The Zyriek Zoo: All about American Girl Sunday

The only thing we had planned for Sunday was to visit the American Girl Place store on Michigan Avenue. Luckily this worked out fantastically because the Chicago Marathon was taking place on the southend of Michigan Avenue and most of downtown. We avoided most of that which was great since there are 45,000 participants and it was a warm sunny day!!

The girls were so excited. We had brunch reservations and decided to arrive at the store right when it opened so the girls could get their dolls' hair styled before brunch. We then sat down for brunch which was very good. We enjoyed the food and the fun little games they have for you at your table. With our stomachs full we headed to the T-Shirt "store" in the store and let the girls create and print a t-shirt for themselves and their dolls. This was something we had not seen in the Dallas store so it was fun for the girls.

Then on to shopping. The girls knew they could pick 2 things plus a small thing to have for their dolls. Then we told them they could ask for some things for Christmas that either we could get them or Santa Claus could bring. Gary walked around behind the girls and filled up a shopping bag with a few things for Christmas which we were able to ship home for a small shipping fee. That worked out very well and will save us in the long run!! We really enjoyed the HUGE store and seeing everything from the catalog. Being the CPA that I am asked the checkout girls what the store sold on an average day. She told me $250,000 was a pretty typical day's goal and during the holiday season it was double that to $500,000. I was amazed, but not really when I think about it. They have pretty large price tags on most things in the store. We had a great time and the girls really enjoyed it.

We stopped by the Nike store on Michigan Avenue so I could grab some LiveStrong apparel and it was a madhouse. They are one of the official sponsors of the Chicago Marathon. They had 3 floors of marathon apparel for sale and had a live twitter and video feed of the finish line on a huge TV on the first floor. It was very chaotic so I grabbed the t-shirt that looked best and we headed back out the door!!

We got back to the hotel and finished packing and headed for the train station so we could ride back to the airport. What a great trip. Very few hiccups and the girls had a good time. We definitely should have worn pedometers but our hotel was in a great place where we were just 2 blocks off Michigan and could walk so many places. Great fall break!!