Playing Astronaut

Pretend Astronauts

“Lift off will occur in 2 minutes.” Saraphina announces in a low, nasally voice.  “Astronauts, please make your way to the space craft.” 

Megan and Saraphina trudge their little space women into the space craft.  

“Houston, we’re ready to launch," Megan confirms as she and Saraphina close all the doors on the ship.  

Then the countdown begins.

“10…9…8…7…6…5…4…thrusters on…3…2…1…lift off!!!”  both girls yell in unison.  Megan lifts the ship up as though it is flying, with Saraphina helping to guide it.  

It flies through the sky, Megan and Saraphina helping it through the air. 

“We are approaching Mars, mission control,” calls out Saraphina in that same low and nasally tone.

Megan lands the space craft and she and Saraphina begin taking out their crew.  

Saraphina has a manned rover for exploring the martian surface.  It is taking soil samples and getting readings on the topography of the land.  

Megan is flying her astronaut around on a small jet-ski.  

She is looking for the best place to set up base. 

“Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could really go to Mars?” Saraphina asks.  Megan puts her astronaut toy down and begins walking away.  “I think I have something for that.”

Saraphina wonders what the heck Megan can have.  Her eyes go wide when Megan comes back with a space helmet on and another one hanging on her arm.  

“Captain Saraphina,” Megan says, handing the helmet to Saraphina. “Chief Science Officer Megan, reporting for duty!”

Saraphina grabs the helmet from Megan and begins putting it on her head.  

“This is so awesome!” she exclaims as she slides the helmet on.  

As the helmet falls into place, she points at Megan. “Chief Science Officer Megan, what’s the report on the exploration of this amazing planet?”

“Well, Captain,” Megan replies. “We have just begun exploring and have already found evidence of water and some interesting elements.”

“Great job!” says Saraphina as she burst into laughter.  

She then puts her arms out to her side and begins running around.  

Megan follows suit.  They chase each other around in their helmets, making spaceship and rocket noises.  Calling to each other as though they were talking over an old intercom system. 

“Someday I hope I get to go into space for real.” Saraphina proclaims.

“Me too!” agrees Megan. 

Chavonne's Australian Release

Chavonne in a Floral Dress

Chavonne's Australian release has the same long hair that debuted with the New York line, along with the same stiff joints. In this iteration she has a beautiful floral knee length dress, a navy blue shrug, sandals, a little purse, and a gold leaf barrette.  Like all of the "meet" outfits, this one is only available with the doll.

The dress has a very Hawaiian styled pattern with a light blue background, hibiscus flowers and palm leaves. The fabric is a nice thick cotton, not as thick as Kyla's dress, but still very nice. The top of the dress has a sweetheart neckline with almost a bra stitched into the top of the bodice, reminiscent of an old style bathing suit.  

There are normal straps that go over the shoulders to the back where there is a piece of Velcro to help hold the dress shut. 

Just above the waist the dress is gathered a little bit and has tiny pleats to flare it out at the bottom. The rigidness of the material helps give volume to the dress. 

Because of the material that this dress is made out of, it does not have a liner like many of the other journey girl dresses do.  It's a cute dress that comes to just above the knees of Chavonne

This set also comes with the a navy blue, short sleeved shrug. If you look closely at the shrug there's actually a pattern in the knit of the shrug. It's not very noticeable when you first look, but if you look closely you can see the pattern.  

The sleeves are very short, which is similar to many other journey girls sweaters/shrugs.  The sleeves come midway up the bicep, so not shoulder or elbow length. Also the front does not have any way to clasp it shut. The rounded edges give it more of a shrugs look rather than a full sweater. It's a nice shrug, but the outfit probably could've come with something else and been okay.

Shoes are always interesting with journey girls outfits.  In the last few years journey girls has stepped up their design for shoes giving us different designs that are similar but enough different that we get different shoes. That's the case with these sandals. They're very similar to other sandals that the Journey Girls line has, but just enough different that they give us a new feel. The sandals are in navy blue similar to the shrug.  

They have a plastic bottom which makes them nice and rigid but gives them no tread.  On surfaces such as carpet, the doll will slip quite often. The blue leather straps cross the top of the doll's feet in a crisscross pattern and then around the ankle the straps also crisscross. That's a new design for journey girls. 

Normally there is just a strap around the ankle with a piece of the leather on the back of the heel but in this case the straps come across and crisscross in the front then wrap around the heel.  A little different design that makes the shoes unique.

A unique purse, this one is shaped like an apple.  It is made of a pink soft suede with a green ribbon leaf and a small brown stem.  A gold string acts as the purse's shoulder strap.  

This is a really cute purse, but it doesn't seem to go with the outfit.  A flower shaped purse would make more sense than an apple.

The final piece of the outfit is a gold leafed barrette.  

It looks like an olive branch, not the tropical branches on the dress.  Still it is a great piece with the outfit.

Ratings
All ratings are out of 10

Value 8 – As you are paying for the doll with this outfit, this has to be taken into consideration.  The outfit is very cute, but there really isn't much to it.  A beautiful dress that is made well, a simple shrug, and sandals are really the only thing to this outfit.  It would be great if there was something else to it, besides the purse...and the little gold hair piece.

Fitment 9 – The outfit fits perfect.  One thing that doesn't fit perfectly is the sandals.  They fit, just not perfectly.  Otherwise, everything is a perfect fit.

Versatility 7 – There are not as many pieces to this outfit as some of the other releases.  The shrug can go with many other things, as can the sandals and the barrette.  The purse actually looks like it was originally from another outfit, so it will probably go with many other outfits.  Like many dresses, there isn't much versatility in this one, especially with the fun print that is on it.

Cuteness 8 – The uniqueness of this dress, from it's print, to it's design and cut, make it a very cute outfit.  With such a unique top it's strange that they would put a shrug with it to cover it up.  Although the sandals aren't brand new, the new design is very cute.  Overall it is a really cute outfit, especially without the shrug.

Overall 8 – A good outfit overall.  Since this is only the second release of Chavonne with long hair, it makes it easier to pay for the doll with this outfit.  I don't think that the outfit is quite worth the cost if you don't want the doll.  The dress is beautiful and would be worth about what the outfits sell separately for at the 30% off (so around $13).  I think it would be better with something other than the shrug.  Still, the cuteness is enough to make it worth the purchase price, especially if you can get her for 30% off.

AG Notes

Like so many other Journey Girls outfits, this one has some things that fit and others that don't.  Of course the sandals don't fit; way too narrow.

The dress will go on the AG doll, but it won't fasten at all.

It barely gets past her butt.  You have to inch it up her waist.  The shrug fits with no issues as it has some stretch to the knit.

Of course the accessories fit with no issue.  For American Girl dolls, this outfit is not worth the money.  If you just want it for the Journey Girls, it's worth getting it on sale.

Slalom Skiing With Kyla

Kyla's Downhill Skiing Run

Kyla's heart is pounding as she waits at the top of the hill for her turn to race the course.  She takes purposeful, deep breaths, calming herself as she does.  Then, "boop", the horn sounds, she pushes hard with her skis and poles as she starts down the hill.

She cuts past the first gate, hitting it with her shoulder.  She makes a hard right on the second gate.  She can feel the snow move beneath her skis.

Kyla sets up for the next gate; a left hand turn over a drop off.  As she flies past the gate she gets a little airborne, but lands quickly to keep her speed. 

Only a few more and then she's done.  Another, hard right, hitting the gate.  

Then, a left.  She speeds to the end of the course, tucking into as aerodynamic of a shape as she can.  Swoosh!  She's over the finish line!

Kyla is happy with her run and her time, but she heads back up the hill for another practice run.