So much more than peanut butter and jelly

My last few posts haven't really been about travel. Sorry  if you really missed hearing about my adventures. Here's one just for you.

I REALLY want to go back someday.

In New York, Mommy and I went to a restaurant called Peanut Butter and Company that specializes in--surprise!--peanut butter sandwiches. If you think this sounds boring, IT WAS NOT. It was very good. There were more types of peanut butter sandwiches than I could imagine. They have some normal stuff, like PB&J, and some weird stuff, like the Pregnant Lady, which has peanut butter and pickles. That is crazy. And strange.

When you order a sandwich, they bring it out to you with carrot sticks and potato chips, "Just like Mom used to do." Interesting. My mom almost never allows potato chips in the house.

They have all kinds of peanut butter, and by "kinds" I don't mean texture like crunchy and creamy. (Although those are offered.) I'm talking flavors. There is a white chocolate peanut butter, and a cinnamon raisin peanut butter, and some spicy peanut butter made with chili powder. And a lot more types. Of course, you can have just the regular, unflavored stuff, but it's more fun to try something new.

I chose a Fluffernutter sandwich made with dark chocolate peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. That was wonderful--how could anyone have something against peanut butter and marshmallow, unless they're allergic? 

Mommy decided on peanut butter BLT made with maple peanut butter. She said she was surprised at how good it was. I was surprised too!

Scrumptious. No other word for it.

They make the best peanut butter sandwiches I've ever had. If you ever go to New York, make sure you stop there for lunch.  

Kayla's Beauty Day

Kayla getting her hair styled

After brunch at American Girl Place, Mommy and I went to get Kayla's hair styled at the Doll Beauty Salon. They had a whole catalog of hairstyles you could choose for your doll, as well as play spa treatments like foam cucumbers for your doll's eyes. Kayla wanted her hair styled and her ears pierced. We decided on a style called the Ponytail Veil. It's like a little crown of ponytails. It's very pretty! 

When the hairdresser called out, "Taryn?" we walked over to meet her. First, Kayla got her ears pierced. The stylist took her into a room, and she came out with pierced ears! Then the stylist asked me to choose two different colors of ribbon and rubber bands for Kayla's hairstyle. I chose pink and black rubber bands, and light green and blue ribbons. The stylist started dividing Kayla's hair into small, thin ponytails, and before I knew it, Kayla had a cute new hairstyle!

After that, Mommy and I took Kayla on a
shopping spree. Her favorite new outfit is 
a magenta dress with purple stripes and raspberry glasses.

Kayla modeling her dress, hairstyle, and glasses

The Biggest Candy Store Ever

One of  Mommy's chocolate bar wrappers

It was Sunday, our last day in New York, but there was still time to do fun stuff. At around 1:00 p.m., Mommy and I took a bus to Dylan's Candy Bar. (If you can't guess what we were doing, we were buying candy.)

Dylan's Candy Bar is three floors tall, but the top floor is more of a cafeteria. The bottom floor was where Mommy and I did our shopping. It had a chocolate fountain, wall after wall of candy, souvenirs, T-shirts, and even dog treats. I chose jelly beans in eight flavors: coconut, raspberry, caramel corn, toasted marshmallow, strawberry cheesecake, pear, lemon-lime, and mango. They were so good! Mommy chose two Belgian dark chocolate bars.

Then I asked Mommy if I could walk around the floor for a bit. But the floor was bigger than either of us thought. Suddenly, I couldn't find her!

I asked an employee wearing bunny ears (it was Easter that day) who had helped us earlier, if she could help me find my mom. She did, and we were reunited by the wall of rainbow colored candies. We both thanked her a lot. Phew.

The wall of rainbow colored candies

10th Birthday Brunch in New York

In New York City, my mom and I woke up early to go to American Girl Place for brunch.

American Girl Place is five stories tall! What can they put in a five story doll store?

We ate brunch at 9:30. Even Kayla got a seat! We had mini cinnamon rolls for an amuse bouche (French for "appetizer"). While we were waiting for the rest of the food, Mommy discovered a basket full of discussion questions. For example: if you could choose three girls in books to be friends with, who would you choose?

Kayla, that's my Shirley Temple!

The questions entertained us until the rest of our food came--a quiche for Mommy, French toast with strawberries for me. I drank a Shirley Temple, which is a virgin cocktail with lemon lime soda and grenadine syrup. So yummy! Mommy sipped a mimosa (a grown-up drink with champagne and orange juice).

Too many choices, so little time...

When we had finished our food the waitress gave us each a BIG piece of cake, along with some vanilla ice cream in mini-flowerpots. Everyone sitting near our table, the waiters and waitresses, and Mommy sang "Happy Birthday" to me.

Mommy and I couldn't finish our cake because we were too full!  We ended up just taking it back to the apartment/hotel and eating it for lunch. With our fingers!

Happy birthday to me!