Missed last week.

Because I was gone... having fun... with my daughter... in California. My nephew got baptized a week ago, and Princess M and I decided that it was the perfect opportunity to go see family, celebrate a baptism, and spend a day at Disneyland while we were so close.

Here's M with her airline ticket right before boarding the plane.


And here's a shot M took of the parade in Disneyland.

I let her take pics on the digital camera, while I used the Flip camcorder. I need some time to edit those, so I'll have to post them later. (Besides, I'm having trouble loading video to this blog; it may take a while.)

It was Princess M's first visit to Disneyland (I've been using the trip as obedience incentive for a long time now.) We went with my brother's family that lives there, who also happen to have a daughter just a little older than M (as well as older and younger siblings). We only had time for one day, so we only got single park tickets. I was so disappointed to find out that the restaurant where you can dine with the princesses was actually in California Adventure Park, not Disneyland. So we had a lot of fun, rode a lot of rides, saw a lot of really cool characters, played with cousins, but were not able to find a single princess all day long! Even the parade, that we went out of our way to get right up close to, was princessless. They had Mickey and friends, Alice in Wonderland, and Mary Poppins, but not a single tiara in sight. There was NO WAY we were traveling to Disneyland and not letting Princess M talk to a fellow princess.

Finally, at 7:30pm we discovered a small attraction nestled away up in the corner by Toon Town called the Princess Fantasy Fair. Upon entering, we realized we hit the jackpot. Rather than being a "ride" of sorts, it was more like a wedding reception. Only it was one princess after another in succession that you waited in line to stand by, talk to, and then take a picture with. M got to see her princesses at last! And just in time too. Not 5 minutes after we were done, all the princesses gathered up their skirts and left. The attraction had closed for the day. Thank Heaven we got there in time!

I'll try to get the video upload working. M's first ride on the teacups was a blast! She kept wanting to go back over and over. And yes, she LOVED It's a Small World! You know, it's not half bad either when you're with a 4 year old who is having a great time!

What I didn't enjoy was the price of food there. OUCH!!! Seriously?! $5.00 for a 1/4 cup of macaroni and cheese that is so bad even my 4 year old won't eat it! Come on! My father and brother arrived in town around dinner time and very graciously met us outside the park with Little Caesar's Pizza. What a lifesaver!

It really was a lot of fun, especially being with my family, and their knowledge of the park and how each of their kids went out of their way to help show my daughter a great time. They are totally awesome!

The baptism was wonderful! My nephew J is quite the special boy, just so full of love and energy. It was great to be with family too. I found out that apparently everyone in the family, but I, knew about my parent's call to the Palmyra Temple mission. I'm so excited for them! We may have to go to visit the Hill Cumorah Pageant next year.

Aside from a few tantrums, we really had a wonderful week, and it was sad when it came time to fly home. REALLY sad (did I already mention tantrums?) ;) Thank you Art and Julie for putting us up for the week. You have a wonderful family, and we can't wait to see you all again.