Hello sweet bear and happy 67 months! We just tucked you in, and you are likely stretched out in your bed right now, enjoying the return of blood flow to your extremities after spending 12 hours in the cramped car – your longest road trip to date.

We traveled this weekend to Cincinnati to visit with Uncle Trent and Aunt Michelle and to meet little Lucinda June, lovingly nicknamed LuJu. She’s brimming with sweetness and loves to coo, and you two enjoyed several conversations that were pretty impressive considering she’s two months old. And I imagine these chats will just keep getting better.

Another major highlight of the trip was our visit to the “Hall of Justice.” It’s really the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal – an old train station that now also boasts a Natural History Museum, Omnimax and a Children’s Museum. But you were most excited about the structure itself because the Hall of Justice in the SuperFriends cartoon is modeled after this building.

Compare:

You were overjoyed upon seeing it from the interstate, and as we walked up to the doors you broke into a run, saying you just had to touch it.

The fact that this special building also contained dinosaurs was some seriously good icing on an already tasty cake. The Natural History Museum was great fossil-packed fun.

But when we asked what your favorite part of the day was, you said it was building a parachute out of a napkin and paper clip in the science lab. It’s amusing to think that of all the great wonders we saw, this stood out the most for you. May science and physics always be so enthralling! If so, you will fare better in your lab classes than your mother did. 

The drive home was a doozie that included six states, but it wasn’t all drudgery. In fact, we were THRILLED that a blanket of snow had fallen the day before in Kentucky and had nicely stuck around for us. I really, really love snow and this look on your face as you launched a snowball at your Daddy tells me that you love it too.

We built a snowgirl, ran around making footprint trails and then threw more snowballs at each other.

We still had many, many hours in the car ahead of us so we’d told you not to make snow angels. We didn’t want you to have to ride in the car, wet from lying in the snow.

But during a brief truce in the snowball battle, you dropped to the ground, overcome with glee, and began making a snow angel. While your legs and arms swished in the snow, you yelled, “I AM OUT OF CONTROL!” It was so cute and funny I couldn’t be mad. 

Our trip was epic, but it wasn’t the only excitement you had last month. You and your Daddy got to share a very special evening when your school hosted a Daddy-Daughter dance.

First, a bit of fingernail polish was in order. And not just any fingernail polish, but the kind that changes color and has glitter sparkles. Here you are painting your “second course” instead of “second coat.”

Not to be outdone by your nail polish, you picked out your fanciest dress – navy with silver glitter sparkles. Your Daddy surprised you with a tiny corsage of tiny pink roses for your tiny wrist. “Are these flowers fresh?” you asked, and were so pleased to find out that they were.

I made you stand around and pose for too many pictures – something you should get used to at moments like these. Then finally, it was time to dance, and I snuck inside the school for just a few more shots before leaving you two to spin and shimmy.

That Daddy of yours is setting the bar high for your future suitors, just as my Daddy did for me. Your Daddy is a wonderful role model of a father and husband, and we are both so lucky to have him in our lives. I can only hope your future dance dates make you smile like this. And if they don’t make you smile, if they don’t respect you, if they don’t love you for who you are – I hope you think about your Daddy and realize that there are good men in the world. And you deserve a good man.

Your Daddy and I love you so much sweet bear. Sweet dreams to our best girl.