We eat at McDonalds.  There.  I admitted it.  Not only do we eat at McDonalds, we give the different restaurants names to help us differentiate.

“After we pick up Little we will go by the ‘Promise McDonalds’ to get a drink.”
“No, there is no play place.  This is the ‘Ridiculous McDonalds’.”

Considering this level of love and familiarity with the franchising chain, it is no surprise that we were discussing the clown, Ronald McDonald, in the car last week.  KB started into a dreamy speech about meeting Ronald McDonald himself and I immediately derailed that train by telling her that I had not seen Mr. McDonald since I was a little girl; he used to come to birthday parties.  It was hard to disappoint her, but I told her not to get her hopes up, the company was no longer in the habit of sending in the clown.

McDonalds made a McLiar out of me.  Last Thursday I was driving through the ‘Joann McDonalds’ and as one lady handed me my Diet Dr. Pepper another hung a sign in the window.  You guessed it – Ronald McDonald was coming on Saturday and would be taking pictures and signing autographs.  Seriously.  Can you believe the timing? All of a sudden we had plans for Saturday.

We didn’t tell KB until Saturday morning, just in case something were to happen and we couldn’t go.  We also knew she wouldn’t be able to stop talking once she found out. She didn’t disappoint – once we told her, we were privy to a string of questions about the clown and predictions about how our visit would go.

The morning was actually cute and fun.  The guy said things like, “Hope you are having a McMagical Day!” and that kinda made me want to be sick, but the kids were McThrilled and McGiddy.

KB got all nervous and refused to be in the photo.  I took her aside and reminded her of the picture we have where Little and Bubba are with Dora.  KB refused to be in that photo too and every time she looks at it she says, “I wish I was in the picture with Dora.”  After contemplating a life of wishing to be in the photo with Mr. McDonald, KB chose the lesser of two evils and slinked behind her father’s leg to get the photo below.

My favorite part of the whole time was hearing a 30something turn to her mom and ask if she had ever seen Ronald McDonald when she was young.  Her mother said no and the clown overheard her.  He zipped right over exclaiming, “And I’ve missed you!”  He gave the girl a hug, got a picture with her, signed an autograph and told her he was so thrilled to have finally met her and he “hoped she had a McMagical day!”  It was hilarious and perfect.  The entire adult population of the store was united in the moment and it felt like world peace was actually possible.  Okay, that’s a bit much, but it was truly fun.

Moral of the story: McMagical memories are made in McDonalds McMoments