Barbie Exhibit

On Memorial Day, the Kilmer women joined at the Indianapolis Children's Museum for the Barbie exhibit.  Although not everyone was able to make it from Florida, there were 17 of us there.  My cousins and I all have fond memories of playing the original Barbie board game at Grandma's house.  The game originally belonged to my mother.  When we weren't playing the game, we enjoyed playing with my mom's Barbies as well.  I always thought her Barbies were fabulous with a fabulous wardrobe.  They just seemed so classy, like Jackie Kennedy.  I always pleaded with my mom to take them home, but she resisted.  I think in her motherly wisdom, she wanted to keep them safe from harm.  I had been known to shampoo my Barbie doll's hair, only to find that Barbie hair doesn't exactly have the resilience of human hair.

The Barbie exhibit was a great way to recapture those memories.  Not only did we see our beloved Barbie game, but we all saw Barbie's that we had owned ourselves. It was a great way to celebrate family, womanhood, and dear memories.

 My cousins and I with Grandma Marilyn.  The Barbie game is displayed behind us.

 The purpose of the game is to get an after-school job, earn money for a prom dress, get a prom date, go to prom, and become prom queen.  Sounds about right...what more should young women strive for?!

 

My mom had the "Fashion Queen Barbie".  This doll had three different wigs to choose from.  I thought this was the coolest thing ever as a kid (kinda still do).  She also had this fabulous gold and white bathing suit and matching kerchief for her hair.  Fabulous!

One of my favorite dolls was my "Great Shape Barbie".  She's in the leotard and leg warmers below and also one the stars of Toy Story 3. 

My mom also had this the convertible below.  As a kid, I remember thinking this orange car was lame and I much preferred my cousin Kelly's, yellow Corvette.  But looking at it now, I have much more of an appreciation.  It must be mentioned that I never owned a Barbie car of my own.  My Barbie dolls drove around in shoes (usually dirty white Keds).  But, I will be sure to make up for this void in my childhood when Greta becomes Barbie-obsessed.

My mom also had the bride and groom below.  I especially love how the dolls have been named:  "Bride's Dream" and "Tuxedo".  That is priceless and pretty much sums it up for every little girl.  It's all about the bride and the groom is just the black tuxedo standing next to the bride.

Another doll from my mom's collection, "Registered Nurse".

"Totally Hair Barbie" was one of my prized dolls, although mine was of the Caucasian variety. This Barbie fell victim to the shampooing incident and her ankle length hair lost most of it's luster.

Nikki had to miss out on the Barbie fun.  Being the devoted baseball wife that she is, she was at Noblesville Sectional game.  We rescued Reagan from a day of baseball to join in on the fun.

After the Barbie exhibit, we went upstairs for carousel rides.