So… now that Madelyn is basically now only a few months away from college, I thought I’d fiiiiiiinally post about her two-year-old birthday party. In August. Mother of the Year right here!

I’m not going to make excuses about being a slacker mom because that’s just immature and annoying. BUT. We’ve been continuing to put the house away and make it home. Traveling. Filled up with activities. My computer’s been on the fritz.

Oops. I made excuses.

But that’s what’s been going on around and after Madelyn’s 2nd birthday bash that I swore would not turn into a bash at all.

A few weeks before her birthday, I was unsure if we’d be able to even throw a party. Originally, I wanted a backyard shin dig, but our yard is still more a dirt run and it’s ugly with minimal usable space. Then since we had our kitchen remodeled, I really didn’t know how finished it would be. But thankfully, two weeks before the party, the kitchen came through, and I knew I could solidify plans. Since I didn’t have months and months of time to marinate on a party and go crazy with the theme, I set myself up for just a very casual, low-key get together with no bells and whistles.

And then I came back to reality. Please. Have we met me? I don’t do low-key. I don’t even think I do medium-key. Unless it’s blogging. Then apparently, that’s my M.O. these days. (bad mommy! bad mommy!)

So, I asked myself: “Self? What would describe Madelyn’s love and passion over the past year that would be fun to help with celebrating her birthday?”

It was a no brainer. Sesame Street. And Psycho Crazy Not-Low-Key Birthday Party Alison was born.

I did have a slight panic attack when Madelyn suddenly started to show strong love and passion for Minnie Mouse about a week before her party. I had to throw water onto that fire because I needed her to still be into everything “Sessy.” There would be other opportunities to love on Minnie. This was the era of Elmo.

Since the party had to be inside, I got all teachery and made little Sesame Street-themed centers for the kiddos. The food in the kitchen was the centerpiece that helped to also carry the Sessy style. And then all of our people could enjoy social time and eating outside. It actually worked out perfectly, despite my original desire to want a backyard party in our new house. (p.s., the backyard still needs the landscaping because we chose to remodel the kitchen first. Welcome to BornFriedman, all makeover reality show producers who are visiting the blog! Sit down. Stay a while.)

So what does Psycho Crazy Not-Low-Key Birthday Party Alison mean? Well, I made fresh squeezed watermelon lemonade. I don’t even really LIKE watermelon lemonade. But this was good. It made a delicious mess of my kitchen while pureeing and juicing watermelons. I could have just done regular lemonade. It’s a hit. It’s a favorite. But nooooo. I had to make sure the beverage was RED just so I could fill up a glass canister and dress it up as Elmo. And no one wants a cup of just tomato juice. These are OCD problems.

I thoroughly enjoyed coming up with punny labels for things. It’s like porn for my brain. Everything from Abby’s Coloring Fairy School for the coloring wall to the Bert & Ernie’s Great Adventure Trail Mix to Telly’s Peanut Butter & Jelly, I tried to tie in different characters and skits from Sesame Street. I think I am a bigger fan of Sessy than my daughter.

I knew I was having cupcakes instead of a cake because they’re easier to serve and eat, and they were store-bought because there’s a certain level of Crazy I’m not willing to reach, and that’s baking for 48 people. But what’s a spread without a nod to Cookie Monster, so I just haaaaaaaaaad to bake cookies. Life is rough.

The party was called for 4 in the afternoon so that Madelyn could get in a nap and wake up fresh. The only problem with that was that she napped like a rockstar and I had to wake her to finally join her own party. Because of that, she was a little shy when she made her grand entrance, showing signs of good pacing, which will do her well in college. Nobody likes a burnout.

Once she finally removed herself from grandmothers’ legs and arms, she enjoyed being with her friends — little and big! — and seeing her party come together after days of being banned from the party room (Mommy is such a Party Set-up Police!).

Finally, it was time for the big birthday song, but first we sang to Uncle Brian because he was actually celebrating the very day of his birthday AT the party. Nothing says a rager for a 31-year-old than an afternoon with characters from children’s programming.

Then Madelyn got her time to shine, and she blew out her candle perfectly! She seems to have mastered the birthday routine and enjoyed being the center of attention.

Possibly the photo-opp highlight of Madelyn’s birthday party was the Sesame Street scene that was attached to the wall where kids and families took super cute pictures! It’s almost like the real thing. Almost.

Bryan and I even dressed up for the occasion. We bought Sesame Street shirts to show some true Sessy spirit. We may or may not don these ever again. Ooooo suspense.

The afternoon turned into evening and our last few friends trickled out the door. It was time to say goodbye to our friends and open presents with the immediate family. Madelyn loved opening her cards and tearing through bags and wrapping paper. It’s funny to think what a difference a year makes. At the end of her first birthday party, the same group gathered to do the same thing, but Madelyn didn’t understand any of it. This year, she took the time to examine and get excited about each new thing, and one thing’s for sure: this kid is stocked with Elmo, Hello Kitty, and Minnie Mouse gear! What a lucky little girl!

So once again, I broke my promise about tossing together a small, boring party, but I think I did a fairly good job of keeping things real and in budget. It was super fun and the most important part is that Madelyn felt all the love.

Even if she feels extremely neglected on the blog. Must remedy!

It was almost like a scene out of a Beatles documentary: pop culture icons performing for a crowd of screaming, hysterical fans.

Except instead of Paul and the gang, it was Elmo and the gang. And the screaming was out of sheer excitement, hunger, doodie diapers, and overdue naps. But still! Lots of screaming ensued. Madelyn was no exception.

We took Madelyn to see “Sesame Street Live” and I have to admit, I was just as excited as she was, if not more.

We bought our tickets months ago and spared no expense. For a pretty penny, I got the VIP package that entitled us to front row seats AND a meet and greet with Elmo “and friends TBD” before the show. Hey, I really love my kid (read: I’m a sucker). And at $80 a seat (one of which she hardly sat in… that was some expensive floor she stood on), I had high hopes that this would be the best day of Madelyn’s life. Ever.

Don’t get me wrong. Hope does not equal expectation. I actually had NO expectations of how the morning at the show would go. I just hoped it would blow her mind, and I think it did, but not in the way that grown ups react.

When we first arrived at the theater at 9:30 a.m., we were escorted to a private conference room where a small group — maybe 12 other families/suckers?? — gathered to get the pre-meet and greet instructions from Elmo’s detail team: no sticky hands, Elmo doesn’t talk so he can “save his voice for the show,” and a warning to the kidlets that the characters they see on TV will be GIANT. Then, in sauntered in Elmo and friends/one friend, Ernie, and they took their seat a la Santa and the Easter Bunny so families could shove their children on them one by one for photo opportunities.

Madelyn saw them come in and she gasped in shock. “WHAT?! They jumped out of my TV?” Then she got excited. Then she saw the two other families ahead of us get to meet Elmo and she wanted in on that RIGHT. NOW. She did not understand the concept of waiting for a turn (she’s only 21 months, people!) and threw a fit just before it actually was her turn. Yes, we were THOSE people. Ugh. So embarrassing. Then, nanoseconds later, it really WAS her turn, but she was too pissed off from the nanoseconds prior to really soak it up/appreciate/love me forever.

So, there she is, meeting her American idols and seeing Elmo live in the fur, and she has her damn fingers in her mouth as she recovers from a tantrum.

I did notice that all day, she had her fingers in her mouth, which she never does, and I decided it was due to nerves and overstimulation. So basically, “Sesame Street Live” was three hours of $240 emotional and mental abuse.

It was really awkward how overcome with emotion Madelyn was — it was like a glimpse into teenage-hood which was, like, really scary — and when things get awkward, I talk a lot. So I leaned over to Elmo and said, “Sorry about my crying kid. I’m sure you’re used to it, but still.” And he didn’t say anything (because, remember, he was “saving his voice for the show”), so when people, or life-size non-puppeted puppets, don’t respond to me, I keep talking. So I added, “Great job, by the way! I’ve been in your fur before. I totally get it.” I think that probably sounded really creepy, but it was an attempt to bond. You know, mascot to mascot. Life lesson: never assume other furry characters know about your furry past.

After she met real, live, life-size Elmo and Ernie, we went downstairs to where the general public/non-suckers were gathering to play with character cut outs that make noise and a mini pre-show with the characters. Madelyn continued to be in awe and tried to figure out exactly what was happening.

It was fun watching her prance from fake character to fake character and recognize them. She squealed in delight and totally didn’t even care when an older boy pushed her out of the way so he could get in on some cardboard Elmo love. Kids. Psshhh.

About 45 minutes later, it was show time!

I have to admit, I choked up a little bit upon entering the house of the theater. This was Madelyn’s first show — a musical, too! — and I hope it’ll be the first of many that captivate and enthrall her. I plan on enjoying many more theater experiences with her and wouldn’t argue at all if she wanted to join the ranks of her parents to participate on stage, too!

She sat in her seat for the opening number and that’s pretty much it. It was actually funny to see her try to stay put on the flip-up seat because she was pretty light and it didn’t lay 100% flat. After the opening number — which she thoroughly enjoyed in awe — she either danced in the aisle of our row, sat on our laps, or had a meltdown (only 2.5 meltdowns!) because we couldn’t get her water bottle or a snack out fast enough from the bag.

I also almost got sent to theater patron jail as I took video of Madelyn enjoying the show. Apparently, you can’t take video of your toddler having a milestone moment, and the senior citizen usher who takes her volunteer job very seriously waved her naughty finger at me and mouthed “NO VIDEO,” a charade that was performed with such passion that I thought she might throw her walker at me. Sorry, Usher Lady.

While Madelyn didn’t wrap her arms around me, snuggle up, and utter the words, “Thank you for the most magical day of my life, beautiful Mother!” I would say that the show experience was a success. I highly recommend “Sesame Street Live” to every family with kids who love those adorable characters and iconic songs. It was a really great show and I was thoroughly entertained, so I don’t really care if my toddler, a member of the target audience, swooned or not; I thought it was terrific. Standing O fo sho. I would totally take M again and I think she’ll love it even more when she’s a smidge older.

So thankful to have had this experience with my little lovebug!

Madelyn is getting a bit of a reputation as a party girl. The minute she hears music – any music – she smiles and starts to dance. She’s been doing this virtually since the day she could stand up. It is really a thrilling sight to see. First of all, it is perhaps the cutest thing ever, but it also really gets my parental pride meter going. M’s not even two yet and I’m already thinking Juilliard – like Center Stage-style.

Seriously though, what’s cool about this, to me, is that it seems like Madelyn really is into dancing – or at least really into music. I think she must really love music if every time she hears it she gets all happy and breaks out her moves. I mean this is a kid who likes the Sesame Street theme song (the modern hip-hop-like version at least) more than Sesame Street itself. In her early dance days, we’d just loop the opening of Sesame Street and she’d dance around the living room.

Sometimes we’ll put on Black Eyed Peas or Lady Gaga in our bedroom and she’ll dance away in front of the mirror with no regard for furniture or walls (or Princeton) and she just totally gets lost in it. I truly can’t wait to see how she evolves as a dancer and if it’s something she takes on as she gets older. You never know what your kid is really going to be into, so I’m wondering if this is our first glimpse of something.

The real fun has been at the two weddings where she was the flower girl. The pre-show was her walking down the aisle – twice! – without any issues. But the main event was her completely captivating the dance floor as she gets the party going with her awesome moves.

As you can see, she clearly has a choreography that is all her own. In fact everyone has started calling what she does “The Madelyn” since she, of course, invented it. Here’s a quick tutorial:

How To Do “The Madelyn”

Below are all the moves you’ll need to successfully perform “The Madelyn” at parties. Start out by doing them in order, then you’re free to alternate between each at will. You’ll really impress your friends at parties and if you do it right, you’ll be in the center of the dance floor with all eyes on you.

1) “The Bounce” – Start by putting your arms out about 45 degrees and doing a slight knee bend, bouncing ever so slightly to the beat. It also helps if you flail your arms randomly at times. Make sure to look up while doing this since, of course, everybody is taller than you.

2) “The Sway” – Next, you have to transition into the side-to-side sway. This is a very exaggerated sway though – you have to be sure to actually lift your left leg and tilt right, then slowly switch, placing your left leg down again, lifting the right leg, and tilting left. Repeat this motion while making a very wide-eyed face and smiling big.

3) “The Spin” – At random moments during the dance, stop what your doing and spin in a circle one or two times before continuing. This is ballerina style, except keep your arms kind of half down and half out as if you can’t really decide. It also helps if you almost lose your balance here but then don’t.

4) “The Jump” – This is an exaggerated version of the bounce and only happens very infrequently during the dance. It is usually aided by holding the arms of somebody much taller than you and then hopping up and down uncontrollably. This is the one move that usually ends up completely off-beat from the music as a result of the sheer excitement you get from performing it.

5) “The Applause” – When you decide you’re done, make sure to give yourself a healthy round of applause at the end. In fact, random clapping in the middle of any of the above four steps is also encouraged.

Madelyn hopes to see you out on the dance floor sometime soon!

Last month, we took Madelyn to Disneyland. We actually went on Super Bowl Sunday because I’d always heard that most Americans prefer to stay home and eat Buffalo wings and watch commercials than visit Disneyland to eat churros and watch people act like animals. So, that was the rumor and rumor it was. The crowd wasn’t significantly better or worse than a regular weekend day at Disneyland. It was just a weekend day at Disneyland. We certainly didn’t have the park to ourselves, but we didn’t mind because we were stoked to see Disneyland through the eyes of our 18-month-old.

Those eyes that our 18-month-old saw Disneyland through were mostly filled with tears the entire first half of the day. Fantastic. We had just spent two months of car payments on annual Disneyland passes because of COURSE our child will love love love Disneyland and we will go every week and she will be obsessed with princesses and she will want to cuddle with Minnie and we will role play in the coming months where Madelyn plays Snow White and Bryan plays the prince and I will, of course, play the evil queen (oh wait, that’s when Madelyn’s a teenager) and everything will be omgamazing! But no. You know what I learned? Toddlers don’t like to wait, and unfortunately, waiting is the name of the game at Disneyland.

After waiting 30 minutes just to get on the parking lot tram (first ride of the day?), Madelyn was done! After all, she’d been woken up early for a 50-minute drive in the car to arrive at a hyped up destination just to… wait? I don’t blame her.

But once we were moving, she was fine.

Then we stopped in the line where all the Disneyland CIA checked our bags to make sure we weren’t terrorists. (Heh, little did they know the most wanted terrorist was in our stroller). During this wait, she was not fine.

Then we passed the test and went to the ticket kiosk and for those 20 seconds of strolling, she was fine. As soon as we promised Disneyland our second born paid for our annual passes, we waited in another line to enter. But while we waited in line to enter, she was not fine.

The chirp-chirp noise signaled our tickets were legit and could pass through the gate. We were welcomed with a marching band in front of the Main Street train station and the Disney magic trickled through me. I KNEW Madelyn would feel the vibe too, which is why we stopped on Main Street to take her first photo with a Disney character!

Madelyn LOVES ducks and any time she sees a duck, she points and shouts “DUCK!” (but without the “ck” so it’s really more like she’s condescending and saying “DUH!”), so naturally she would be delighted to take a picture with Donald Duck.

No. No she was not.

She was not fine. I’m pretty sure the girl inside Donald quit her job after dealing with that nonsense.

We decided to carry on and push forward to get to Fantasy Land because what kid doesn’t like fairytale chalet architecture and 30-second real rides based on 90-minute animated movies? But first, we had to stop at the castle to take our first castle photo! Surely, Madelyn would love standing in front of a castle!

Isn’t that a face of a girl who’s just having a ball?

Nanoseconds after this photo, I almost needed rhinoplasty thanks to her fist. That would not have been fine.

Okay, so raincheck on a happy castle picture, but rides are next! Rides are so fun! It’s like sitting in the stroller but with adorable moving characters all around!

We stood in line for 30 minutes to ride Peter Pan. (well, no one got to RIDE Peter Pan. This is a family amusement park and Peter Pan is a man child). Thirty minutes when you’re a grown up is not that long for a ride that’s normally about an hour-long wait. However, thirty minutes when you’re 18 months old and it’s 2893749871 degrees outside and you’re packed inside a maze with human rats is torture. Also, it’s torture for grown ups carrying a squirmy 18-month-old in 2893749871 degrees outside and you’re packed inside a maze with human rats. This was before we mastered the one-parent-waits-outside-the-line-with-the-toddler-while-the-other-parent-waits-in-the-real-line-and-then-join-together-at-the-front tactic that we, eureka!, discovered later in the day. Rookies.

We finally got to the front of the line, hopped into our flying pirate ship, and floated away. “She’ll be fine,” I thought. And for about 10 seconds over London, she was. But then she wasn’t. And she cried and cried and cried, and Bryan and I just laughed. What can you do when you’re flying through the air on a track in the dark and you’re looking at glow light crocodiles and a boy wearing tights, and you have nowhere to go? You just laugh.

Of course, the final three seconds of the ride, Madelyn got it together and stopped crying, but as I’ve always said, toddlers are bipolar AND have terrible timing. So, no surprise there.

After the ride, we evaluated our situation. We had a cranky little girl who was not valuing the Disney magic (or the three digits before the decimal point it cost to enter). Do we give up? Do we kick ourselves? Do we toss her overboard from the Mark Twain Riverboat?

No. We eat.

Eating was fine. Madelyn is fairly food-motivated, so we were able to enjoy a leisurely meal at our favorite lunch spot where it was cool and quiet, emphasis on the cool (why did it have to be a zillion degrees in February? Thanks, California).

After our recharge and morale boost, we decided to just go with the flow. We had a year’s worth of opportunities to come back and keep trying to force our daughter to love Disneyland. Whatever we got to, we got to. And hey, it’d make a good blog story (Is it? Is it?).

We decided what this girl really needed was a nap. So we reclined her in the stroller and walked through Disney’s California Adventure (PSA: I see a lot of people talk about this place as if it’s called California Adventures. No. Just Adventure. One. You can only have one adventure there. No more. Singular. Seriously, look it up).

Sure enough, as soon as we entered, her eyes got heavy and just as I purchased my ice cream (because calories don’t exist at Disneyland) she was fast asleep. We walked aimlessly and checked out new parts of DCA we hadn’t seen or cared about before. We had time to kill and we couldn’t ride rides.

After about an hour, we wised up and enjoyed some free air conditioning in the hotel where I peed (amazing experience. I’ll never pee in a regular park bathroom again), and we relaxed. She woke up there and was as happy as a clam on Ariel’s mermaid bra. She was fine!

That nap did wonders and Madelyn woke up a whole new woman.

To take advantage of her chipper disposition, we took her to Toon Town so she could meet Minnie and Mickey. This, thank goodness, was fine!

We took her through Minnie’s house first, and she enjoyed seeing all of Minnie’s decor and prized possessions. In preparation for this moment, I had bought Madelyn a small Minnie earlier in the week to frontload her with all things mouse. She had taken to Minnie very much, so I knew she’d be in awe of seeing the real rodent with a bow in person.

We finally got to Minnie’s backyard where she stands all day to take photos with her house guests. As we waited, Madelyn inched as close as she could to get her glimpse of Minnie from afar.

Minnie’s butlers/Disneyland’s line guidance experts, moved us along through the line, but Madelyn stayed behind the wall to take it all in.

Then it was finally our turn and I was so excited for Madelyn to meet THE Minnie! I put down all of our stuff (i.e., the diaper bag that had Madelyn’s all-you-can-eat buffet/snacks to keep her happy all day) and we handed the camera to Minnie’s man slave.

Madelyn was in awe and I could see the cogs working in her brain to make sense of this experience. She was about to enjoy the moment and I was about to swoon and then Minnie, that bitch, touched Madelyn in attempt to playfully tickle her and Madelyn flipped out. Look, don’t touch, according to Madelyn!

She calmed down in time for the photo, but she was still on guard and wary of the mouse shenanigans, so she wanted to be as far away from Minnie as possible and kept a watchful on her.

After our visit with Minnie, it was time to check out Mickey’s pad which is next door. No wonder Minnie and Mickey don’t have any children.

Inside Mickey’s house, there were similar cute and funny tzchotzchkes to see and touch, but Madelyn had lost all her steam in Minnie’s, so we were a little more rush-rush through his place. She stopped to see a framed portrait of Minnie on Mickey’s mantle — what a romantic! — and she recognized her and matched up her Minnie doll with the picture. Apparently, she was over the tickling debacle from five minutes before.

We finally got into the meet-Mickey room and Madelyn couldn’t care less! She didn’t gasp in excitement like she had with Minnie and was more casual about the whole thing. I imagine if she’d had a megaphone, she would’ve lazily directed, “Move it along, people, let’s meet the mouse and then bust out and get on with our day, yada yada.”

Still, at least there were no tears, even if she was unfazed over the whole charade.

As of that point, that was probably the most time I’d ever spent in Toon Town because why else would we have ever gone there?

We decided to leave the stroller parked in its spot in front of Minnie’s house and walk around a little bit to give Madelyn an outlet to spend her energy. There wasn’t much else that interested Madelyn inside Toon Town, but it was cute to walk around and snap some photos.

We said “Toodles” to Toon Town and made our way back to Fantasy Land where we decided to try our luck at Dumbo. I had put on the movie for Madelyn a few days before we went to Disneyland so she’d get to know the adorable, big-eared elephant, but ohmygosh, have you watched this movie in your adult life? It’s horrific. The treatment of the elephants, the blatant racism of the circus workers, the management of the animals? Not such a happy flick! Thankfully, the ride is just up and down in an elephant and has nothing else to do with the movie!

This is where we discovered our new waiting in line tactic and I went through the line while Madelyn and Bryan waited. They joined me just as it was time to enter the corral and I made a bee line for the, duh!, pink Dumbo! Bryan snapped a few photos before it was time to join us inside and the three of us went up and down on the flying beastly mammal.

Madelyn didn’t love it. She didn’t hate it. She was just… fine. And as soon as it had started, it ended.

So, what to do next at Disneyland with a first timer? Well, file this away in Things I’d Never Done at Disneyland Because You Can Do Them At Any Local Carnival in Your Hometown: ride the carousel. This was Madelyn’s second time on a carousel. The first time was at the Ventura harbor and she hated it. (I’m sensing a trend that Madelyn hates things that normal people think are fun). So, I didn’t have a lot of faith in this Disney-fied carousel experience, but you know what? She totally enjoyed it!

Once we found our horse, I fastened her in and Bryan positioned himself just outside the carousel to get shots of us going around and around. She smiled and liked the wind blowing through her hair and the music around her. I was so happy she was happy!

After riding elephants and horses back-to-back, we were starting to wonder what we’d do next, but that’s when we got the call from our friend Becky (and her mom and Día) that they’d arrived and were ready to meet us! Becky’s husband, George, plays in the Mad Hatter Tea Party show at California Adventure, and we’d made plans to meet up to see his show! We hadn’t gotten together in months and were super overdue, and we laughed at the absurdity of a long-needed play date… at Disneyland!

It was so cute to see our two little princesses together at our meeting spot — in front of he castle, of course!

We love that Día wore a Cinderella onesie to Disneyland and her pink mouse ears on her head. Such a typical Disney kid! Becky dressed her in lace leggings that showed a little skin, but totally completed the whole girly, princessy outfit. Becky took a lot of photos of the girls and I will now share them because the captions she wrote, as copied here, are hysterical. Ahem… take it away, Becky!

Then we had a mini photo shoot in front of the castle, first with Becky and me and our girls to document this momentous playdate and then finally, us three Friedmans!

The four of us and the babies ventured off for some rides and dinner. And then we exited the park to head over to California Adventure to see George play as the White Rabbit. I had no idea what to expect, but the music was awesome! George and his bandmates played covers of current music that was just as good as hearing the originals and they tossed in so much energy along with their Alice in Wonderland-themed costumes and lights. It was a great show!

I had seen George play with his other band that does 80s covers, but seeing him in his rockstar element was a treat. The girls loved it, too! Madelyn and Día danced and danced! It was adorable to see Día get down to her daddy’s music and even Madelyn, who is usually afraid of loud sounds, totally rocked out, too!

We got video if Madelyn and Día dancing and we seriously can’t stop watching the girls have a blast. My favorite part is when Día walks away and Madelyn’s like, “Wait, where did my friend go?” Pause. “Oh whatever, I’m going to keep dancing!”

This is what smiles are made of, people! This portion of our day was very, very, very fine.

After one of the sets, we got a photo with George and the band. We are such groupies!

By then, the girls were getting sleepy. The fireworks had ended over at the main park (is that Disneylandist of me to think of California Aventure as a second class park? Sorry, but it is) and the crowds were shuffling out, but it was still two hours til closing. You know what that means, right? We got in all the rides we didn’t dare try to ride earlier in the day and the girls were calm, or, in Madelyn’s case, slept in the Ergo while we enjoyed the Sleeping Beauty’s Castle dioramas, the Storybook Ride (my fav! So cute!) and Casey Junior’s train.

We made our way to the front and the worst part of any experience I have at Disneyland: leaving. I get so sad when I leave that magic behind, but I know that we have our annual passes and we will be back (no, really, we HAVE to in order to make our newfound poverty worth it). I really think that Madelyn will learn to appreciate it more and more as she gets older and I hope she’ll also be sad when it’s time to leave. That would be, in fact, fine.

Our first Disneyland trip was definitely a memorable one and even though it didn’t start off perfectly, it was a day we created memories and one I had dreamed of for a long time! Taking a child to Disneyland is so refreshing, especially after growing up and experiencing Disneyland in that awkward time where you still like it, but it’s lost its sparkle. Well, the sparkle is alive and well, and it’s time to start planning our next trip with our fine little princess.

For an outdoor activity that allowed us to enjoy some fresh air in this Southern California “winter,” we met up with Brian and David for a little picnic and playtime in the Valley. We had no idea this gem of a park existed! I hesitate to marvel at its perfection and publish this blog for the world to see because it’d be a shame if riff raff came to ruin it, but it’s darling! With real, historic adobe houses still in tact, a working blacksmith shop that has living history demos on certain weekend days, a duck pond, and a big grassy field, there’s lots to see without it looking like a generic “kiddie” park.

We enjoyed our burgers and hot dogs in the shade at a picnic table. It was quiet except for some passing cars on the narrow neighborhood street, and the sun felt good as it canceled out the “freezing” temps in the high 60s. Hardly anyone was around so we had the whole park to ourselves. After we ate, it was the Madelyn show where Uncle Brian played fetch with a very excited little girl who, up to this point, had no interest in her blue bouncy ball that had been in our house for months! Score one point for Uncle Brian!

The boys — Bryan, Brian, and David — played frisbee with Brian’s DARE frisbee circa 1997 that he just happened to have in his car. While these shenanigans happened, I chased after Madelyn who had made a friend. A neighborhood girl, 2 years old, came to play with her as her dad chatted it up with me (my husband was oblivious! Figures!). I don’t have any photographic evidence of Madelyn sharing her babydoll or ball, but she did. Even though this picture says otherwise:

It was cute to see Madelyn interact with another girl she’d never met before. The little girl was a chatty one and kept asking Madelyn questions. As I’ve said before, Madelyn isn’t really speaking human English… she speaks her own Madelynese. So she never answered anything that the girl asked, but they communicated through body language and facial expressions. I felt like all I needed was a boots and binoculars and I was watching the greatest National Geographic special never created. Toddlers are amazing, you guys.

The little girl went bye-bye and the big boys got tired, so we took a stroll over to the ducks. But first we had to get Madelyn’s baby’s stroller down from a tree. Thanks to Uncle David for giving her a boost.

At the duck pond, Madelyn proceeded to flip out because the geese were extremely vocal. They hissed and squawked and honked at Princeton who was just as confused about these feathered dudes with the long noses. It was an interesting mix of species and thank goodness there was a fence between us because these fowls were foul.

We sang song about ducks and watched another family feed them, but Madelyn wanted no part in this and figured that running away would be her best bet to end this experience. She was right. We found ourselves instead at the adobe that used to house some famous Encino ranchers. There was a little museum inside and everything!

On the outside, we took photos.

We took silly ones that DO put Baby in the corner (I love having fun friends!).

Then Madelyn got curious and wanted to know what was behind the big adobe doors. I love the colors and her little body trying so hard to shove that door open.

Madelyn was getting tired so we decided to quickly walk around the rest of the park. We ended up at the little blacksmith shop and Madelyn was fascinated. Nothing was even going on in there, but she was very attracted to the machinery. Or just very confused by it. Probably the latter since she’s a nice Jewish girl from Ventura County.

The big lawn also had a corral where, we learned, is where sheep did their thing. We let Princeton off the leash there — sshhh!! No one saw! — and he loved life. I never get sick watching him run. He’s such a good dog.

Madelyn got whiny so we fed her. That’s the best thing to do for a kid when you need to extend their time just a little bit more. So there she stood on the corral, held up by Uncle Brian, with a delicious pouch of pureed fruit in the middle of the park. It was a great moment and we all got pictures.

Did she have a good day? I don’t know. She’s on the fence.

Ok, that was really bad, I’m sorry.

We had such a fun afternoon with Brian and David and we can’t wait until our next get together where we will likely play Name that Tune with musicals and talk about movies all afternoon. Those are the best days.