Mommy and Me Day at Raley Field

By Annie Alves

One event that Spencer that really looks forward to is Mommy and Me Day at Raley Field.  Twice during baseball season, the Sacramento Rivercats open up Raley Field to the public for this free event. 

Scattered across the entire field were activities that your little ones can tire themselves out with.   The big attractions for Spencer and Owen were the bounce houses.  A few of us moms were about to set up at the end of field with snacks and refreshments while the kids played with Frisbees, t-ball, and ran around in circles.  We even got to see Dinger play the drums!  If you have never gone, there is another one in May and it is a whole lot of fun. 

Mothers Night Out - March 2012

by Theresa Gallagher

This month's Mom's Night Out found us on an excursion to old Mexico—that is as close to Mexico as you can get on K Street.  On a Friday night in March, a small group of mom's ventured out in the pouring rain for a visit at Mayahuel Restaurant and Tequila Bar.  The downtown restaurant was a great place to wait for the storm to pass.  We enjoyed some zesty dishes--and that was just the conversation!  We sampled and shared each others enchiladas, tacos, and chile rellenos while sipping minty mojitos and smooth tequila.  If you ever make it to this restaurant, the Crema de Chile Poblano soup is a must try!  All warmed up from our good eats, we braved the storm to head home.  I was so thankful for a much needed MNO, and very grateful that we did not end up doing a scavenger hunt in the rain!

Childrens' Outing - Jelly Belly Factory

 Written by Amber Simmons

The Jelly Belly Factory!!! To this day, saying those words bubbles up a child like excitement in me like it did when i was a much smaller (and cuter) version of myself back in elementary school! The yearly Jelly Belly field trip was always one that my friends and i looked forward to. And even though my parents did not have a lot of extra money to spare, they always made sure their little girl had a few dollars to buy a special treat. Ahhh yes, many fond memories of that place. Its been upwards of 20+ years since i last took a tour. So i was so excited to take my boys there and experience it through their little eyes. And what a great outting it was!!

Several Natomas moms, and their adorable little ones, turned out for the tour. As we gathered together with our tour guide, we were given hats (or the option of a hair net) and told we had to wear them at all times during the tour. As you can see from the attatched picture, the kids totally rocked the paper hats. However we adults...yeah, we were cute too in our own special way. Goofy or not, we were on our way to discover all things Jelly Belly!

Our very wity and energetic tour guide (his name escapes me) lead our lively bunch down corridor after corridor overlooking massive machines, workers scurrying about  and highligting many neat facts about the company and its numerous products. Free samples abounded as we were allowed to taste the Jelly Bellies at each stage of development. Thank you tour guide man for not skimping on the samples!! It was through these samples that we learned Jelly Belly has partnered with Snapple and has launched new flavors of beans...Mango Madness is my favorite of the new ones!

At the end of our tour, we bid the fabulous tour guide adios and high tailed it to the gift shop!! The jelly bean sampling bar was jumpin' and Jelly Belly's own mascot came out to greet us! It really was a terrific outing. *Side Note* Tucked away in the back of the gift shop was a FUDGE COUNTER!!! Totally didn't expect that. Our family loves fudge so that was an added bonus for us! I decided to try the Red Velvet Cake fudge along with the Pistachio fudge as well. I highly recommend them both!

Needless to say, the Jelly Belly Factory rocked! Loads of fun had by kids and adults alike. But how can you go wrong when you mix heavy machinery, tons of sugar, free samples, great friends and fudge?! The answer is you can't!!