Maggie's Memos AND Tess's Tidbits: Ladies Retreat

Okay, so this actually ended up being a Saturday post instead of a Friday post.  Close enough, right? :}  We're still figuring out this whole "getting back to some sort of blogging schedule" thing. 

So Tess and I decided we'd narrate this post together.  Since typing our thoughts in different colors has worked well for us before, we'll do the same thing today.

I'll be in blue...

...and I, Tess, will be in purple.

Thursday morning (September 26th), we left bright and early to head to Ladies Retreat.  I personally wouldn't have minded sleeping in a bit, but apparently I was the only one who felt that way.

It...um...really wasn't all that early, Maggie.

Yeah, yeah, whatever.  Anyway, we all piled into Grandmama's van.  Chrissa, one of Grandmama's newer dolls,  and Kaitlyn had come along too, so things were a bit crowded.  I wasn't looking forward to a long car ride all squished in one seat.

Our first stop was at one of the newer Goodwill stores.  Mama didn't have much success finding anything this time around, but we still enjoyed ourselves immensely. :)

Once we'd finished at Goodwill, the humans decided it was time for lunch.  Good thing, too.  I was starving!!

Mama and Mimi were working on collecting all of the 75th Anniversary Wizard of Oz toys, so we went to McDonald's and got Happy Meals.

We had delicious cheeseburgers...

...and salty fries!

Chrissa and I got the Cowardly Lion, and Tess and Kaitlyn got Elphabas.  Since Tess and I aren't really into The Wizard of Oz, we decided we'd pass our toys along to Tess's little sister Ella, who's a huge fan of the movie. 

The humans made a few more stops, and it was getting a little warm in the car, so whenever they left us in the car, they used Grandmama's windshield shade to make a little mini tent for us.  Classy, I know.

One of the places Mama was most excited about visiting was Toys R Us.  There is no longer a Toys R Us where we live, so whenever she has a chance to visit one, she seizes the opportunity. :)  Mama found some wonderful treasures here, and she even bought Zelfs for Maggie and me.  We decided to wait to open them until we got to our hotel. 

Once we'd finished the never-ending shopping spree (did we ever mention how much Mama, Mimi, and Grandmama love to shop?) and a visit with Mama's other aunt and her friend, we headed for our hotel.  Just when I thought we'd be stuck in the car forever, we finally got there!  Here's a picture of the room we shared with Kaitlyn and Mimi.

Tess and I decided to test out the bed.  Oh, and the bear is Mama's.  She sleeps with him every night.  I guess he was a present from Papa when she was in high school.  He's definitely seen better days.

Here's a look at the other side of our room.

And our bathroom...a room we dolls never have to worry about. ;)

Grandmama's room was right next to ours with a connecting door.

Wasn't her bed just lovely?

Once we'd brought everything in, we decided to open our Zelfs.  I got a pearlized Lil' D and Tess got a glittery Angelala.

Here's a closer look at Lil' D...

...and Angelala.  

Mama said that the Zelfs we ended up with were quite fitting.  Whatever that's supposed to mean.

Shortly after we arrived, Mama, Mimi, and Grandmama headed over to the first meeting for their retreat.  We decided to lay low in the hotel rooms.  

Suddenly, Chrissa popped around the communicating door.  "Guys!  You'll never guess what I just found!"

It was a huge Lalaloopsy stash.  I'm not much of a Lalaloopsy fan (they're a bit too "cute" for my taste), but it was still kinda fun to see so many in one place.

Yes, Mama had mentioned that she and Grandmama and Mimi had found several Lalaloopsies at a secondhand store.  They'd decided to go through them while they were on Retreat.  

What they didn't know is that we sorted through them first! >:}  We kept everything in the packages so we wouldn't get in trouble.

After a while, Grandmama, Mimi, and Mama came back and told us it was time for bed.  Phooey.  We all got into our jammies and went to sleep.

The next day, Mama, Grandmama and Mimi had all sorts of grand plans.  They were going to attend the meetings and visit all sorts of little antique shops and things.  They invited us to accompany them, but we decided it would be fun to have the hotel room to ourselves all day.  It was declared an official "pajama day". ;)

Chrissa invited me to come read with her on Grandmama's bed, which sounded delightful! :)  We settled ourselves against Grandmama's pillows...and to be honest, didn't get much reading done.  We were too busy discussing our favorite Jane Austen plots and characters.  This trip was really the first opportunity we'd had to visit with Chrissa, since she was a newer member of Grandmama's doll family.  It was wonderful to discover another Austen fan amongst our acquaintances. :)   

I had brought my favorite book, of course.

I was amazed at Chrissa's book!  It had all of Jane Austen's complete novels in it!!  The front was beautifully engraved with a portrait of Jane Austen.  I found myself hoping that somehow a copy of that book would find its way to my shelf. :}

And while those two were reading their *ick* Jane Austen books and generally geeking out over random Austen facts, Kaitlyn and I were raiding the snacks Grandmama, Mimi, and Mama had collected from the Ladies Retreat meeting and channel surfing.  

Eventually, Tess and Chrissa got tired of their "reading circle" and came to join us.  And, I'm not at all ashamed to say, this is pretty much how we spent most of the day. :}  Mama doesn't let us watch too much TV at home, and there were too many other humans around for us to do much exploring.  Don't judge. 

I don't think our readers would judge us, Maggie.  I would like to point out that we are usually much more productive with our day. :"}  It was lovely to have no obligations or responsibilities, however. 

Here's a closer look at some of our snacks, just to make you hungry. ;)  Don't you wish you were a doll and didn't have to worry about annoying things like calories? ;)

Oh, this box of "chickadees" from Target was one of Mimi's snacks.  They were so amazing...even more delicious than Goldfish! 

More snacky goodness.

After a long day of snacks and TV (and a few relay races and other random activities that we threw in every once in a while), we all headed to bed.  The next day was the last day of Retreat (and Tess's birthday, too).

Bright and early the next morning, I awakened to the sound of my friends shouting "Happy Birthday" as loud as they possibly could.  

Hah hah...the look on your face when you shot up from under the covers was priceless!!  Did we surprise you?

Definitely!  To be honest, I had wondered if anyone would remember my birthday.  I was thrilled by the gesture, although sleeping in just a bit longer would have been nice, too. :}  It took me a while to figure out where I was and how to respond.

Ah, sleeping in is for wimps. ;)

Um...

Chrissa, Kaitlyn, and I had asked Mama to keep her eye out for a special birthday present for Tess while they were out and about.  We'd quickly wrapped it in a spare napkin that morning while Tess was still sleeping.

I had no idea what to expect when I opened my present...

...but Mama had perfect taste.  It was an adorable little house to go with the other houses I collect. 

Isn't it just perfect? :D

I gave Maggie a huge thank you hug when I found out she'd orchestrated the whole thing. 

But the birthday surprised weren't over.  It turned out that Mama had one up her sleeve.

She had Tess open it, but said it was for both of us to share.  

What could it be?

Oh. My. Goodness.  Our very own LAPTOP!!!!!!  

A sweet little red laptop of our very own.  Now it would be much easier for us to type up posts on our own (or so that was our theory...it obviously didn't work this week). :}

We spent the next several hours hunched over our new computer, figuring out how everything worked.

But all too soon, it was time to clear out of our room.  We realized that we'd never taken a picture beside our door (one of Mama's traditions), so we took a quick one as we left.

Group shot. :)

While Grandmama checked us out of the hotel, we spent some time playing on the huge lawn beside the conference room.  Some of you might remember this lawn from Tess's first Ladies Retreat trip.  This was the same spot that Mama took a million pictures (sooo glad I wasn't there for that photo shoot...this one was long enough!).

Chrissa read to us from Grandmama's little Bible while we waited...

...and then Tess and I lay on the blanket and dreamed while Kaitlyn and Chrissa went to put the Bible away.

I love this picture that Mama got of the two of us...Maggie is such a dear friend.  It's wonderful having special pictures like this to help us remember our trip together.

Aww, thanks Tess.  You're not so bad yourself. ;)

You're welcome. :)

We took one last group shot and then were on our way.

We stopped for lunch at In-N-Out.

Conveniently, Krispy Kreme was in the same parking lot.  Mama had saved her dessert day for today since it was her birthday, too, so she had a doughnut for her birthday. :)

And so did Tess!  Mama brought her a doughnut and a hat and we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

The birthday girl.  

We made a couple more stops on the way home (including another trip to Toys R Us...Mama's obsessed!), but this is where our pictures end.  

All in all, we had a pretty cool trip.  Tess and I haven't spent too much time together lately, so it was fun to have a special weekend to ourselves.  Well, with Kaitlyn and Chrissa and Mama and Grandmama and Mimi. :}

I really enjoyed our time together, too.  Somehow, we've gotten so caught up in our own lives that we haven't had as much time for each other recently.  Having rooms three stories apart hasn't really helped, either. ;)

You can say that again!  Do you know how long of a fall it is if you slip off the edge of my room?!  Yeouch!!

I think Mama, Mimi, and Grandmama had a great time.  They kept talking about how wonderful the program was and how encouraged they were by the speakers.  Mama seemed a lot more refreshed than she's been in a while.  I think all humans...and dolls, too...need a break from the routine every once in a while. :)

Anyway, sorry you had to wait so long for this post.  Even with our laptop, we still have to have Mama help us edit things and such.  And as I'm sure most of you know, any time you switch to a different computer, it takes you a while to figure everything out.  We're hoping that October will be a month of regrouping and figuring out what sort of blogging schedule works best for us.  We'll keep you posted! :)

'Til next time, this is Maggie...and Tess...

Hope you enjoyed reading about our Ladies Retreat adventures! :)