You wanna bet?

No, we didn't actually do any betting but we did spend our afternoon at the Santa Anita Race Tracks. It was their semi-annual Family Day so we decided to do more neighborhood exploring and checked it out.
Sadly, Owen was sick with a fever. He slept all morning long and we figured, we could stay at home the rest of the day (with me holding him) or we could venture out while he chilled in the stroller. Sorry Owen.
Taking another one for the team:
Lucy, on the other hand, was lively with excitement. All she was interested in was: seeing horses and (more importantly) riding horses. Since it was family day, they had a $2 pony ride area. Perfect! Sadly though, we got there at 2:55, it closed at 3pm and there were 20 people already in line. So they wouldn't sell us a ticket. Lucy was practically in tears. Thankfully we appeased her by petting this horse instead:
And then we told her we could go see an actual horse race! She thought that sounded fun.
The tracks have an amazing view of the beautiful mountains:
We waited for the race to start:
(with my ghastly white legs)
These guys wrangled the horses to the starting gate for the jockeys:
Getting excited:
Getting fed-up:
and learning the ropes? I'd love to know what Casey was telling her.
And....they're off!
Not sure what what more fun: watching the horses come around the bend, hearing the cheer of the crowds, or that awesome race announcer (talking at 60 miles an hour.)
It was fun taking pictures but I have no idea who won.
We finished the outing at the playground in the center of the race track. What a fun idea! There were families everywhere with beach umbrellas and picnics (beer and candied apples).
And that was our trip! I've always wondered what goes on in that large green race track. Now I know. My conclusions:

* It's not as glamorous as the Seabiscuit days.
* It's actually kind of a trashy place. The people there aren't necessarily trashy (as Casey pointed out to me)...but the venue allows for people to be trashy: lots of beer drinking, smoking, a few men without shirts on, women with minimal shirts on, betting, etc.
* Horses are really beautiful.
* It's fun to yell and cheer at a race.
* All I really wanted to yell was, "Come on, Dover, move yer bloomin' arse!"
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As for the rest of our day....
While Owen took another nap, Casey surprised us all by making a run to the grocery store and coming back with this:
and this:
Lucy of course wanted to help carry everything inside and place each tulip in its vase.
Casey showed her how to cut Pineapple:
and then he made this for dinner!
A great closer to a sunny California day.