My oldest and your oldest are the same age I think. I went with Barbies and pink shit even though it wasn't what I had growing up. She still doesn't want to give them up and just a few years ago, My Little Pony was all the rage with her "group" of friends. WTF? She has been tailgating and football gaming with me since she was a baby. She loves the tailgates and she knows a boatload about football....enough so that her future husband will be thanking me. She's a tomboy. Low key on the make-up, nothing too tight or too short but she loves lace. She made the JV soccer team as a freshman for the upcoming season and tonight she is at her first high school football game. I noticed a little bit of mascara.....phuck.
Yep. My oldest starts high school on Monday. Here in Plano, the high schools are 9th and 10th grade, then two high schools feed into one of three senior high schools for 11th and 12th. She will attend Plano Senior High in two years. Since I figure that much of the socializing this fall will take place at the home games for Plano Senior, I have told her I will take her to them, send her off to the Clark (her school)/Vines (other feeder high school) student sections. Then, I will go sit somewhere else. The problem for me with going to Plano games is that I've lived and taught here for nearly 20 years now, so I can't walk two feet at one of the games without running into a group of people I know. Still, the kids at the school where I teach go to Vines, then Plano--so it'll be fun this fall to see my former students playing football, marching in the band, etc. Two weeks ago, we were in Chicago for a cousin's wedding. It was the first time Sloane looked truly grown up in the dresses she wore to the rehearsal and the wedding--along with some tasteful make up. She normally wears no make up to school or anywhere (though, she's suggested she will probably wear a little now that she's in high school.) I think make up isn't too fun for her because she's used to stage make up for ballet performances, so it's lost some appeal.
That was expensive stuff. We bought them for Christmas, then that spring, went to Chicago and to the store. Miserable experience. I suggested they put a bar in the back for dads. I think we left with two each, and that was the big spend of the whole time in Chicago. Lord knows where those expensive dolls ended up.
I don't remember if it was Bloomingdales or Nordstrom, but a buddy and I took our significant others downtown in Chicago to eventually end up at a Cubs game. There was "The Pub" in the back of the store and it was awesome. We sat there and watched sports while the ladies shopped. Head start on the game!
Unfortunately for us, there is an American Girl Store in Dallas at the Galleria, so it became a birthday and Christmas tradition for both of my girls. They didn't seem to realize how lucky they were to have one, let alone TWELVE or so, American Girl dolls. We happened to live in one of the few cities that have the store. However, back in 2012 in Chicago, that didn't stop the girls from looking out our window at the Whitehall Hotel and gazing down at the American Girl Store a block away. Yep, they went...
No, I don't do ebay. But I will tell you one thing, after that fiasco in Chicago, I don't think I saw a single young girl, within 5 or 6 blocks of that damn store that did not have that freakin' white bag. Scandalous!