We're back, as the mountains of laundry, e-mails and to-do lists can attest.

We had a wonderful time. It was a good decision to go to Sesame Place, since it rained a bit yesterday, but the park still had plenty for us to do in the rain. The water park attractions were great, and C surprised me by going on (and enjoying) some slides and rides that I thought she might be freaked out by. The only one I didn't do with her was Big Bird's Balloon Race which puts you in a little basket then raises you up 40 feet or so while spinning you around, sorta like a carousel. R said it was really quite tame, although I could swear the thing spun quite a bit faster once C was actually on it! She loved it. Being 2 1/2 seems to agree with her.

She got totally exhausted though, probably more tired than she's ever been in her life (no nap Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, normal-to-minimal sleep at night), and that was quite funny. Apparently her response to extreme fatigue is not fussiness or meltdown, it's sort of this drunken stupor. She was practically slurring words. It was pretty funny. She seems none the worse for wear today.

And, C made the acquaintance of Bert, Ernie, and Big Bird, and she also got pats on the head from Rosita, Elmo, and Cookie Monster during the parade. We went to two shows, Elmo's World Live (where we sat right down front) and Big Bird's Beach Party. I like Elmo and all, but he's kind of a Johnny-Come-Lately to Sesame Street, so a little part of me was tickled that C was much more excited by Big Bird. A picture is worth a thousand words, but even with that many I don't think I could describe her wonder and joy at seeing those characters in person. We did take some pictures, but most of the time we were so busy having fun the camera was not foremost in our mind. Isn't that the way it should be? (Don't worry grandmothers--there will be photos.)

I had wondered beforehand whether she would be freaked out by these huge costumed characters. She HATED Santa last Christmas and is generally reserved with new situations and strangers. But of course, these characters are no strangers. The first ones we saw were Bert and Ernie--they were posing for pictures with kids. C said, "Want to go give Bert and Ernie a hug." Even then I was skeptical; figured she'd change her mind as she got closer. But no--big hug, big smile.

It was great to see our Philadelphia friends and meet their daughter, also initialed C, recently adopted from China. It was strange to realize that they are brand-new parents, even though their daughter is already 14 months old. I asked R if he remembered how crazy-making the first few months of parenthood were and whether they would seem somewhat less so with a child who was older. He thought so, mainly because of the sleep-deprivation factor. On the other hand, with a baby you're starting from scratch, as opposed to an older child who has already developed certain preferences (darkened room? freaked out by baths unless you do X, Y, Z? etc.). Anyway, we had a great time all the way around.