Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

As promised, here is the tale of how Emily became a princess for a day. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (hereafter referred to as BBB) it is a salon in Disneyland where small girls have their hair, nails and makeup (yes, makeup, it's not like I let her have it on a regular basis) done to be made over as princesses. They also offer an array of very beautifully detailed princess dresses that cost more than any dress Emily owns (thanks, grandma and grandpa for making a gift of the dresses).

From the day Emily learned of the existence of the BBB, she couldn't wait to go. We saw an opportunity to bribe her and made her earn her visit with a sticker chart: 20 days of good behavior. I think it took her 3 months.

Finally the chart was filled and we were officially obligated.

Upon arrival at the BBB, Emily was assigned a Fairy Godmother to facilitate her transformation.

Her hair was princessed out.

Nails and makeup were done.

Glitter, glitter and more glitter was applied (it's in the wand).

And Emily became a somewhat paler and considerably shorter version of Princess Tiana.

When the makeover was complete, Emily asked, "Where's my carriage?". I think she took the promise she would "become a princess" a bit to literally. Evidence of this misconception persisted as she posed with Cinderella moments after her makeover.

"Princesses like to clasp their hands in front of their hearts", explained Cinderella.

Emily really took the princess gig over the top as we walked down Main Street. I looked down to find that she was spontaneously waving and blowing kisses as she walked to everyone she saw. I'm not sure that she wasn't waiting for someone to ask for her autograph.

I am 99% sure that Emily believed in her heart of hearts that her makeover was intended to make her an official theme park princess. Whatever she believed, she was one happy kid.

Although Jane was too young for a makeover, we didn't leave her out of the experience. Emily made sure Jane was decked out properly as Snow White. 

The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique was a great experience, worth every dollar (and there were lots of them. Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa!)

Family Vacation: Beta Testing Mode

This past week we took our very first real family vacation. What better place than the happiest place on Earth? That's right, we went to Torrington. No, not really. We went to Disneyland. How did the kids like it you ask? Well, I don't think love is a strong enough word for how Emily felt about it. She bought the Disney experience hook line and sinker.
From the moment we arrived, Emily was more excited than any human has a right to be. From the ultra exciting bunk beds

to the thrill of seeing Sleeping Beauty's castle

 
to the delight of meeting the characters

to the blow-your mind rides

Emily ate it up. As far as I can tell, Emily is the target audience for Disneyland. She loved the little kid stuff in Toontown (although she did grow tired of it quickly), she loved the princesses (whom we had to stand in line an hour to meet), she loved dining with characters (goodbye college fund), she loved the roller coasters (Big Thunder was her favorite) and she even loved the big thrills, insisting that we go on Tower of Terror and actually liking it. If you know Emily, you'll notice I've omitted mention of the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, her favorite moment of the trip. It's coming, but it will require a separate post. In the meantime, feel free to enjoy these princess photos that were an hour in the making:

And Jane... oh Jane. Let's just say that Jane was a bit overwhelmed and leave it at that.

There were brief moments of happiness from Jane. She adored Small World, which she dubbed the "Baby Ride".

But let's face it, it's hard to please a 21 month old. Not even the Disney magic can vanish the terrible twos. We knew that before we left on our trip so we weren't that disappointed.

As for the adults on the trip, I think I speak for both of us when I say it was more than worth the stressful airport experience, the meltdowns and the small fortune spent on food the kids didn't eat just to be able to experience Disneyland with our kids.

We even got a tiny bit of time alone on our hotel balcony which overlooked Downtown Disney.

Every night, after the kids were in bed, we got to eat dessert while looking at this. It was a lovely end to every day.

It wasn't easy to pull off our first family vacation. It was a bit more Griswold than Roman Holiday, but it was absolutely worth it. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Just give me a couple years to recover.

Captain Obvious Dabbles in Culinary Arts

You know the guy who always seems to know exactly what's wrong and how to fix it? I'm not that guy. Most of the time it takes me a couple beats longer than Joe Public to even realize that something is wrong in the first place. Case in point: my oven.

Last weekend, Chris was gone on a backpacking trip. I had planned some healthful meals for my kids while he was away. Okay, so I didn't really. Most of them went from freezer to oven to plate.

Friday night was fish sticks and while I was working my culinary magic, something went horribly wrong. The oven began emitting a sputtering noise and it looked like a sparkler was going off inside of it (or a welding torch, but I was too slow to think of that). But then it stopped. I assumed it was just some food burning off and let it be (come to think of it, food would have created more smoke). The fish sticks were cooked and I went on with dinner despite the fact that there was a vaguely familiar smell in the air. Why was I suddenly thinking of my Sophomore year circuits lab? Anyway there was too much standing between me and some well earned peace to think too deeply about that.

The rest of the weekend went fine and I managed to actually not make any more freezer to oven fare for the remainder of the time. I put the oven out of my mind until yesterday after lunch when I went to make caramel bars. The elders were coming over for dinner and I wanted to make sure the bars had plenty of time to set.

I set the oven to preheat and began my prep work. Prep work done. Oven still cold. Crap! The sparks! They must have meant something! Maybe the element went bad. But how can I tell? Finally, after four days I stick my head in the oven (don't be alarmed - it's not gas). What I saw wasn't good. In fact, it was quite bad (please excuse my oven. I refuse to clean it by hand and self clean isn't exactly an option now).

Note the right hand side: the completely severed element. The white material is a result of the electrical fire that caused the severing. The black bits are slag (yes, slag - as in resolidified molten metal). Here is one up close:

The new element is on the way. It will be here Monday. But now I'm craving cookies. Homemade cookies. Probably because I can't have them. Or maybe because I make them too much and now I'm in withdrawals. Either way, there will be no cookies until Monday. Or lasagna. Or brownies. Or fish sticks, frozen pizza or corn dogs. At least caramel bars are still in the realm of possibility. It turns out that they do beautifully on the bottom rack under a broiler set to low.