girls morning out

Alli's friend Faith turned three a few weeks ago, and for her gift, we wanted to do something fun with her, like a little girl manicure night or something like that. Well, we finally decided on a Saturday morning doughnut run at Carol Lee's, downtown. Which is funny, since I have an Aunt Carol and Uncle Lee. ;)


Also funny is how the word "downtown" changes a sentence. It makes it seem much more than it really is. Consider. I live in a smallish Kansas country town in the middle of nowhere. Seriously. The biggest city is an hour away. We have a Walgreens. Our Dillons grocery stores have one competitor...ALDI. Rush hour means you have to sit behind two cars at the stoplight. We do not have a Starbucks.


I repeat. We do not have a Starbucks. (rescue me.)


But when I say we went out for doughnuts downtown, it adds a considerable amount of flair. We went downtown for doughnuts. Suddenly there are neon lights and taxi cabs and a subway station and women in high heels and men in business suits carrying briefcases and talking feverishly on their cell phones while they make their way into work.


I was going somewhere with this.


Oh yes. Doughnuts.


It was great watching Alli at the display case. This is the first time the child has ever set foot into a doughnut shop. She knew right away what she wanted.

Gigantoid Doughnut, the biggest one in the case. The thing's as big as her face. She ate most of it, like she has a sweet tooth or something. I'm shocked, utterly shocked that I produced a child with a bent toward sugar.

After that, we went for a leisurely walk downtown (see? instant neon).

I had never taken her into Toy Parade before, so we went in there to browse. Toy Parade is where all the cool toys live until two-income families come to take them home. They always set this giraffe outside of their front door, and Alli was instantly smitten.

I thought it would be proper and all to document her first shoplifting attempt. You just never know when these pieces of evidence might come in handy.

For someone who has never been into a toy store (I know, I know...no doughnuts, no toys....such deprivation), this was quite an experience. She and Faith looked at jewelry, dolls, train sets, books, stuffed animals, play food, jewelry boxes, and on and on and on. This. Is a cool store.

I made a mental list of some Christmas ideas, and Katie purchased a few early Christmas gifts, and then she wanted to show me the salon where Faith gets her hair cut. They have scented shampoo, funky little cars for seats, movies, and paint streaks of color in their hair before they cut it. Pretty cool little place! Right here in my small town!

It was a great morning, spending time with my girlfriend while our girls got to play together. We tried to sneak in some photo ops before, during, and after our doughnut run. Between sunflower fields and city murals, we got some cute ones.

You can run over here and take a look!

Ha ha. Get it? Run over here. And the photo is of Alli running.

Carol Lee's doughnuts?

The play on words today - it's just crazy.