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!
We did eventually find some lovely dandelions on which Barney had such a feast, which made him so sleepy-headed and contented, I had to carry him home most of the way. Good thing he’s a Miniature Dinosaur! 
But enough about me! What did the other Whimsies do? For starters, Miss Tillie was not entranced by the delightful weather as I was, and chose instead to stay indoors all day reading books. She’s been working on the Lemony Snicket series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and yesterday finally got around to finishing up the last of the thirteen books! Wow! That girl does love to read! I’m not saying she read all thirteen books in one day, but she has been working on the series for over a year now. (And I’m sure that soon she will be giving us all her comprehensive review of what she calls “A Delightful Series!”)
Trixie also went on a kind of Fantasy Land Adventure, as she once again plays the Pirate. Oh, how that girl does love to 
Finally we come to little Tootsie who, as you know, is in training for Tree Climbing, so as she does most days, she spent a good deal of time running around in the great outdoors, climbing in and out of bushes, in preparation for her Summer Outing, where Miss Chrissy promises to let her go to the Park and climb some real trees! Tootsie is ever so happy as she’s running and climbing, but after a full day of that kind of phsycial activity, she gets quite tired, as anyone would, so as the sun is setting, she comes inside and puts on a nice pair of jammies. 
By the end of this day, when we all came in from our various activities and saw Tootsie sitting there in those yellow jammies (which, by the way, we may have to take back our comments about a Whimsie never looking good in yellow!), it suddenly reminded the rest of us of what a long and eventful day we’d all had, and we all felt it was indeed time to get into jammies and relax at last, perhaps with a cup of hot cocoa, and a good movie, and with Mr. Squee.
For some time now, I’ve been wondering whether or not I ought to come here to talk about this one particular Whimsie I’ve found on the internet, whose appearance I find most disturbing. After all, this is a family-friendly blog, and I wouldn’t want to present anything that’s too scary or upsetting. In the past, the worst my fellow Whimsies and I have done is to discuss 
you continue to go on, you do so at your own risk. And if you end up having the very same nightmares that I’ve been having these past few weeks, well then…you have nobody to blame but yourself!
In normal conversation, being “two-faced” means someone who says one thing to your face, then turns around and says something completely different to your friends. Or, they are nice to you at first, but then later on, they are mean. With someone who is “two-faced,” you never know what you’re going to get, so you simply can’t trust them. 
And some humans seem to have no problem whatsoever standing around and having themselves photographed with Hedda’s head! I mean…I mean…it’s disgraceful! It’s appalling! It’s just too much for a sensitive Whimsie like me to have to deal with!
feel if you had to live your life with your head imprisoned in plastic? Doctor Doom spends his life behind a metal mask, and we all know how grouchy that makes him! 
That’s when I got the idea that I had to come here and write about Hedda, to finally get this thing off my chest once and for all. 
(Tillie here. The following is mostly about our new Whimsie friend, Tootsie, but since she is still learning how the internet works, and continues to feel somewhat bashful about adding her voice to the blog, for the moment she has asked me to relay the following events. Tootsie has read this through and approves of every word, so please take this as having come from her own heart and lips.)
During this time we’ve had only a little time to explore the great outdoors, not nearly as much as Tootsie would have liked, since when she came to us, Winter still had us in its grip. And now that Spring is here, we’ve been having an awful lot of those April showers that bring May flowers. But slowly, that’s all beginning to change, and some of those flowers are beginning to make an early appearance. In fact, it must have been the sight of those flowers that made Tootsie start thinking more and more about the greenery and trees she’s always loved so much. 
Tootsie was not only distraught to hear this, but also incredulous, a word which here means “she decided she wanted to take a long hike in the morning to go check out this information for herself.” Trixie said she would have to decline the adventure, since the threat of rain is still too much in the air, and for Trixie there is nothing more distressing than getting wet. Tessie also, sadly, had to decline, since the scope of these travels would take us to the very edges of Whimsieville, and the possibility of running into dogs would make her too nervous to enjoy any of the pretty flowers. And Mr. Squee, our resident dogcatcher, would be no help in this department, since he planned to spend most of the day sleeping off the Catnip Binge he was currently indulging in, even as we indulged in our chocolate milk and sugar cookies.
Waking up early this morning, the first thing Tootsie and I did was to put on some good adventuring clothes. For hiking and possible tree-climbing, you absolutely must wear a good pair of blue jeans (or “dungarees,” as Tootsie calls them), so that was how we began our outfits. Next, of course, sturdy shoes. Though Tootsie prefers to climb trees barefoot, I convinced her that we would have a lot of traveling to do over some possibly rough terrain, so even though she fought me a little on the shoes, eventually she agreed—especially when she saw how darling these flowered sneakers looked with her “dungarees”! Personally, I chose the suede hiking boots.
So now we are ready to head out! (Miss Chrissy woke up briefly when she heard us chattering about our outfits, and snapped the pictures of the two of us standing by the front door, right before we headed out on our adventure. Then she went right back to bed.) Neither Tootsie nor I are anywhere near as afraid of dogs as Tessie and Trixie, but when Fred, our dinosaur, heard that we were venturing into the outer reaches of Whimsieville in search of trees, he offered to come along with us for protection. So gallant for a miniature dinosaur! How could we refuse him?
Not all four of us at one time, oh no! That would be too crazy, and besides, each of us would surely like to go to a different place, so these will be four very distinct trips. I’m hoping to visit the Local Public Library, and perhaps take out some exciting books I’ve never seen before! But as for Tootsie, no doubt she will choose to go to a Park with the tallest trees she can possibly find! 
Fred, our Gentleman Dinosaur, has agreed to come out each morning as Tootsie climbs and practices her climbing skills in the bushes, so he can run and get help should she accidentally fall and hurt herself; and also because the lower leaves of the bushes happen to be quite tasty, and he can have a snack for himself, and bring a few leaves home for his other dinosaur pals.
It’s always good to have something to look forward to. I look forward to my visit to the Library, and Tootsie looks forward to climbing trees in the Park. And as we took the long hike back home this morning, finally removing our light jackets as the sun at last made its full, clear appearance in the sky, while Fred said he looked forward to sharing the Bush Leaves with his fellow dinosaurs, Tootsie and I both looked forward to more chocolate milk and sugar cookies for breakfast. 
