Mc Donald's Playplace - I walked in with two and almost had to walk out with just one.

Or how if Zhu Zhu Pets are the new hamsters, kids are the new Zhu Zhu Pets.

Today for a change of scenery our playgroup met at a McDonald's Playplace.  We had never been before.  When we pulled in the parking lot Ellie was so excited "oh wow!  This is so awesome!" I believe were her exact words.

After we are inside for less than two seconds, her shoes are tossed to the side and she's in the tunnels.  She makes an appearance out once every five minutes or so.  She's having a great time, running around and playing with the kids so I wasn't worried.

I tell her I'm going to order lunch and she's a little frantic about playtime being over but I tell her that if she sits down nice to eat we'll play again after.  She sits like a perfect angel, eats the required bites of chicken nuggets and apple slices and is off.

I catch a glimpse of her running from the slide to the toddler area and let her know I'm going to feed M and then it's time to go.  She yells back ok and then she's off again.

I finish feeding Maddie {add Mickey D's to the 109th place I never thought I would breastfeed in public!  and I wasn't the only one ;) } and am now on the lookout for Ellie.  I see her in this little sprout off of the main plastic tubes and try to do the "come on, we're leaving" gesture.  And then she's gone.

I yell her name and tell her we're leaving and I don't see her anywhere.  Our friends are packed up and ready to go.  Their kids have coats and shoes on and I'm trying to peek and see inside the opaque colored tubes like a loser.  One of my friends volunteers her daughter to go in after Ellie.  O comes back out and says she couldn't find her. 

Then a little boy taps my legs.  He says, "Are you looking for Ellie?  Wearing a green shirt with birdies?"  Yes!  I am!  This little boy knows just where she is.  He promises he will bring her back to me so we can FINALLY go home.

Sure enough, two minutes later, my new BFF slides down the slide with Ellie behind him.  First of all, Ellie is a hot mess.  Literally.  She has sweat all in her hair and it's sticking up all over.  She tells me, "I didn't know we were leavin'.  I couldn't hear you callin' me way up there in the sky." 

I thought she was hiding from me and I contemplated crawling up the tubes myself.  I was so relieved that she put on her shoes right away, grabbed her coat and walked happily out the door asking if we could come back tomorrow. 

I'm sure everyone has seen a Playplace.  They are all windows so you can see them from the street and your child can beg and beg and beg to go in.  Perfect marketing strategy.  So as we're walking out I see a grandma outside, trying to peek in the tunnels to find her grandchild.  I smiled at her sympathetically and then thought either she is brilliant or has done this before.  I never thought to go look in from the outside!