Willow comes aboard

Recently, on the very fun doll forum at American Girl Playthings, I came across a person selling this beautiful, cut hair Kaya.

I thought she was perfect for a "girl of today" doll, since she no longer had those long braids of Kaya. Also, I've always wanted to play with my Kaya's hair, but didn't want to take down those original braids. The seller also mentioned that she would consider a trade. So I sent her a picture of the re-furbished Josefina, that we had fixed up from her horrendous state.

The seller was instantly in love with our Fosterfina and agreed to a 'trade'. So trusting one another explicitly we mailed out our respective dolls (UPS with tracking) and waited. It only took two days, and our lovely "Willow" was here! What a great deal. Welcome to the family, Willow.

Nora's adventures conclude

We had lots of fun with Nora. It was very hard to send her on her way to her next host. We are going to miss her very much.

Goodbye!

Julie

We went to American Girl Boutique and Bistro in Atlanta last weekend. Look who joined our family from that store:

Ms. Julie Albright
Now we need to get a wide angle lens to get everyone in one photograph!

Nora vacations in Florida!

Vacation in Florida

 

After my host family took me to AG-Atlanta, they took me to visit Florida (although I was just in Florida with my first host.) This visit we got to go to the Gulf Coast. It was certainly hot and sunny down in Florida. Here I am being given a WARM welcome.

 

 

Julie and I enjoyed a day at the Reddington Beach on the Gulf coast of sunny Florida. Being that it was a weekday in September, we basically had the beach to ourselves.    

We went to Florida to visit with my hosts' grandma. She lives in a really nice retirement area where most of the folks only live there in the winter. So basically we had the run of the streets. Playing street hockey was lots of fun. I had a bit of trouble with Molly's skates at first, but I learned pretty quickly.  

Look at me go!!!

And, of course, being a retirement community there was a chance to play shuffleboard. 

Here are Julie and I facing off.

Nora travels to Georgia!

Georgia

We traveled to Georgia and took lots of pictures. However, we are only going to share a few with you here. It was hard to pick which ones to post and write about, but here goes.  

First is AG Boutique and Bistro in Atlanta! I can't believe we are here.  This is going to be so much fun.  

We had lots of fun posing with the various girls in the store. I even got to help my host pick out a Julie for her to adopt into her family. I couldn't believe this girl here....it was ME! So here is a picture of me and my twin me baking some goodies with the new sweet treats set.  

After we shopped for like, forever, we finally got to go eat at the Bistro. This is Earhart and I trying to decide what to eat for lunch. Julie ate with us too, she's at the other end of this table.

After we did the fun girl kind of thing (American Girl shopping!) we did some fun stuff for the boys. We went to see expensive imported sports cars. Here are Julie and I as we hang on to the back of an Italian sports car....a Lamborghini.  

Ah, this is the life. After a hard day of shopping and browsing, Julie and I got to relax by the pool.

Then we got into the car (again) to continue our trip on to Florida.  No car trip is complete without a nice BIG cup of coffee.

Nora goes Downtown Knoxville

We have been having so much fun with our Traveling Nora.

Downtown Knoxville

 This morning as I was taking Earhart for his morning walk, we got to meet the BIG dog who lives at our host's home. He's really friendly, but his size usually scares people. I wasn't too afraid because I had Earhart to protect me.

As we walked around the yard, we realized we hadn't been up in the treehouse yet, so we climbed up and had a look around. We could see really far from there. But not as far as where we would go later in the afternoon!

The Sunsphere!

It started to rain, but we went to visit the Sunsphere anyway. It wasn't good for pictures, so here's a great picture from the Wiki entry where you can read more about this 266 foot tall tower that was built for the 1982 World's Fair that was held in Knoxville. The glass sphere is 74 feet in diameter! And yes, you can go up in it (and we did) and have a wonderful view of the city and the Tennessee River. The glass sphere part has real gold flecks embedded in the glass to give it that permanent golden glow from the outside. The inside has five levels (once you get up to the sphere part!) but you're only allowed on level 3 right now. The other levels are being re-constructed (1982 WAS a long time ago, you know) and a restaurant inside the sphere is supposed to re-open this month. For more technical information you can visit Sunsphere.info.

This is me from the inside looking out. It's kind of hard to see very far in the picture because the camera couldn't see well through the gold tinted glass, but we could. We would have been able to see further if it hadn't been raining. It still was a great view and a little bit scary.

Earhart thought he was on top of the world!

Later we went to the library. Earhart and Toast had to wait outside, because dogs aren't allowed in the library. They look so sad out there, don't they?

I chose a book about Josefina. I just love reading about all my sisters!

Our last stop with to recycle the plastics and a few glass bottles. It was still raining, but I tried to help and stay dry at the same time.

More fun with Nora

 
Kailey and I start our morning off with a good exercise routine. Just watch our muscles bulge.

Darcy, Kailey and I played with the pattern blocks.

It was a beautiful day, so I finally got to try out what fishing is all about. I didn't catch anything, and I ended up loosing my bait AND my bobber. It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be.

Now this was relaxing, as long as I hung on tightly and didn't fall off into that dirt below me!

Then we had to go to piano lessons. This is youngest son as he tries to teach me some songs. The piano teacher thought I was just beautiful. Well, of course she did!

Some of us played a board game later in the day.
This is me with my new friends, Kailey, Jess, Kaya, Samantha and Darcy.

More Adventures with Nora

A few more pictures 

 

We started Sunday morning off by going to church.

Then Jess and I played a little Sunday afternoon football.

And climbed the Dogwood tree in the front yard.

We had a birthday party with all those cool Totally Tropical doll sized party wear and treats. It wasn't really anybody's birthday, but we had fun.

Oh, and here's a picture of me at a falls in Dollywood that I forgot to post last time!

Traveling Toast

Toast is the sweetest little American Girl Coconut dog. He's come to spend a little time with us during his travels.  

 Traveling Toast arrives at his first host's home in Tennessee    

Toast meets the other AG pets that currently live there.  

After Toast got settled in his new home, he went out golfing with his new family.

 

"This ball is huge!" he says.  

After a LONG walk on the beautifully landscaped golf course, Toast is ready for a rest.    

Later in the week we take a trip to Dollywood.  

Toast tries to get on the Thunderhead (roller-coaster) but the ride officials say he's too small.    

"Finally! Something that I can do!"    

Toast gets to meet the real dog that lives with his host's family.    

Toast and Traveling Earhart have to wait outside on the trip to the library. No dogs allowed!  

While we were downtown, we went to the Sunsphere. Toast has a great view of Knoxville from up here (even though it's raining)  

 The next day we stayed home and Toast got to climb trees at his host's home.

 

Toast curling up to rest with one of the real pets.  

Toast's last day with his Tennessee host it's raining outside, so I can't get off the porch and go play!    

Oh well, I'll just stay inside and play with my new friends.Goodbye sweet little puppy!  We're going to miss you!

Nora goes to Dollywood!

Dollywood (September 9, 2007)

Dollywood theme park is a one-of-a-kind Smoky Mountain Family Adventure! Spanning 125 acres and nestled in the lush foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, near Gatlinburg, Dollywood is one of the most popular family vacation destinations. Read more about that at their web site Dollywood.com

I just had to stop at this road sign on our way to Dollywood on Saturday. I was confused as to which direction the road we are traveling on was heading.  Can you tell?

We are finally here. Well, actually it's only about a 40 minute drive, but when you're my size, it seems like it takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R to get anywhere.

I tried this ride (The Timber Tower) but the worker said that I was a bit small and would probably fall out into the water when the tower tilted. Oh, well. I look pretty cute trying out the seat. 

 Now, some of these rides are just too frightening. This is the Mystery Mine. My host family rides everything. They're pretty much fearless. I just watched.

I tried the seats at the Thunderhead (a wooden roller-coaster) too. Again, I didn't pass the height requirement.

So I'll just settle for watching the craftsmen at work.This is Mr. Cal. He's working with leather.

I watched, with fascination, the glass blower making a vase out of really, really REALLY hot sand! How that works, I can never understand.

I got to try to pick out a duck for a prize in the games area. I didn't win anything, but it was fun to play.

Ah, the Carousel!! Now this was something that I wasn't too small to get on. I did have trouble hanging on to this slick pole when the ride started and the horse began moving up and down.

They have a real steam locomotive at Dollywood that you can take for a 5 mile ride. We didn't go on it because my host was afraid I would get too sooty. She said she usually gets soot in her eyes and on her clothes when she rides. I didn't want to get Nicki's pretty tie-top outfit dirty, so I just posed with the engine.

There are many beautiful trees and flowers in Dollywood. It's very shaded and we had lots of fun there. It certainly was a long, hot day, but I enjoyed it.

I was so exhausted when we left, though, that I fell asleep in the car on the way home. What a day!