Happy Birthday to Me

My mom came up to take care of Juliet so that I could work, and also so that Mike could take me out for my birthday (a thankless job as evidenced above).

We went to Fleur de Lys for dinner. It is over the top, old-school fancy, but the waitstaff is young and very relaxed. The people were a complete juxtaposition to the feel of the space. They seem to have a lot of strong personalities on their staff and it made for a bit of an odd dining experience.

Enough about that, though, the food was excellent. Mike ordered a Maine lobster "cappuccino" with pepper cornbread. This is probably the best looking and most interesting and fun presentation I have seen (and it tasted good too!):

Next time I will order the souffle, because once I saw them delivered to our neighbors' table, I knew I was missing out! Maybe a trip to Cafe Jacqueline is in order.

Sacto or Bust

We made a pit stop at Chloe's for pecan pancakes before heading to Sacramento to see Shirley & Presley. It was HOT in Sacramento (duh). Our first stop was Raging Waters. We splashed around for a while in the cold water and floated around the tubing river. It might be the best ten bucks I have ever spent. I would need a season pass to that place if I lived there.

Then it was time to meet Aimee and Gio at the State Fair. We headed to the petting zoo, which was unlike any other petting zoo I have ever been to. There were deer, llamas, pigs, rabbits. Juliet got nipped by a chicken. Good times. It was a little overwhelming because there were so many animals.

Defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty...

After a dousing with hand sanitizer, we went over to the "milk a cow or goat" exhibit. Juliet tried to eat the corn in the un-sandbox.
Presley milked the cow:

Then Gio had a turn and got a good squirt!:

Shortly after the milking, things got weird. I took a picture of these cows:
Evidently, my choice of subjects was an invitation for this creepy guy to start talking to me about my interest in cows (just thought the kissing cows might be cute for the blog), and about his family's farm in Indiana. He went on and on and I finally caught up with Shirley and Aimee and was able to get rid of him. About half an hour later, Aimee spots "my boyfriend" in handcuffs being carted away by the police. I am pretty careful in places like that about not leaving my valuables accessible, but I definitely did a once-over after I saw that!

Thugs, Monsters, and Sun, Oh My!

Today was such a beautiful day! You know its a nice day when you can go to the park at 45th and Lincoln without a sweater. We had fun with our new mommy-daughter friends, but were a little put off by the afterschool teenage thug crowd. I wasn't really expecting that (especially 20-deep).

More troubling was my first experience of wanting to clobber a stranger's kid. Juliet was in the swing and this little fellow (around 5 years old?) came up and started swinging the swing next to her sideways so that it was coming within inches of hitting her in her swing. I stopped the swing and asked him ever so sweetly to knock it off. He wouldn't stop and his nanny or granny or whoever she is was chatting away on a nearby bench paying absolutely no mind to her little monster. It is interesting how these mama bear instincts fire up out of nowhere when your child is "in danger". I didn't freak out or anything, since I have seen my share of oh-so-charming playground behavior and it wasn't a huge surprise, but it still really made me mad. Obviously he was just testing limits, etc., etc., but I didn't appreciate him testing them on my little angel! I don't know how daddy would fare (or grandpa for that matter) if in that same situation.

Windy City

We finally made it to the Walter Haas Playground on Diamond Heights Boulevard. It is at the top of the hill with a spectacular panoramic view. We considered it for J's first birthday, but canned the idea when we learned that there were no bathrooms. I couldn't figure out how after undergoing a nearly $2M renovation, this park could have no bathrooms. It was explained to me that the neighbors don't want bathrooms because then people from all over the city will crowd their park (by the way, no one who knows how windy it is up on that hill is going to crowd their park, bathrooms or no bathrooms! So there.). I had heard about the park from a mommy friend, but had only been by in the car. The views are unbeatable, but the WIND!! Holy Toledo! My wind-hating husband wouldn't survive 5 minutes at this park.

Juliet slept in her stroller for a bit when we first got there, but then she woke up ready to play. Here she is in the shallow sand pit. My guess is that the sand that is supposed to be in there has blown away, because it looks as if it was meant to be about two feet deeper - kinda weird. It was fully stocked with sand toys, though, which was great (maybe that's where she picked up that runny nose?). If we come back, we will come earlier in the day to try to beat the wind. It is worth heading up there for the view, but for her age, the playground could be better (great for bigger kids; she just isn't ready for it yet).

When we got home J was lying on the couch having her soy milk and she pulled her shoe off and got a face full of sand! I am out of practice with dumping out shoes after going to the park (back in my nanny days it was automatic). This is the first time her shoes have gotten filled up with sand, but after the sandy face, I think (or hope!) now I will remember to check before we get in the car.

Children's Playground

Children's Playground in Golden Gate Park has been completely remodeled. It is a HUGE playground. For now Juliet is pretty easily contained, but it would be really hard to keep track of bigger kids who cover more ground in less time. I remember going to Children's Playground as a kid and collecting cardboard for the giant concrete slides (one of the few things that remains) and just being so excited to be at such a gigantic play area. As you can see, Juliet likes it too.

Dinner with Daddy at Eric's

Eric's is always fun with Juliet because the waitstaff goes ga ga over her. Plus they have cute plates for the wee ones.

Fun with chopsticks...

Yeah, Yeah, Grizzlies are Cool

Here are Chloe and Juliet watching the bears (well, really watching other kids watch the bears).I know I have already written about the Grizzly Exhibit at the SF Zoo, but I saw a feeding there on our last visit and it was incredible, so here I am again. We were there bright and early on a Sunday and caught the 10:30 feeding. There is a pump that brings live fish and other food into the pond. The bear knows it is coming and paws at the water pumping in, waiting for the goodies to come. We saw the bear fish for his breakfast, then eat a cluster of grapes. I guess only one of the bears was hungry since the other was just hanging out. The grizzlies are such powerful giant creatures and they get so close you could touch them if it weren't for the glass. I plan to get my money's worth out of my zoo membership!

Warning: turn down the volume to watch the video.