Ooh, Baby Baby

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After Saturday’s train run, I rushed home to change and then drive my daughter to Del Mar Fairgrounds to stand around while Alex’s hip hop team performed at the Yeah Baby Family Expo. Just what a perimenapausal mom with sore feet needed, right?

Of course, give a miffed mother a camera and then have a local celebrity walk by and she immediately turns into a parent paparazzo. The object was Channel 93.3’s “Boy Toy” Jesse, a disc jockey every middle-school-carpooling mom in San Diego knows. He had just finished announcing the Diaper Derby. I’d also later see A.J. and Hula from the same station’s “A.J.’s Playhouse” morning show, but I wasn’t as quick with the Nikon.

We returned the next day for a repeat performance and few more hours of ‘fun.’ The crowds were smaller, probably because there were two other big events happening on Sunday. One involved protesters supporting immigration rights; the other involved legs protesting the 21st running of the Carlsbad 5000. From what I was told, all the San Diego Track Club members wore their ribbons honoring Ursula Rain’s memory and race organizers arranged a moment of silence before each race.

Back at the fairgrounds, I listened as a long line of children served up questions to Drake Bell, 19, of the Nickelodeon show “Drake and Josh.” Some were predictable (“What’s your favorite episode?”); some challenging (“How much did the balloon cost [in a particular segment]?”); and one got the audience all worked up (“Who is the first girl you ever kissed?”). After Drake’s talk, I listened to a radio child psychologist try to deny her son’s claim that “All My Children” was her favorite show and got my picture taken with PBS’s Buster and Arthur. Periodically, someone would announce a “lost parent” over the PA system and there was a rush on a produce booth after a rumor that Henry’s Marketplace was giving away all of its food.

The dance team also turned in a terrific performance. Yeah, baby.

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