Family Fun with Art and Music at Festival de la Familia

Living near Sacramento and Cal Expo we have the opportunity to attend all sorts of festivals. We love to get outside to enjoy the food and music. On Sunday April 29th we had the opportunity to attend Festival de la Familia. This year the festival was celebrating 21 years of hosting a celebration of Latino Cultures. This was also the first year we went to see all the excitement. We thought about going last year but our son was so little I did not think there would be much for him to do. But I was wrong. There is so much for kids to do at this event.

The event had food, music, kids craft areas, lots of booths to win prizes, stages with performers and the atmosphere was an upbeat happy feeling. Everyone was smiling enjoying good food, family and music.

My son thought this bear was great. He got a sticker and a balloon from him.

They had 3 stages with music and dancing. We saw many great performances representing several countries such as Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Columbia and many more. I loved all the beautiful costumes and how there was little kids in some of the performance. My son enjoys music and dancing so he was loving all the music.

The food area was covered from the heat of the sun. The beautiful flags of the Latino countries represented at the festival lined the ceiling.

Many vendors such as Safeway provided free snacks and samples of drinks.

One of my favorite parts of Festival de la Familia was the art exhibits. We had the opportunity see beautiful art work from 21 artists. The artist were happy to explain meaning and technique to us and had items for sale. One of my favorites was the Sugar Skull made of sugar. Another great artist is Diego Marcial Rios. He was painting a piece during the exhibit and had beautiful paintings made with acrylic paint on canvas.

These pieces of art were made from recycled materials. I love the Birch Tree one.

 After seeing all the art work we went back outside to see some of the interactive booths for kids. My son likes sports so we let him show off his putting skills. ( He did think it was a driver at first and whacked it really far, thankfully the volunteers were nice enough to run after the ball). We also bought tickets to go into the bounce house. My son always asks but this was the first time we let him go in. He was about half way through when he got scared, cried and had to come back out. He is a trooper for trying. Maybe next year he will make it to the exit. He got to see horses and even throw a baseball. There was so much to do and we had a ton of fun.

Exhausted from all the fun stuff we did we had some great food and drinks while we watched a band play on the main stage. They had a boy who did not look any older than 6 years old as the singer. Even though we did not understand the words to the song it was amazing! We finished up the day with Churros and one more walk through to make sure we did not miss anything. We had a great time and look forward to next year.

You can learn more about Festival de la Familia on their facebook and twitter pages.



*I was not paid for this review. The opinions are 100% mine and may vary from others. I was provided free tickets for my family for admission from the PR/Company that represents them.

Last Pay Phone In Seattle?

Do you remember when this was all we had to use when we left home? No cellphone, iPhone, Smart Phone, or any other kind of phone, just the phone on the street. How did we survive?
I saw this phone on a street in Seattle recently, and it's one of the very few public phones that I have seen left in the city. I can remember as a teenager using these phones, sometimes receiving good news, and once, heartbreaking news. All the while standing in the street, as people walked by.
How far we have come, where everyone now walks down the street, phone in hand and every conversation can be heard.
                                             Hope everyone is having a good Monday.

Knitting For Peace

When I say I am knitting for peace, I wish I were doing one of those noble deeds like making hats for new born preemies in the hospital. That is such a worthy and beautiful thing to do.

But the truth is, I knit for my own peace of mind. There is something so soothing in the repetition of knitting row after row of the same stitch. And to be really honest, I only know how to knit scarves. I think I have knitted about 50 scarves in the last few years. I have given them to all my family members but I think they have enough scarves to last several lifetimes.

But I can't stop knitting when I have things I need to work out in my head. So in the interest of my family, I have decided to learn how to knit other thinks like sock caps. Up here in the Great Northwest, one can always use a good sock cap in the winter.

I have taken out several library books with the intention of teaching myself how to knit better. Wish me luck

I Love Diane Keaton

I have always adored Diane Keaton. The first movie I ever saw her in was "Annie Hall", which earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress. As Annie, she was funny and sweet and crazy. Woody Allen has said he wrote Annie Hall based on Keaton's own unconventional family, and that just makes me love her more.

I am spending the afternoon re-reading  Ms. Keaton's new book called "Then Again". When it first came out I was so excited that I rushed through reading it, and so I will read it more slowly this time.

It's a great book, written with all the warmth and unique style that we have come to expect from this gifted actress. She also has a new movie coming out called "Darling Companion" that is not getting very good reviews, but I don't care. I am a Diane Keaton fan forever, so I can't wait to see her new movie.
My daughter-in-law once told me that I reminded her of Diane as Annie Hall. I took this as a compliment because who doesn't want to be like Diane Keaton, right? But then as I thought about, did she mean I was ditsy, scattered-brained, a little crazy?

I get along fabulously with my daughter-in-law, we are good friends, but I have never asked her about what she meant. Should I, or just keep thinking I'm just like Diane?

A Hat

My son loves hats. He will ask for one anytime we see one in the store. He tells me he looks cool in them. He says cool a lot makes me think I must say it a lot myself. I need a new word lol. But he did tell me my new shirt was pretty so at least he doesnt tell me I look cool too.

We got him his first official baseball ball hat at the mall. He has cute dog and bird hats but this was a big boy hat. He smiled so big as he pointed to the one he wanted and when we put it on him he was stunned. He has been wearing it since we bought it for him and I had to bargain with him to get him to take it off for bedtime.

Now all we need is to attend a baseball game for him to wear his hat to. I have been hinting to my husband that I want to go to a MLB game for my bday this summer. It would be so fun to take my son. I remember when Sam and I were taken to a Mariners vs Angels game when we were little. It was so fun! Afterwards there was a foil in the microwave to rewarm peanuts incident that I was blamed for lol but thats a whole other post itself.

I love how something as simple as a hat can bring my son joy, inspire bday ideas and make me recall awesome childhood memories.