A beautiful Saturday in Sacramento

Yesterday after breakfast and cleaning, I was messing with the printer when we heard a kid's voice outside. Zadie loves to watch kids, so we hurried to the door. It was our neighbors, so we popped outside to talk with them. The kids both ran to the door of our other neighbors' house, so all six of us adults and two kids then talked and played on their lawn for a while. It's nice to have good neighbors. We kicked a ball around, and Zadie tried very, very hard to keep up. Then the kids wanted to sit on the porch swing. Finally we went in for lunch and a nap.

Our neighbor had told us about a puppet show in Land Park, but we didn't get up from our nap until 2, so we missed it. Instead we went to Midfest. The newspaper had touted breakdancing demonstrations, skateboarding, art, live music, and a family-friendly atmosphere. What we found was a DJ and a beer garden. There were a few food vendors, too, but really, it wasn't much of a -fest. Luckily, there was a playground there, and Zadie had a ball. There was a tunnel between two slides on the play structure, and she was living it up in there. There were little portholes she could see out of, so we played peek-a-boo. She also went down the slide by herself for the first time. There was another little girl there named Aaliyah who was enamored of Zadie. She kept asking us questions, ("What's her name? What's your name? What's her middle name? What's her daddy's name? What's your daddy's name?") and at one point Zadie wanted to be held by her. Keep in mind, this kid is 3, and Zadie reaches her arms up and says "Up!" Aaliyah picked her up (don't worry -- I was right there) and took her to the ride-on dinosaur. Then they rode the dinosaur together. Zadie even said "Liyah." So although the festival was sort of a bust, we had a good time.

Then we went grocery shopping and came home and made dinner. I put Zadie to bed at her normal time, but she was screaming "mama!" A friend had invited me via Facebook to the first meeting of the "Bad Moms Club." We went to the Shady Lady and had drinks and talked. It was fun, if a little loud. It was cold last night, too! We had tried to sit outside because it was crowded inside, but it was far too cold. Finally we got a table inside. I liked the Shady Lady. It has an old speakeasy vibe and the bartenders and waitresses dress the part. My favorite drink is a whiskey ginger, but many bars don't have ginger ale, so I asked if they did. Apparently they make their own ginger syrup which they mix with soda for drinks. It was a great drink.

Today I'm not sure what we'll do, but it may involve a long-awaited trip to Home Depot for a planter bed.