In all the years I worked in radio I was star struck quite a few times. This weekend, I got to witness first hand my daughter being star struck and it was worth every second.

Laila Lockhart Kraner, the star of Gabby’s Dollhouse, did a meet and greet at a local furniture store this weekend and I took Ella and her cousin. She’d been counting down “how many sleeps” since I told her about it. Sunday was the big day!

She could hardly contain herself when she woke up. She was ready to go almost immediately. Sam had bought her a Gabby shirt to wear for the day, and she couldn’t wait to put it on. ”Gabby is going to love it,” she told me.

I left a bit early, figuring that it was probably going to be a bit crazy. When we pulled in, there were people waiting in their cars. It was about 10:15am and the event was supposed to start at 11. As soon as I put the car in park, Ella wanted to get out and wait at the door. Thank goodness it was like 50 degrees and sunny!

Turns out, we were the first in line. Other parents followed suit and lined up behind us. Ella kept staring inside the place, hoping to get a glimpse of Gabby. I was grateful that they opened the doors early. We were given a number (we were #2, despite being first in line) and that would be how we got to go to meet her.

They had the place decorated with lots of cardboard cut outs and such.

There were snacks and plenty of things to do. We went right into the balloon art line, where my niece got a unicorn and Ella got a dog.

They had a DJ there playing music and he was the one who would call our number. There were SO many people. Ella wasn’t quite sure what to do. It wasn’t long and they announced that Gabby was coming out to meet everyone and they played her theme song. I pointed her out to Ella as she came out and she was just in awe! They walked her over to a couch where she would be posing for pictures. Ella stood there and just watched her – star struck!

Soon after, they called out a range of numbers and it was time to line up to meet her! I snapped pictures with my phone, but my niece wanted me to take one with her phone, too. When they got up on the couch, Gabby said hello to her and I think she thought she was dreaming!

I fumbled with my niece’s phone and figured out the camera and asked if we could do one more picture, and she said “Sure!”

I guess that one is a little better. 

I thanked Gabby for giving the girls the chance to meet her and we went off to get faces painted. Gabby has lots of cats on the show, so Ella had to get a cat.

Both girls asked where the play place was. I laughed and said there wasn’t one. So they decided to play “Hide from Keith” and they were all over the place! LOL I told them I knew there was a play place at the McDonald’s down the road and we went and grabbed lunch. At the play place, we ran into many other Gabby fans who were wearing cat ears and had faces painted. They played and had a blast. 

When we left my niece said, “Uncle Keith, since we were both so well behaved, maybe you could take us to that Target and we could look at toys.” Needless to say, we went to Target, but I had to rope them both in when they began asking for $150 dollar Barbie houses and other stuff that was super expensive. They both picked a Barbie doll and we headed home.

My mother-in-law was at the house watching Andrew and was going to take my niece home with her when we got back. Ella was having such a fun time, she cried when she heard she was leaving. So I told her she could stay and I would take her home later that evening.

On the ride back home, Ella and Andrew both fell asleep in the car. None of us had dinner yet, so I drove through somewhere and we went home and ate. We stayed up a bit later than normal, so the food could settle a bit and after reading books, brushing teeth and saying prayers, we were off to sleep. 

It was a fun and exhausting day, and I hope that Ella will remember it for a very long time. I know I will.