This was the scene Friday as children, parents and staff from the National Naval Medical Center’s Child Development Center (CDC) paraded around the parking lot for dress-up day.

‘‘These events allow parents to watch their children grow and see how they are developing in the CDC, socially, emotionally, cognitively, and physically,” said Lisa Ordoned, CDC assistant director. ‘‘It all rolls together.”

Music and laughter filled the air while smiles and camera flashes were seen at every blink of the eye.

‘‘It was a lot of fun and nice that they encouraged so many parents to come,” said Gabriell Garica’s mother, Lt. Shawn Garcia, who works at the Uniform Services of Health Sciences’ Preventive Medicine and Biometrics department. ‘‘It was a fun event for the kids, parents and the teachers to play with the kids together.”

The CDC encourages parents to participate in the various events they sponsor.

‘‘This [event] is important because we get parents to participate, and parent participation is big in our program,” said Jamila Aziz, CDC program administrator. ‘‘It’s nice for the children to see that the parents come in and experience events with them.”

For parents, the day is welcomed.

‘‘It was so much fun,” said Clinton ‘‘CJ” Kemp’s mother, Lt. Jean Kemp, a pathology resident at NNMC. ‘‘I went to it last year when my son was a newborn and it’s such a fun thing to go over [to the CDC] and see all the little kids dressed up.”

CJ dressed up as a chef, looking as if he was ready for his own television cooking show.

‘‘My husband and I both love to cook so we thought it would be appropriate and my mom made the custom knowing we’d like it since cooking is our hobby and CJ loves to eat what we cook,” Kemp said. ‘‘We just thought it was cute.”

Although children and parents all seemed to enjoy what took place during the morning, staff had their own ideas of who enjoy the events the most.

‘‘[CDC staff] get the most fun from this,” Aziz said. ‘‘We prepare and spend a lot of time in the classroom organizing for this special day. I believe that we’re #1 and then the children are next [for enjoying dress-up day].”

Gabriell, dressed in a lion outfit, walked along the path with the other children and stop at speakers and bounced to the sound that came from them.

‘‘My son is 19 months old, so I don’t think he realized that he was dressed up as a lion. But he enjoyed the music and running around,” Garcia said. ‘‘I think for his age group that I enjoyed it. I took a lot of pictures. I think as they get older and get to be the characters that they want to be, the kids enjoy it more.”

‘‘Its fun for everybody for different reasons,” Kemp said. ‘‘The kids have a great time because there’s music playing and they get to run around outside. It’s a fun break for the staff. They get to see the parents and the kids interacting and, of course, its fun for the parents because you love seeing your child and all of their classmates all dressed up. It’s fun for everybody.”

In the end, the parents enjoyed time with their children, making new memories, to be cherished in the future.

‘‘It’s very rewarding to see them when they come out and they’re happy and excited.” Ordoned said. ‘‘It’s all worth it.”