Princess For a Day

Here ye, here ye! By royal command, every eligible maiden along the Wasatch Front is to attend the annual princess festival. When Grandma and Papa heard that there was going to be a gathering of princesses at Thanksgiving Point, they decided Miss Bryn simply had to make an appearance. For all intents and purposes, Bryn already acts like a princess, is the queen of the household, and most days rules with an iron fist. The only thing that she was missing was the dress. When Charlene brought out the Cinderella dress she had purchased for Bryn, the transformation was complete. Bryn insisted on wearing the dress for days leading up to the festival. I'm pretty sure Charlene is still vacuuming up glitter.

A few days before the festival, we let Bryn watch Cinderella. Up until then, she has been infatuated with all animals things and had only watched shows like Madagascar and Lion King. We introduced her to the world of Cinderella, and it wasn't long before she was prancing around waving her imaginary wand yelling "Ibbity Bobbity Ooo!"

We've been in Utah now for over three weeks, and for some reason, our vivacious little social butterfly has suddenly turned into a shy wallflower. Before the move, she would smile and wave to everyone she passed on the street and was perfectly content striking up a conversation with anyone. However, I think because of all the changes with move and the difficulty of leaving all her little friends, she is now a little more reserved when put into new situations. 

I was a little worried about how she would react being around a bunch of other girls, most of them years older than her. And, just as we suspected, she spent most of the festival clutching Grandma's hand tightly or sitting in Dad's lap. This is the first and only princess Brynlee would pose with (if you can call it posing). That is Princess Sonrissa. Pretty sure they just made her up. Granted, my knowledge concerning princesses is quite limited, but still I expected to at least heard of her.

Despite the warm weather and Bryn's shyness, we managed to have a good time. There was a little stream going through the gardens which was nice, and there was even a horse pulling a carriage, so Bryn was excited about that. I think Bryn enjoyed running around and seeing all the animals statues which she had all to herself because all the other girls were getting their pictures taken with princesses. 

Towards the middle of the day a princess parade was held and all the characters we were supposed to see all came together. There were dancing fairies, Cinderella, Ariel, and a slew of other characters (which I am proud to say that I knew). Perhaps the best part of the day was the entertainment. The DJ played the "chicken dance" song and taught all the kids the movements. Grandma was willing to cut loose, but Bryn just sat there and quietly watched. Later that night, when we were about to eat dinner, Bryn all of a sudden says, "Chicken dance! Shake ya bum!" and starts doing the dance. We all got a good laugh out of that and ever since, Bryn has a mild obsession with "shaken' her bum." She especially likes to watch herself do it whether it is in front of a long mirror at Grandma's house or in the aisle of the local Walmart.

And this is about as excited as Bryn got all day. When we told her it was time to leave and that we would go look at the animals at Cabela's. Nate insisted that we go somewhere "manly" to get all the girly stench off of him. Him and Hudson were such good sports that it only seemed fair. Thanks again Grandma for taking us to the Festival. We all had fun even if the only thing Bryn got out of it was her "beautiful dress" and some stellar dance moves.