{ajm}

Oh how we love "our" pool. This is our rec center pool, it seriously ROCKS. At least we think so, it has a marvelous "beach" entrance for easy access and cool slides and waterfalls and whales & frogs to ride. Saturday was our first family pool day of the season. If Mallory has anything to say about it, it won't be the last. Such fun to have both Mommy and Daddy to splash with and watch.

This is a signature "face" that I hope will help keep the water out of her nose as she learns to swim. I am so ready for her to be "water proof."

one of the "rides" in the water

Lots and lots of fun to be had. Sunscreen here we come!!! 

Mallory enjoyed her dance class all year long. During the week she would ask me, "dance class," today? She was always ready and excited to go. She was thrilled to get to participate in the end of year recital. Even missing the rehearsal and one of the performances (Disney trip) she was thrilled to go onstage and do their "Little Mousies Creeping."

The moms were all behind stage with the little girls, Ben, Jenn & Nathan were in the audience and Ben even videoed her performance. Jenn took some great shots from the audience but I can't find them at the moment.

" Little Mousies creeping"

"See them peeping"

"kitty's fast asleep out in the hall"

"tippy tippy tip-toe" 

"scurry little mouse-y back into the wall"

Such cuteness–pardon me while I gush, they were so cute. As soon as their part was finished, Mallory was already asking to do it again?!?!  After their performance, we were able to go into the audience and watch the other, older performers. Mallory sat perfectly still on my lap (NEVER happens) and watched rapturously all the other girls. She was not ready to go when it was over! Let's just say we are looking forward to summer dance camp!

family of 3 (with one behind the camera)

Our last day in the park was just the three of us. The other adults wanted
to return home from vacation rested and opted for a pool day at the
hotel. We are apparently gluttons for punishment 🙂 I CANNOT believe it's taken me
three weeks to get these posted, apparently I should have opted for the
pool day too. This will be the
last of the Disney posts for a while. For the first time in a few years, I can honestly say I don't know when we will be back-maybe not until 2011!!!

Mallory LOVES the tea cups, the faster they spin, the more she loves it. 

we re-rode all the favorites

This was as close as she wanted to get to the line at Dumbo–she just wanted to play in the "photo op" elephant.

We had SEVERAL conversations about this ride while we were in line, the little girl doesn't like dark "scary" rides. I finally told her, it's not scary, there are doggies on this ride and we should just watch for the dogs. Ok then, we ride the boat ride, and see 3 or 4 dogs, I forget exactly, it has been weeks since I rode this. When we exit the boat she looks at me and says, "that not scary Mommy." Hallelujah.

As we were leaving the park, we literally ran into a parade! I LOVE Disney parades. TOTAL serendipity, it made my day, maybe the whole trip.  This a new parade to me, I had no idea what to expect and it surpassed all my preconceived "Disney parade" expectations.

These cool floats circled the round-about in front of Cinderella's castle and we had a giant dance party. First there were songs and entertainments from the characters on the floats. Then characters all got off the floats and made "conga" lines around the floats and everyone was invited to participate-totally experiential and amazing. Then the floats circled around the round-about, more songs and waving and for the tech savvy, the audio zones moved with each float–very cool. I didn't take many pictures as Mallory and I were having to much fun dancing and singing and waving to her favorite character of all time Minnie Mouse.

A very magical celebration parade.

And speaking of parade love, parades at Disney mean balloons. Earlier in the week there was a conversation about when to get Mallory her first parade balloon. We decided that she had to be old enough to be in the park during the parade. 🙂 Mallory didn't leave the park with a balloon on this day as the other condition of balloon purchase was her asking for one. So this picture is a close as we got to the balloons again this trip.

And last but CERTAINLY not least, steps from the park exit we see Mallory's favorite character. She has talked about seeing Mary Poppins the whole trip but it hadn't worked out until this very moment:

Anticipation……

DELIGHT!

A lovely LOVELY trip. Thank you Nonnie and Poppy 🙂

Day 4 we spent at the "zoo"

our first stop: Triceratops Spin-basically Dumbo for AK

the "jungle bus" was a pretty big hit for the whole crowd. We rode it later in the day than normal, our fast passes didn't work until 12:30 and I didn't think we'd see much. I think I saw more animals out than I ever have before! Very Cool.

We were headed for naptime when Mallory announced "missing Minnie!" The 20 minute wait was totally worth it when she announced," I'll hug her by myself and you take a picture." Alright-y then

After a relaxing day at Typhoon Lagoon, we headed to EPCOT next. Mallory was excited to Cinderella even in flowers. We stopped to see some characters at her request, "I'm missing Minnie!"

We saw Nemo at the Living Seas, rode the boat at the Land, wandered through the beautiful flower festival, rode more boats at Norway and Mexico and then took a tuckered munchkin back to our room for a nap. On the way out, we saw "Mickey all dressed up."