We waited all through June and half of July, but in the end it seems Miss Chrissy has NOT forgotten her promise to take each of us on a special outing over the Summer. And she started this past weekend by inviting ME to join her and Mr. Russ for a Sunday morning trip to McDonald’s!
McDonald’s has been my choice, almost from the beginning, mostly for these two reasons: first, because I’ve heard they have this special kind of playground for kids who are not too big, where they can climb through tunnels and jump in a pit of colorful balls! That idea has always intriqued me. But then also: there are cookies! Even for breakfast, they serve cookies. And soda. Both of which are very sweet, and therefore highly placed on my “Must Try!” list. So, by choosing to go to McDonald’s, I felt I was killing the proverbial two birds with one stone. (“Proverbial” meaning it’s just an expression, no actual birds suffer any harm—thank goodness!)
So here we go! Off to McDonald’s for a Sunday morning adventure! You’ll notice first of all that I’m dressed in light, airy, stretchable clothing, because I would not want to be constricted in my movements while jumping around in the balls. I decided to wear a short sleeved shirt, but cover it with a little pink jacket, because I’ve heard that restaurants can sometimes be very well air-conditioned. I figured this way, with a short sleeved shirt AND a jacket, I could be prepared for any changes in temperature. Pretty smart, huh?
I also had Trixie put my hair up in two ponytails, so as to keep my hair out of my face while doing all that jumping around. When Trixie suggested she could turn those ponytails into braids, I thanked her very nicely, but refused. Braids, of course, look absolutely adorable on Trixie, but I wouldn’t want anyone to think I was trying to copy her. Besides, I happen to like the way my hair looks in ponytails!
And one more thing: You’ll notice I’ve got on some soft blue socks to match my soft blue pants, and my sparkly sneakers are right there, ready to jump into. The way I understand it, 
when you play in the Ball Pit, you’re not supposed to wear shoes. So I spent a little time making sure it was easy enough for me to get in and out of my shoes at a moment’s notice, so I wouldn’t hold up any of the other kids who might want to get into the play area.
Now, as it happened, when we got there…there were NO other kids in the play area! I guess maybe it was just too early for some families to be up and about. I guess maybe a lot of parents like to “sleep in” on a Sunday morning, after staying up so late on Saturday night. Either that, or they get up early and take the whole family to church. Actually, I guess there could be many, many reasons why the McDonald’s playground is not so busy on a Sunday morning. It’s really not for me to know or wonder why. All I know is that I had the Ball Pit all to myself.
Which was a good thing in a way. Because on one level, I was a little bit afraid that I might actually be too small for the play area, and some of the other kids could end up stepping on me without meaning to. Or, if they happened to be bullies, they might mean to step on me! Either way, even though it was somewhat of a disappointment that I didn't get to meet any other kids and get to play with them, I think perhaps for my first visit to the play area, it was probably a good thing that I was on my own, just so I could "get my feet wet" and "get the lay of the land." (A couple more expressions that in no way indicate there was anything wet about the Tunnels and Ball Pit, and no actual "land" was involved in any way.)
So! We get there, and right away, I run to the Play Area, and take off my shoes, because I remembered I had to do at least this much, but then I just left them lying at the entrance to the Tunnel. So, Miss Chrissy had to gently point me in the direction of the Shoe Cubby. Oh, did I feel foolish! I had forgotten all about the Shoe Cubby! (Miss Chrissy remembered it, because when her kids where very little–though not at little as ME–she used to often take them to play at the Ball Pit, and sometimes also had to remind them to put their shoes in the Cubby.)
So then, finally I got it right, leaving my shoes in the Cubby, and jumped into the Tunnel, and scurried my way up and jumped right into the Ball Pit, and I’ve got to tell you, I had a quite a bit of fun this morning, even though I was all on my own. There was a lot of scurrying, and climbing, and jumping, but even though I was having a ton of fun, I couldn’t help 
thinking about my Whimsie friends at home, and wishing there were here with me. I think we would have had a lot more fun if we were all together. Particularly Tootsie. She would have found this Play Area great practice for her Tree Climbing endevors.
I sort of wore myself out, and probably should have taken off my jacket, because I got so worked up and warm, but just about the time I was beginning to wonder how I could do that, how I could take off my jacket without having it fall down into the bottom of the Ball Pit, where I might never be able to retrieve it again, I heard Miss Chrissy calling me, saying that Soda and Cookies were about to be served.
Well! That’s all I needed to hear. I jumped out, took my place at the table, and dug into those cookies! They were delicious! And the coldness of the sparkly soda really cooled me down to the point 
where I was at last glad that I had not gotten around to taking off my jacket. As I sat at that table with Miss Chrissy and Mr. Russ, I was so extremely happy and comfortable as I ate my breakfast snack with them.
After that, we sat for a while reading the newspaper, but then, way too soon, it was time to go. So Miss Chrissy reminded me to get my sneakers from the Shoe Cubby and put them back on. After that, I jumped into my traveling bag for the trip back to Whimsieville. In a way I was sad that my Adventure was over, but at the same time, I was anxious to get back and tell the others all about it. They’ll each have their own Adventure before the Summer is over, but I’m certainly hoping that at some point in the future, Miss Chrissy and Mr. Russ will be kind enough to take ALL of us to the McDonald’s Play Place, so we can all run and jump and play there together. This Sunday morning was a good trip, but if we could all do it together, that would be a GREAT trip!
