Tea Time with Gabriella (and Delilah)

On Saturday I took my granddaughter Gabriella and her American Girl doll Delilah for tea at a lovely little restaurant called Ashland House. The restaurant is in a quaint wooden building with red siding.. The dining room walls are painted with butterflies and flowers and there are two artificial trees in the center of one of the rooms. It's a very girly place, and I thought she'd enjoy the experience. We both did.

Across from us was a birthday party. All the women at the table wore tiaras and some wore feather boas. One of the ladies was taking a picture and I offered to take one so she could be in it, too. Gabriella said, "I'll do it. I'm better," so the lady handed her the camera.

Tea consisted of four courses: the first was cheese crackers and ginger snaps with lemon curd; the second was tea sandwiches cut into fancy shapes; the third was a scone with whipped cream and jam, and the fourth was a plate of petit fours. And of course, tea accompanied everything. We chose the house blend, which had a slight blueberry flavor.

We spent two hours chatting about her upcoming first year in middle school, her videos (She's one of a circle of pre-teens and young teens who post videos of their American Girls on YouTube). We talked about books she's read this summer and her family's trip to Orlando which is coming up soon.

It was a delightful afternoon with my favorite person, and I am still on a sugar high.