Ice Date

I was very excited to go on a very special date this week.

It reminded me of a time that I went on a different date with this fellow.  It was right around the second inauguration of President Obama.  

Much has happened in that time- in my life, in history, in this country.  Four years ago seem like both 4 minutes and 400 years.   

A mother daughter date is just what the doctor ordered for 'busy life'.

Of course we had to get all dressed up.  

A good dress is the kind where you can really do a great twirl.

I skipped the photo part of me twirling (you can thank me later).

We were VERY excited to watch this year's Disney on Ice:  Follow Your Heart! 

Just so you know, I did offer a ticket for brother.

Being the sweet tween he is, I think he responded with-

NO I'M NOT!!!  YOU CAN FORGET IT.

when I am sure he meant

 "No, Thank You but Mom you are SIMPLY the best for thinking of me'.

The Typical Tween Mind

We ladies had a grand time together! 

Carlee decided to bring her favorite princess- Ariel.

She thought she might be in the show.

We sat right up at the top level. Not only was it cheaper but it kept us away from the sparks.

There are a ton of words you can use for cheaper seats.  
Darling, let us take our balcony/veranda/terrace seats... you know to make them seem more fancy, like Old South.  :)  

Cinderella

Ariel and her Amazing Acrobats

Carlee enjoyed the show so much.  

The costumes were certainly her favorite part.

It is a good thing we were up high or else we would have been recruited to get out there with the other Disney princesses.

I love going to Disney on Ice.

Where else can you get a crown with your cotton candy??  

That is what I am talking about!! 

Isn't my Carlee such a beautiful girl?

She is such an observer and deep thinker of all the things going on around her.

Right after the show Carlee asked me 'what was your favorite part?' and my heart did a happy dance because no one in my house ever ASKS me things like that and I was thinking 'you are such a girl'.

After the show, we hit up the mall for a bit to eat and window shopping.

Maybe I will blame the sugar rush from the cotton candy, maybe it was the excitement from the show,  but I totally got suckered into renting a mechanical motorized animal at the mall.

(Writing it, actually makes me feel even more crazy.)   

The children can just hop on and ride all throughout the mall.  What could go wrong?

It looked so cool.

I think I was suppose to technically get on with Carlee, but I was wearing a zebra skirt, need I say more?

Me.....on a moving hippo...in a zebra print skirt?

You see where I'm going with this, do I really need to bring that kind of attention?  

No.  

No I don't.  

No one does.

By the way, there is zero training for these things.  Have you ever seen an angry hipster?  They DO exist when a toddler rams into the shins on a hippo at the mall.  

I managed to guide Carlee to a less populated part of the mall:

Just when I thought she was getting into it, she became SUPER distracted.

Then I was SUPER distracted.

The point to the story is that we were both too distracted to ride a moving hippo in a mall during the holidays.  

I returned Mr. Hippo WAY before my 15 minutes were up.

the time Carlee almost shoplifted



Let's just say by the end of the evening I was feeling like Ariel here but

it was a certainly a great date!