted a "just like me doll" but then decided that the hair on the just like me dolls just wasn't long enough so we searched and almost decided on Julie or Caroline but ended up falling in love with McKenna!
Finally after a long decision, McKenna was chosen by Mara and after looking at all of her accessories we noticed that her cast and crutches set featured Mara's name on the cast and we knew that the tough decision of picking just the right doll was meant to be. We have never seen anything in print with Mara's name on it before so this was really exciting more to me than her but she was pretty excited to see it too!
mmmm.....Does anyone think that maybe Mara wishes she wore glasses and that's why that was the first accessory she picked for her doll so that she could wear them too. Its so funny put when she takes the glasses off her she says, "well McKenna is going to take the glasses off and put in her contacts now" I think she is definitely picking up a lot of things from her Mommy and wants to act just like me....I'm flattered but really Mara glasses aren't that fun in real life! I hate to be the one to break it to you!
We even bought the look a like outfit so Samara could look just like McKenna and she couldn't wait to go to school on Friday with her doll and her new shirt.
Mara posing with the McKenna stand up model and below with Jenna!
We are wishing McKenna warm wishes for a successful ear piercing! She even gave her a little kiss goodbye. She returned within 5 minutes with beautiful new star earrings and we even got 5 extra pairs to change them later. I think that was the biggest bargain of the entire store(it only cost $14)!!!
We were celebrating Samara's 5th birthday so she got stickers for her and McKenna to wear during lunch and got to have a candle and be serenaded during lunch. Jenna had a blast with her doll and was feeding her and giving her juice too. 
While waiting for our main course we had a delicious sampler of appetizers to choose from. We sampled chicken salad, pretzel bites, grapes, carrots and kabobs made with cheese, tomatoes and cucumbers. It was a tasty start to our lunch!
Samara was to busy playing with McKenna and her new glasses that she decided that she didn't want to put McKenna in her highchair and she didn't want anything to eat either. She was to involved with giving her lots of hugs and love and totally obsessed with her glasses. Mara would have bought every single accessory in the store if I would have let her. She wanted the earrings, the hair kit with rollers, the watch...but I put a stop there and we just picked the three accessories and asked Santa to bring some other things at Christmas! Your could literally buy anything you could imagine for your doll. She did con me into getting the carrying case which I was glad to have because she carried that doll the entire day all around the city block to block! Such a trooper!
Samara getting ready to dig in to her mac and cheese! I think she took about three bites and then was done. She just wanted to save all the room for Dylan's Candy Shop!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR SAMARA
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!
So three hours later and a big dent in my wallet we headed out onto the streets of NYC and I was just in awe of all the amazing shops and super expensive stores, most of which I have never even heard of. The priceless parts of the day were watching the kids on the steps of St.Patricks Cathedral chasing the pigeons, throwing some pennies in the fountains, stopping at a corner hot dog stand, and playing on the big Piano! We decided it would be a great idea to go take a look inside and it was absolutely breathtaking. One of the most beautiful churches I have ever been in. We took the girls up to the alter and said our prayers and then took a look around.
The cornerstone of St. Patrick’s Cathedral was laid in 1858 and her doors swept open in 1879. It was over 150 years ago when Archbishop John Hughes announced his inspired ambition to build the “new” St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
After we headed out the cathedral doors we took a stroll down 5th avenue and landed on the doorstop of one of the most famous toy stores in America. The only place you would ever find a $1500 stuffed animal and "The Big Piano" which could keep your child entertained for a really long time. We even managed to come out of there with only spending $9.07 and that was for a balloon gift for Connor which will hopefully keep us busy during hurricane "Sandy"!
and we took Mara with Batman to show Connor! Pretty impressive Lego making at FAO
Dancing around and pretending to be the dancing queens with her friend Jenna. They really did take over the piano and at first there were a lot of kids on there and Mara and Jenna didn't want to get off so they just kept going and I think the groups changed at least three times but they had "Happy Feet"!
Steppin and groovin to the beats of the big piano. What an experience for the girls. They had so much fun running up and down and making music to their twinkling toes!
And finally after a little over an hour in the toy store(amazingly with out Mara asking for one single thing but still strutting through with her doll and carrying case drawing much attention to all the on lookers) we were on our way to what Mara had been asking for since her first step in NYC. I don't know if she was more excited to go to the candy store or get her first American Girl Doll but it was a close call. As soon as she stepped foot in the candy store she didn't know where to go first! We selected our container and a candy picking we went!
Here all the famous people have their candy bins featuring their favorite candy and a special note with their signatures. It was pretty cool to see what all the stars favorite candy's were! Mara's favorite candy was the sour watermelon strips!
We have been in New York since about 10:30 am and it was reaching close to 5:30pm and you could see it in Mara's eyes that she was starting to really feel sleepy. A ton of walking and a ton of fun and a whole world of new experiences finally was catching up to her. We were downstairs and she wanted to take McKenna out of her carrying case and I kept saying please be careful because you don't want to lose your glasses for your doll and what do you know I asked her, "so does McKenna still have her glasses on?" and the tears started rolling! Thank goodness our prayers to St. Anthony worked and after about 20 minutes of searching we found them back on the steps amazingly not broken!
Our trip to NYC may have been one for the record books but it will definitely be one of my most memorable and special moments being shared with Samara! It was all the little things that made it completely priceless! As my friend Selena said, We could have gone to NYC taken the train, played on a big piano, threw some coins in the fountains, ate our $4 hot dog and enjoyed our $15 cab ride and called it a day but really when we were all said and done it was a super special day for a super special almost 5 year old little girl, who we like to call "Matilda", but Samara will always be our big girl and moments like this one are meant to last a lifetime!
Mara and Jenna saying a big Thank You to the best Mommy's Around!
and now sleeping with her new baby...
too funny that their teeth look identical in this picture!
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