A Birthday Weekend

Miss M turned 7 on Friday. Which just happened to be an early-out day for school for Fall Break/end of the first quarter. 

I got to pick her up and that delighted me. I love spending time with my kids and especially on their birthdays. 

Can you guess her theme this year? By the shirt and banner? Well, it's American Girl! And as someone who had to wait until she was 8 for her doll I was very excited for this special day. I really wanted M to get an historical doll, I have Molly, but she was set on a girl that looked like her. 

Introducing Veronica!

But, the real present was on Saturday we drove to Chicago to spend some time at American Girl Place. M did not know she was getting a doll at home, she thought she was going to buy one in Chicago. That would have been okay, but it was even more fun walking in with a doll ready to go. My heart was so happy to get to spend time with her for some special girl time. 

    

M and Veronica got to spend some time at the salon for the special girl and doll hairstyle of the month! Her cape even says "It's my birthday!" 

And then we got to have a very fancy lunch together and go shopping. My heart literally could have burst at how wonderful and special it all was. They even bring a plate and cup for the dolls. 

But the fun didn't end there. We then left the city proper and went to Medieval Times for some more family fun. And you know what? We all loved it. Watching C watch the show was among my favorite parenting things ever. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much but we had so so so much fun and I would highly recommend it.

After a night in the hotel we had one more fun activity planned for the day and it was visiting the Shedd Aquarium. We enjoyed the belugas, the dolphins and the rockhoppers. (The Magellanic penguins were good too, as were the rest of the aquarium.) 

We had such a great weekend away. Full of fun, love, fish and family. It was truly so special and I am so thankful we could make it happen. It was the perfect way to celebrate my girl and our family. We haven't had a family trip that wasn't purely to visit family since before COVID so it was really quite lovely to adventure together.