Daddy and Daughter Adventure

 Guest post from Hazel:

Hazel and her 4th cousin Dena, who have
the same great-great-great grandmother

Dad and I don't usually get to spend a lot of quality time together with just the two of us, so last weekend was especially exciting. Dad took me to Scottsdale Arizona for our cousin Amy's wedding. It was sad to leave Mom, Mitch, and especially Turner, but I was looking forward to the adventure. It was a really fun trip.

Dad and I left on Saturday and flew together on a plane. I did really well on the plane, coloring, reading, and watching my LeapPad. The plane trip went by really fast.

Once we landed, we went to get our rental car. Dad couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the car. It was a tiny, bright green Ford Fiesta! The rental guy apologized that our car wasn't ripe yet. I called it the frog car, a name that stuck the whole weekend.

After we got our car we went to our hotel, where we were staying with Bubbe. It was great to see her again. A few minutes later, our Aunt Susan, Uncle Stuart, and cousins Steve, Mindy, Ellie and Nathan from Arizona came by our room. I was so excited to see them I couldn't sit still. There were lots of presents for us to play with.

Before we could get too settled in, we left the hotel to go to the Butterfly Museum in Scottsdale.  It was really neat.  There was a 3D movie all about monarch butterflies. Ellie and I kept trying to reach out and grab the butterflies, but somehow they kept just escaping our reach.

After the 3D movie, we went into a giant area with tons and tons of butterflies. While we were watching them fly all around, one landed on Dad's shoulder! He sat really still while everyone took pictures. After a few minutes, he decided he'd had enough and started walking around.  To his and everyone else's surprise, the butterfly stayed on him. Dad found a new friend!

Ellie and I kept trying to get butterflies to land on us, but we weren't having much luck. One did land on my head but it quickly flew away. At one point there were three butterflies on Uncle Steve at the same time! We had a good time looking at all of the pretty butterflies.

The next room had a beehive that you could watch through glass. I even spotted the queen bee - it had a red belly. When we asked Dad how I knew it was the queen, he said it must be the one bossing all of the other bees around.

After the museum we headed back to the hotel to get ready for a fancy dinner - the rehearsal dinner.  I got to put on a fun purple dress I picked out myself before the trip. The dinner was at a super nice, big house, which I thought was a restaurant because it was so big. I met so many cousins that night I couldn't believe it. The food was also really good.

At one point during dinner, Dad met another 3rd cousin Ali. Ali's daughter Dena is just 9 days older than me. Ali and Dad figured out that Dena and I were 4th cousins. That means that we have the same great-great-great grandparents. Or put another way, our great-grandmothers were first cousins. Whew! Anyway, Dena and I really hit it off. Even though we had to leave, I was hoping that I would get to see her the next day.

The next morning we went to have brunch with more of my cousins.  This time it was with my cousins Jodi, Mike, Emily, Jessica, and Ryan. Ellie, Nathan, their parents and grandparents, Dad and Bubbe all came too. We had a lot of fun eating brunch, playing on their trampoline and running around their house. We were having so much fun that before I knew it, it was time to leave. I was sad to go since I wouldn't see Ellie, Nathan, Emily, Jessica, or Ryan again on this trip.

After we returned to the hotel, it was time to get dressed up again for another fancy dinner.  This time it was for the wedding. I got to wear a brand new pink and black dress that I picked out myself. Dad were a tuxedo!

The wedding was outside and it was really beautiful. I was very patient while we took pictures before the wedding. Dad was really impressed with how well I behaved on the whole trip.

Before the wedding started, Dad dropped me off with some other kids in childcare.  It was so fun, that when the wedding was over and Dad came to get me, I didn't want to leave. But Dad promised we had a lot more fun in store for us.

We went to an outside reception where I had two delicious things I had never tried before - lamb chops and Shirley Temples!  Yum!

After the outside reception we went to the party inside. When I first walked in, I was worried the music would be too loud, but I warmed up to the party pretty quickly, especially after seeing that I was sitting next to my new-found cousin Dena. We played together the whole night - we colored together, danced together, and ate treats together. It was so much fun. We danced pretty much the whole night. Dad said I was the life of the party. I even got to dance with the bride Amy for a little bit. My favorite part of the night was dancing the Hora with Bubbe and watching the Amy and Jeff, bride and groom, ride up high on chairs.

Dad couldn't believe how awake I was even as it got late. I hadn't napped in two days, but was still going strong. Then he realized why - I was waiting for dessert. There was an ice cream bar with all kinds of yummy toppings. After finally getting my dessert, I was suddenly very tired. Dena was tired too, and her parents were leaving as well. Dena and I said a tearful goodbye and we headed back to our hotel. I was asleep within 2 minutes of getting the car.

Dad woke me up at 4:30 in the morning to catch our flight the next day. Against all odds, I woke up in a great mood and was really well behaved on our flights home. Mom and Turner picked us up at the airport (Mitch was still in school). I was sooo excited to see them!  When we got home, Turner and I got right back to playing together.  And we were all really excited when Mitch came home from school.

It's good to be back, but it was a really fun trip.