A dad's best day

Breakfast with your 7 year old daughter. She likes her decaf latte. I've been taking her to breakfast since she was old enough to sit up straight. Some things never change.

She watches "Tales of Despereaux" while you do your business on the phone.

You offer to take her to Houston's for lunch. And she prefers a McDonald's Southern Style Chicken Sandwich.

She gives me the tour of the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific since she was there with her class a few weeks ago. The puffins are her favorite. We pet stingrays. We marvel at the coral reefs.

What she has really focused on is the gift shop. She now has the stuffed baby seal. Named Cotton. (She has yet to meet Queen Cotton. That will happen someday. And the life trip will be complete.)

We drive by the Queen Mary. She is amazed, as am I, by the size and grandeur of it.

"Do you want to go walk thru it?", I ask.

"No, Daddy. I think I would like to take a nap with Cottty (the new name for the stuffed seal).

Thirty minutes later, we are back in Manhattan Beach. We manage to hold hands while she naps the entire way.

As soon as I stop the car, she says as follows.

"Do we have enough time to go see Ice Age 3?"

"Sure."

And, we make it for the 4:25 showing in 3D.

I love the Ice Age movies. All about family. And this one, in 3D, is so much fun and just amazing. We laughed at each other with our 3D glasses on. We laughed at Sid. We laughed at Scrat. She grabbed my hand when the "scary" parts came. We ate for the cycle again with a blue frosty, popcorn, and Sour Bites.

I took her back to her Mom's apartment. She told me, "I love you bigger than the universe times 1,000 plus the moon and infinity."

I know it is cliche, but it doesn't get any better than this.