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THE PRESIDENT: Well, Laura
and I welcome you to the White House for the Easter Egg Roll. How about the Jonas Brothers? Thanks
for coming. (Applause.) We are sure glad you're here. We welcome you to the Easter Egg Roll.
Pretty soon after a few remarks, I have the honor of blowing the whistle to start the
Easter Egg Roll. But we've got a lot of other people who are going to make sure today is
a special day. We want to thank all our volunteers who have made this event possible. We thank
our -- (applause) -- yes, there you are. (Laughter.) We thank our readers. For you Dallas Cowboy
fans, it is a great honor to welcome Troy Aikman here to be one of the readers. (Applause.)
We want to remind you that we're dedicating today's Easter Egg Roll to our clean oceans.
And there's a booth here where you can find out how you can contribute to make sure that
we're environmentally sound stewards of our oceans. Ocean conservation is a important
aspect of good public service, and it's certainly something that Laura has on her mind, as she
comes up to address you. And so now it's my honor to welcome the First Lady of the United
States, my dear wife, Laura Bush. (Applause.)
MRS. BUSH: Thank you, darling. Welcome, everybody, to the White House Easter Egg Roll, the 2008
Easter Egg Roll. This event is one of the happiest traditions on the White House lawn.
It's always fun to see the South Lawn filled with children. Thank you for coming. And I'd
especially like to thank our entertainers, our readers, our volunteers, and our special
guests.
And two of the special readers today are my mother-in-law, Barbara Bush -- (applause)
-- and my daughter, Jenna. So be sure and listen -- (applause.) Two very famous American
children's writers and illustrators -- oh, here's Jenna -- and Barbara. (Laughter.) Rosemary
Wells and Nancy Tafuri will also be reading in the reading nook, so look to see, when
you can stop by the reading nook, to see them.
Also members of the President's Cabinet will join us. They'll be our special readers. And
you might meet some of your favorite book characters on the lawn, as well, like Mickey
Mouse, who is returning to the White House Easter Egg Roll for the first time since the
1980s. So thank you, Mickey, for joining us today.
Like the President said, our theme today for the Easter Egg Roll is ocean conservation.
I invite all of you to stop by the ocean conservation education area on the lawn to learn what you
can do to make sure we keep our oceans clean and healthy for fish and other ocean life.
The ocean artist, Wyland, is here to teach us how to paint -- (applause) -- some of the
beautiful animals that live in our seas.
I'd also like to welcome the volunteers who are here today from organizations like Ocean
Conservancy, Keep America Beautiful, and Take Pride in America. Boys and girls have donated
their time to help preserve our natural wonders for future generations. Thanks to all of the
volunteers and the staff who are working so hard to make this event a success -- especially
Amy Allman, in the White House Visitors Office, who put this great event together. (Applause.)
Okay, now we're ready to start the Easter Egg Roll. President Bush and I wish each one
of you good luck on the Egg Roll. Welcome to the White House, everyone, and Happy Easter.
(Applause.)