New York, New York.

Dear bloggers, please listen to this song while reading this blog post.

Yesterday we were in New York City.
We took the bus from our hotel into the city and then from there, had to walk to our destination. Times Square and Broadway.
We went to Times Square not to see the big ToysRUs. Not to see the big McDonalds. Not to see all the big screens and advertisements. We went to see this guy:

George M. Cohan. American entertainer. He wrote the number #1 song of World War 1. It was called "Over There" and inspired the troops going over the Big Pond. It continued to inspire soldiers through the Second World War and is probably still inspiring people. It inspired me to do a report on George M. Cohan.
Here is a short biography.
George Michael Cohan was born in 1878 to parents who traveled all over the country as Vaudeville actors. George M. grew up in the theater business. He learned to dance, play violin, write skits, and act. As he grew older he took over the family's act, "The Four Cohans" and began selling his skits.
From 1900 to the early 1920's, George M. Cohan wrote, produced, and acted in over three dozen Broadway hits.
Cohan's life was the theater. His temper left him with little close friends. Cohan was very patriotic and there was always a flag in his musicals.
He was called, "The man who owned Broadway" and "America's first actor." He is the only composer ever the receive a Congressional Medal of Honor (he received it for lifting troops morale with his song "Over There") and the only Broadway actor to have his statue put up in Times Square.
He is a great American and a character to study. He died in 1942. There is a movie based off of his life (Yankee Doodle Boy, or something like that. It starts James Cagney). It doesn't follow his life exactly... But it's got a lot of his great music in it!
Some of the songs he wrote were, "Over There," "Give My Regards to Broadway," "Yankee Doodle Boy," and "Your a Grand Old Flag."

Here are some more pictures of Times Square:

And now it's time for ironic signs.

This has been ironic signs.

Hee hee, I can find a Sherlock Holmes reference anywhere:

We went to the big, two story McDonalds for lunch (Grama's request).

Then we walked to Grand Central Station (passing 5th Ave. on the way).

Grand Central Station:

I caught a flash mob on video while we were there!

After Grand Central Station, we went to the American Girl Doll Store in NYC!!!

Sadly I was not able to bring a doll along on the trip... So Tintin explored the store with me!

Some displays:

While I was running around looking for something (and getting lost at the same time....) Tintin wandered off by himself.

In the bathrooms, there are doll holders, so you don't have to hold your doll while you do your business.
I didn't have a doll.... But I came up with a different solution.

After all this torment, Tintin has decided to hate me.

I have been saving money for some months, knowing that I was coming here. Here are my purchases:

From left to right (starting at the top): Josefina's Dress and Vest; Addy's Plaid Summer Outfit; Black NYC American Girl exclusive tee; Josefina's accessories; Emily's accessories; and Kit's Reporter Dress.

Starting with Addy's Plaid Summer Set....

I had originally wanted Marie-Grace's Summer Outfit (or whatever it is called... It's limited edition) but it's quite expensive. I absolutely love Addy's collection and this dress is very close to the Marie-Grace one, for less money. And it come with more items!
The dress is absolutely ADORABLE. I can not wait to put it on Addy! It's a gorgeous pale pink plaid. The apron is very good quality and the pockets are real. The shoes are possibly the most adorable AG shoes I own. They are very good quality and cute to boot (no pun intended)! The hair ribbon is also good quality, although it's a bit short. I wonder if it will go all around Addy's poofy hair. We shall see.

Josefina's Dress and Vest:

This whole outfit is very high quality.
The dress looks exactly like something Josefina would wear to a fiesta. It has little ruffles on the sleeves and around the neckline and altogether, it is a very cultural-looking dress!
Personally, I like it without the vest, but the vest is very cute as well.

Emily's Accessories:

Emily is Molly's friend, who is evacuated from England to the USA during World War 2. She comes to live with Molly's family.
I do not have Emily (although Jamie looks a lot like her) but I just had to have her accessories. It comes with a sweater, a scrapbook, five pictures, a coin, a ration book, and dog tags! After studying WW 1 and 2, this is the perfect set for me! Especially since in a few weeks, I will be getting my own dog tags for completing a class on the World Wars.
The pictures are stickers which you can stick into the scrapbook as you choose.

Josefina's Accessories:

Some dolls do alright with their accessories, but Josefina really isn't complete without her shawl. As well as the shawl (which I believe is called a Rebozo, but don't quote me), this set comes with a necklace, a coin, a hancerchief, and a purse.

Kit's Reporter Dress:

Everything (well... not everything.... I despise Kit's new pajamas and her new bed sheets, and her party dress. Kit is a TOMBOY! She hates pink! So why is half her collection that color??? American Girl: please read the books before making items for the historical dolls!).... As I was saying, almost everything in Kit's collection is absolutely adorable because it is from the '30's. Family's like Kit's made clothes out of feed sacks.
This dress has an adorable pattern of flowers in the primary colors. There is also a red hairband, white socks, and very cute red shoes. I can't wait to put this outfit on Kit! My only regret is that I didn't get the reporter set to go with it.

Finally, the black NYC tee. I don't have much to say about this one... Only that it's adorable!

I thought this picture looked rather like the Red Indian Tintin took a picture of in Tintin in America (sadly I can't find the picture on Google Images):

And of course you can't go to NYC without getting an I heart New York shirt.

All in all, it was a very good day! Thank you for your prayers.
Only once did we think we were in danger... We had the walk signal and started to go across the crosswalk, when a car turned and just kept plowing ahead. She nearly ran over my mom! We waited for her to go, then crossed... We looked behind us and what do you think we saw? She got pulled over by the police!

Today we went to Valley Forge but as this blog post is very long already, I think I will post it and save Valley Forge for tomorrow.