An Adventure (or Two), Part 2

Alas, the long awaited ending to my birthday adventure (which took place over half a year ago) is here. I'm well aware that I promised it would be up before the end of the year, but this time I have a perfectly acceptable reason: I started watching "Downton Abbey." Now, for those of you who have not seen me since Christmas, this may seem a rather feeble excuse. But until I've watched all five series two or three times, everything is "Downton Abbey" to me. Yes, I am quite happy to sit in front of the television and forget about all my blogging obligations for the next few months.

I suppose it's time to get on with my birthday story since you've all been waiting so very patiently. You probably skipped that last paragraph anyway.

An Adventure (or Two), Part 2

Last July I ended Part 1 with the intentions of taking Isabelle and her goody bag goodies outside for some pictures in the gorgeous summer weather. I never actually got all the necessary pictures, so I'm afraid I cannot show you what came in the goody bag. Until it gets a little lighter and dries up a bit outside, I shall simply give you a list of the items in the bag.

• An enormous "Isabelle Dances into the Spotlight" poster
• A doll-sized poster of Jackie Sanchez (Isabelle's favorite ballerina)
• A human-sized movie ticket
• A doll-sized ticket
• A sheet of Isabelle stickers (I think there are five)
• A doll-sized plastic container of popcorn
• A doll-sized Isabelle T-shirt

There were plenty of items to begin with (the popcorn and T-shirt are especially delightful), but since they handed one out to each person, I now have three of each item.

Anyway, after we left the theater, we drove to Lincoln Park where we had a picnic by the water and watched the ferries. It was very beautiful and it reminded me of McKenna, Girl of the Year 2012, who lived in Seattle.

After we ate I took Kit (my very first American Girl), Filumena (my precious My American Girl), and Isabelle (the new girl, of course) onto the beach for some pictures. 

Filumena, Izzy, and Kit were very obliging and leaned against a rather large piece of driftwood. I fancy I would be terrified to stand in front of a colossal chunk of wood.

Naturally, Izzy got the most pictures taken. She really is lovely.

Kit and Izzy were quite intrigued by the seaweed, which happened to be the perfect size for them.

Filumena was lucky enough to find a seashell. It is now sitting in her bathroom in my bedroom.

My parents were the ones to find the seaweed and shell and set them up with the dolls. We had a great deal of fun.

After we left Lincoln Park (finding our way back to the car was an adventure in itself), we drove home. I read about half of Isabelle's first book in the car. It's a fairly good series, even if it's not my favorite. I think my favorite GOTY story is Nicki's or Chrissa's.

When we got home I was tired and it was dark outside, so I had to wait until the next day to really play with Izzy. But, that was my birthday, and it was a very enjoyable day. This is really the end of the adventure, but I still have so many pictures of Isabelle to show you, so I am including a sort of review of her. Just think of it as my apology to you for practically abandoning the blog.

Even though you've already seen her, here is the queen of all other Isabelles.

Her shirt has a ballerina and pink sequins on it, and the ballerina has a small triangle of tulle sewn on for a tutu.

Her capris are, unfortunately, stiff and a bit out-of-scale, but the cuffs on the bottoms are made out of a very soft knit.

Her shoes are delightful. They're better than many of the shoes American Girl makes now, and they're very sparkly and pretty.

Her hair is long, thick, and the perfect shade of blond. It has a lovely mix of dark and light blond streaks, and it reminds me of my hair when I was younger.

The one "special" thing that Isabelle dolls come with is a hot pink hair extension. Anyone who knows me probably wouldn't think that dyed hair, especially pink, is my style. It certainly is not, but Isabelle's extension is wonderful. It's just a chunk of hair sewn to a fabric strip with three plastic hooks at the top. The hooks go into three flesh-colored loops of ribbon sewn to her wig cap. They stay in very well, but the only problem is that pink hair doesn't show up very well without considerable effort.

While I was at the store, I bought her accessories. These coral fingerless gloves the black jacket are from them.

I didn't know that her jacket was made out of knit until I opened up her accessories at home. I do wish I had known, because I actually wasn't terribly excited about the jacket. Once I realized that it was made out of soft, stretchy knit, it became my favorite doll coat for all of two months.

Hooray! I have even more pictures of Isabelle's face.

Her hair comes in two twists, and once the larger one is taken out, her bangs like to completely cover her face. I generally keep her hair out of her eyes, but once in a while I let it down.

Here she is in her Performance Set. I bought this at AGP Seattle too.

It comes with a charming little crown which perches atop her head beautifully. I think I would wear this crown every day if it were mine.

And here is one last picture of Isabelle. That's one of the T-shirts that came in the movie goody bags.

Well, that's it. It's finally over. I will try my very best to blog more frequently, and now that I'm finished with my online English class, I shall feel guiltless when I do. Come to think of it, the English Class is story which very few of you know. Perhaps I shall write about that next. Until then, I wish you all a lovely day and a relaxing weekend.