Scenes from a MOA

Relia and I gave the FP Gal some time off this morning and walked out at the MOA by ourselves. We got going early enough that we were there before the stores opened, beating the shopping crush. Pre-child we used to target this time because the walking was easiest. Now we do it to keep Relia out from underfoot of innocent strangers. But when it's just father-daughter, this becomes a bit boring.
We did a couple of levels, Relia happily munching animal crackers while I sipped on my mocha. Over the last few months I've become a steady mocha drinker, much to my own surprise. Relia has gotten used to this. During our first few minutes at the MOA, she now says, "Yes you may have some coffee,".
Our first stop was at the PacSun place. Their entry way is built like a skateboarding halfpipe and Relia likes to climb around on it. If there is music playing she dances to it. Today that meant her usual upbeat bopping and jumping set to some kind of slow metal dirge. She didn't care that the tuneage didn't match, she just wants to boogie.
On to her fish. When it's just the two of us she likes to take the aquarium part at a dead run. Since this is by far the best bit, I try to slow her down. (Btw, our membership means that we can take guests for half price. If anyone wants to join our regular Thursday morning visit, let me know.)
Up to the amusement park and her new favorite, the carousel. She tells me each time what her favorite is; it changes quite a bit. Today she told me that she'll ride the horsie (no mention of which one) and I could ride the camel. I told her we'd need to wait until her the FP Gal was with so she could take pictures.
Of further note, today she measured at least an inch over the minimum height requirement for the baby bumper cars. How the heck did she get to 37 inches tall already? Strangely, the park has two (2) different bumper cars, one for little kids and one for everyone else. We watched both of them today. The little ones are so small that they really don't understand how to drive. That means that the first few minutes feature a clump of cars, none of which can move. It was almost Scottish in its bumper-carishness. (And I just realized that I've never blogged about that, so this joke doesn't make sense. Will have to fix that...)
Then we made our way over to the log ride so we could see the boats splash. An animatronic moose (Jodi named him Marvin) lives there and he's one of our regular stops. Relia was on the verge of a meltdown so I tried to ease her on home. Didn't quite work. The other shoppers were understanding. It probably helped that I was grimly and hurriedly making moving toward the exit with her over my shoulder.
Just another day with my little angel.