A few weeks ago, <a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/2013/01/21/can-you-come-out-and-play/" target="_blank"><strong>I called out for guest bloggers.</strong> </a>
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I've always gotten a kick out of our token male readers who periodically comment on here, and now we have real live man blogging! Yay!

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Ladies and 3 Token Gents, I present to you World's Best Bro-in-Law and World's Most Precious Niece.

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<a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/?attachment_id=12202" rel="attachment wp-att-12202"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-12202" alt="img040" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/img040-300x222.jpg" width="300" height="222" /></a>“That would be fun for the two of you”, says Jennie, while I’m thinking the exact opposite. I’ve never been the dance floor type. I prefer a movie night, where you sit quietly, and there is definitely no rhythm involved. Thoughts like ‘Maybe it will sell out before she gets tickets’ and ‘maybe she’ll forget (she never forgets)’ and ‘maybe our pastor will be involved in a huge scandal and our church will disband before the dance happens (it could happen)’ started creeping into my head. But I knew this was happening.

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When I saw that my daughter, Chloe, was excited about it, I knew I was a little excited too. After all, we have a good time together. She still holds the title of ‘Adventure Buddy’ from our DisneyWorld vacation in 2009 (best vacation EVAR!)

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Our evening began with a visit to Whataburger because it was on the way (ladies choice). We caught up on current events - who has reposted the funniest things on Instagram and what things she wants to buy this week. During that meal, Chloe was also my first-ever model for the ‘girls with swords’ internet meme that began right there in Whataburger. It’s a long back-story, and the five people that are aware of the meme think it’s awesome.

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To the dance! First stop, daddy-daughter photo shoot. We waited in line behind this girl in bright red pumps, ad sporting a short little white dress with bright red cherries printed all over it who was there with her grandfather, and I was thinking ‘Awww, sweet.’ Then, at the front of the line, she turned and it was a fifty-ish year old woman wearing some younger girls’ dress who was there with her dad, and then I was thinking ‘Hurm, now I don’t know how I feel’. Chloe and I made goofy bug-eyes at each other and giggled.

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To the chariot! Next stop, carriage rides through the field. Waiting outside for our carriage got a little chilly, so Chloe ran to the car and grabbed her dad’s ‘leather’ jacket which she wore for the rest of the evening. I flipped her collar up to provide the right amount of attitude, since we were about to show these other couples how a carriage ride is done. We tried to predict which horse we would get on our turn, both of us kind of hoping that we would get the spastic horse that Chloe named Derpy Horse. Derp was not elegant. Derp was like a three-year-old pretending to be a Clydesdale. Derp trotted us around in bouncy, spastic style with his head kind of bobbing and twitching the whole time. We liked Derp.

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<a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/?attachment_id=12203" rel="attachment wp-att-12203"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-12203" alt="IMG_20130201_203530" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/IMG_20130201_203530-300x300.jpg" width="300" height="300" /></a>

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To the dance floor! I had delayed the inevitable as long as I could, and we headed toward the flashing lights and bass thumps. But wait, snacks! We can’t possibly head straight to the dance floor without enjoying some cheddar cubes and M&amp;M cookies. After all attempts at procrastination were exhausted, we head to the dance floor. Wait, are you sure you don’t need to use the rest. . . .ok, let’s go. Imagine a big open space, with lots of moving colored lights, a DJ on stage pumping out dance tunes through a really decent sound system, about two hundred suburban dads in all their glory, and an equal number of young girls from ages five and up hopped up on free cookies. It’s the stuff sitcoms are made of.

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We made up dances, we bobbed around, we got silly, and we tried not to crash into too many other rythmless, uncoordinated dads. We had a lot of fun challenging each other to see who could dance the goofiest while maintaining an expression that was completely devoid of joy or mirth. This is surprisingly difficult for fun-loving eleven year old – as it should be. We even slow-danced while she put her feet on top of my shoes, like they do in the movies. Chloe is a rock-n-roll girl who isn’t in to Justin Bieber or One Direction, so a lot of our dancing was a bit on the mocking side, but it was good-hearted fun.

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We cut out before the DJ obliged a third request for the Cupi Shuffle. Seeing that many people go in so many different directions to the same set of instructions is only funny twice. The third time it starts to get sad. We ended the evening with some Menchie’s frozen yogurt and a teasing photo back to Mom to rub it in that we were enjoying forbidden late-night sweets – and she wasn’t.

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<a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/?attachment_id=12204" rel="attachment wp-att-12204"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-12204" alt="Smile" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Smile-300x298.jpg" width="300" height="298" /></a>

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I hope she had as good a time as I did. I’m down for next year if she is. Unless Jennie forgets to buy the tickets. Which would be cool too. Then, we could just go to a movie or something.

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<a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/?attachment_id=12205" rel="attachment wp-att-12205"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-12205" alt="IMG_20130201_182221" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/IMG_20130201_182221-300x300.jpg" width="300" height="300" /></a>

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After my dad and I agreed to go to this father daughter dance at our church, we went to Whataburger to eat dinner. We had some laughs, some good burgers, and then we got back in the car and drove the rest of the way to church. Once we got there, we had to go into another room to get our picture taken. In front of us was a short blonde woman, who we guessed to be around 15, but when she turned around, it was actually a woman in her forties maybe. After we got our picture taken, we noticed a lot of girls with long fancy dresses. I, on the other hand, was wearing jeans with a sweater. I was comfortable though, and I don’t own any dresses.

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While walking outside, we saw carriage rides! We got in line and my dad saved my spot so I could go run to the car to get his leather jacket because I was cold. I felt really cool wearing my dad’s leather jacket. Once I returned, we joked about the horses who looked derpy and mopey, and the ones who looked spazzy and fun. We got on a spazzy horse!! Once the fun ride was over, we went inside where we saw cookies, mini cupcakes, and cheese squares. I only ate a mini cupcake and had a glass of water to drink because I was still pretty full from my burger.

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<a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/?attachment_id=12206" rel="attachment wp-att-12206"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-12206" alt="IMG_20130201_193651" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/IMG_20130201_193651-300x300.jpg" width="300" height="300" /></a>

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We went into the dance room and started mocking the spazzy 6 year olds jumping around EVERYWHERE. Of course, they didn’t know we were mocking them because we blended in perfectly with the spazziness. Later, we tried to dance really stupidly while making a serious face. My dad was really good at that, but I would always laugh after about 3 seconds.

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At about 9:30, we decided to leave the dance and go to Menchies, an AMAZING frozen yogurt place. In the car ride there, we had a bunch more laughs. Once we got there, we got our ice cream and laughed some more! My dad is really funny, and he brings out the humor in me too! I had a really fun night hanging out with my dad, and I’d love to do this again sometime!!

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