The Tale of the Field Trip

Once upon a time, long ago (okay, so it was last Friday) in a kingdom far, far away (from most of their family) lived a princess and her two younger sisters. Their parents were not the kind of parents other royalty had. Their parents made them do horrible things like shower, read books, brush their hair, wear clean clothes, and clean up after themselves (the shame!). The princesses felt that they should be able to do anything they wished. After all, they were princesses and should be treated as such.

One day, a field trip was planned for all of the royal children in middle school. Princess Cinderella felt that she should have all of the latest and greatest food for snacking on the bus. Much to her chagrin, her parents packed her strawberries, graham crackers, regular fruit snacks, and store brand granola bars. Much better snacking food than was the normal in her household, but still, not good enough for her. She wasted no time in sticking her nose in the air at such an abomination. However, since it was 4:30 in the morning, and the bus left in half an hour, there was little she could do. So, with an "I'll probably starve to death," she said goodbye to her horrible parents. She did manage to choke out a "thank you" when given a camera to use, but it was done begrudgingly.

Once safely on the bus, out of her parents' sight, Cinderella relaxed, started smiling, and had a glorious time. She gobbled up her snacks, which were actually quite tasty (not that she'd admit that to the castle cook (otherwise known as the King)) and talked and joked with her friends for the five hour bus ride. Upon arrival to their destination, they toured museums and villages, and learned all kinds of great things. She snapped loads of pictures (that were mostly dark), and made sure she got a few perfect ones for her Grandpa D.

Meanwhile, back at home in the castle, Cinderella's sisters thought that they could never have a happier day. They got all of their parents' attention and none of their older sister's teasing. Queen, though, felt a little out of kilter. It was weird to have her oldest princess in a different state than her. Sixteen hours is kind of a long time, if you think about it. (Not nearly enough time to make it worth the fifty plus dollars she had to fork out for Cinderella's experience, though.) But, everyone survived the experience. Although, King was definitely worse for the wear. Getting up at four and staying up until eleven is something King hadn't done since his own school days, and it was hard to say which of these two lovely people suffered most from the lack of sleep. (But, really, it may have been Queen, who had to be nice to both of the sleep-deprived and drag them both to a dance competition the next day...which is a different fairy-tale all together...)