Derby de Mayo

Oh how I wanted to plan a party on Saturday that combined the Kentucky Derby with Cinco de Mayo.

I wanted to call it "Derby de Mayo."

I had fantasies of tiny sombrero fascinators, and elaborately decorated sombrero bonnets...margaritas in julep glasses, Margaritas in trophies and pinatas in the shapes of horseshoes...and the winning horse called "I'll Have Another"?  Perfect party fodder.

But we were too busy this weekend to plan a party.

After waking up from a nice long rest after the Swamp Rabbit 5K, we headed out for the very first TD Bank Saturday Market of the season!!

Our first stop was at the Great Harvest Grains booth for some breakfast.

I didn't know they made cinnamon rolls.  

Oh my yum.

Lilah was either mad at me for taking a bite bigger than she ha alloted for me, or she was discussing her feelings on the upcoming presidential election.

Gotta be the election.  That's the face I normally have when discussing politics.

Best to just keep eating the cinnamon roll.

And we ate it ALL.

After we finished eating, I took her into my salon to see my stylist.  I've been promising to bring her by so she can see Lilah's crazy hairline.  I was complaining last haircut that I can't even pull her hair straight back into a pony tail because of the way it grows, and sure enough, Vanessa said I need to start blowdrying/training it to go a certain way or it will NEVER do what I hope.

I had a picture, but it wasn't great.  Vanessa was mid-sentence and I just don't don't want to post a "surprise! I'm taking  your photo!" photo of anyone.

 Lilah explained to me that she NEEDED me to take a picture with that statue man.

And then she needed to climb on him.

Three-year-olds.

Then it was time to head home for a minute.  We had a busy afternoon ahead of us.

Right about here is where she needed to tell me her legs were "running out of injury."

Poor, abused child.

After a quick trip home to drop off our Farmer's Market goodies (strawberries, roasted eggplant ravioli, cherry tomatoes, basil, green onions) and gain a little "injury," we headed back downtown to help our good friends at Coffee to a Tea run their booth at the Duck Derby.

Somehow, in all the eight years I've lived here, I've never made it to the Duck Derby, where - much like the Kentucky Derby - you bet on a duck to win.  The big prize this year was a year's worth of groceries from Publix, and I thought that was most definitely worth a $5 investment.

Plus kids got to try their hand at the luck of the draw, too.  Here at the Publix tent, you could pick a duck for a prize.

Lilah won a "Large" prize...

And chose this collapsible frisbee.

And lest you think I fell down on my summer wedding reporting duties, think again!

That's right - right there to the left of the duck is a bridal photoshoot.

If she didn't get a picture with some kind of giant duck, then I don't predict great things for her marriage.

I'm just sayin'.

 

Lilah wanted to go check out the roaming duck in person....but then had second thoughts when she got close.

"Him was toooooo fuzzy!" she explained.

Luckily, she didn't mind so much posing with the inflatable duck.

I mean REALLY didn't mind.  

   

She even consented - briefly - to posing with me in front of the duck.

I'm wearing my "customer service" t-shirt.

We ran into our good friends the Morgans there....Ezra was taking it all in. 

Then it was time for Lilah and I to head over to the Coffee to a Tea booth so we could sell some duck cookies!!

Lilah did great - she was very interested in making change (of course she wanted her hand in the money!) and making tea or lemonade for people...even people who didn't ask for tea or lemonade.

She even made $3.00 in tips!

When she wasn't working, she was learning about the Derby from Mr. Saunders

 After we finished or shift, we headed down to the river to watch the race.

Well, some of us watched the race.  Some of us blew bubbles.

  Here we are waiting for the ducks to come!

 There were a LOT of folks there

I mean LOTS.

 

Lilah did manage to pay attention just long enough to see the winning duck come through the shoot.

After the race (which we did not win.  BOO!), we headed over to check out some of the attractions.  

Now, Lilah has said twice before she wanted her face painted:  At the Shalom-fest and at Miss Evy's birthday party in Tuscaloosa.  

Both times she did not really follow through.

But this time she was superbrave while a great artist named Miss Stacey painted her up with a beautiful butterfly.

 Here they are agreeing on the design with a high-five.

  

  

 

 The result:  A beautiful pink and purple and blue butterfly-eye.

 

After that, we were hungry, so we decided to go share our pretty faces with Lucky and Aubrey at Coffee to a Tea.

We met a friend.

He did not join us for lunch.

I can't believe how much we got accomplished in just two days!  I even had time to clean up the house a little bit and get things ready for the coming week.

I'm going to have to call this weekend a total win. 

I'm looking forward to our next set of adventures!