Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Fulfilling a life long dream, DH and I finally went to the Baseball Hall of Fame. And it was amazing. There are SOOOOO many artifacts! We could have been there for 6-8 hours easy, but the kids took it happily for about 2 1/2. The museum is great in that is includes a scavenger hunt for kids that keeps them engaged!

We particularly like the multi-media movie presentation, the individual team "lockers" (see Nats above), and many of the fantastic displays like the All American Girls League, baseball in movies, and specific milestones in baseball history. Would have loved to spend more time watching all many short interviews and taped stories. Just means we need to go back again! If you are a baseball fan at all, I highly recommend it!!!

Conflicted Loyalties

As you know, we have season tickets for the Washington Nationals. We have 1/4 season (21 games) and love going. The kids really get into it and we all have a great time. This week the Nats are playing my beloved Red Sox. B has been teasing me for weeks about the fact that this week I would be routing AGAINST the Nats.

So last night I set out for the game in a Red Sox jersey. As I was waiting with the mobs on the Metro platform, I was surrounded by fellow Red Sox fans. But instead of being excited, I was actually feeling annoyed. Where were all these fans the rest of the time - wasn't SOME baseball (ie, the NATS) better than NO baseball? Why didn't they come out for the other games, just for the fun of it??

By the time we got to the stadium I was really conflicted. I was going to rout for the Sox, and really wanted them to win. But was sad to see how many baseball fans were in town that couldn't be bothered to come for the other games.

In the end, my Sox won - but the Nats actually played decently for the first 7 innings (things really went to hell for them in the 8th). Tonight when I go I will wear a Red Sox jersey, but my Nats cap.

A Bad Day at the Ballpark Better Than a Good Day at the Office anytime!

We went to the National's Opening Day on Monday. The Nats are not doing well. In fact, they are the worst team in baseball. But, we had fun at opening day (despite the loss). The kids were not upset at the new Screech (they aged him from a baby eagle to a "teenager" over the offseason. He is now more a head than a costume. I hate the new Screech); they continued to love the President' s race (go Teddy!); and they were happy our seats are still right near the Dippin' Dots. All in all a success. Our second game is tonight..should be warmer than Monday.

Play Ball!

So our kids are spoiled. They had never been to a baseball game that wasn't played in a professional stadium. Well, Saturday night we joined some friends at a summer college league game. It was in a beautiful brick baseball park, but still our girls were like, "where is the stadium?" It was kind of sad, really. But we all ended up having a great time. The food prices were actually survivable ($1.50 for popcorn vs $6.50 or so at the big park)! And we were sitting about 15 feet behind home plate (as opposed to our season tickets in the nose-bleeds!).

The best part though was that the girls were picked to announce the start of the game. Someone came through and asked one of our little friends, who said no. She then turned to K and asked her, and she was like "YEAH!" and of course, B had to go with her. I had Big Man on my lap at the time and was sitting 2 rows behind talking to a friend. I didn't even know what had gone on. At one point, I was like, where are the girls. But I noticed DH was gone, so figured they were all off somewhere.

They do the introductions of the teams and stuff, and then you hear over the loud speaker "And now we have 4-year old B her 6-year old sister K to begin the game!" and they YELL - "LET'S PLAY BALL!!!!!!" They were SOOOOO excited. They really loved it. We had to call Grampa after we left to tell him all about it. It totally made the night for them!

K pointed out that they were unlikely to get the chance to do that at "our" park, because "we sit too far away - they probably pick kids from the front". I told her she was probably right, and that she wasn't likely to yell "Play Ball" before a Nats game, but you never know!

Pure Joy

So we have a partial season plan to the Washington Nationals. We all enjoy going - although the girls think we are there for entertainment other than baseball. Namely Screech and the President's Race - which happens during the 4th inning. The President's race is simply a race around the field by the mascot-like Presidents of Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington and Teddy Roosevelt. The biggest part of the race is that Teddy never wins. He always stops for a hot dog, or falls down, or something intervenes so he doesn't win.

The kids LOVE this race. And they so want Teddy to win. (Although K has figured out he never will). However, they are afraid of the giant Presidential heads if they are within 20 yards of them. Sometimes the Presidents wander around the Park, and the girls are terrified. They are pretty big - about 7 or 8 feet tall, with big foam heads.

They also love the official mascot - Screech. He is a baby eagle and oh so cute. The girls - especially B, love Screech. B always says she wants to give him a "high five". Well, a few weeks ago she got her chance. Screech was in the upper deck near our seats. DH took B down to see if she could high five him. The whole time she was standing waiting for him, she was so excited she was jumping up and down. It was precious. And then, Screech not only high-fived her, he gave her a hug. She was in Nirvana.

Now she needs to find and try and see him every game. Maybe one of these days she'll even be willing to high five Teddy....

"Event"-full weekend

So this was a CRAZY weekend for us! Friday night we had a sitter and went to a movie - yay! Saturday we had an arts festival at K's school where she was singing. Then we ran from there home to go to the first Nationals game at the new stadium - an exhibition with the Orioles. We left Big Man at home, and we took the girls and Nana. It was a cool night - but we had gloves, mittens, and blankets so we weren't too cold. The girls did GREAT! B was more interested than I have ever seen her in the game. They both prefer the President's race to the actual baseball game, but this time B really got into it. 2 funny moments - on the shuttle bus to the park, B was talking about how she was so excited to see the game. She said she couldn't wait to see Teddy win (Roosevelt that is). The guy across the aisle was so impressed that she was that into the game. Then in the park they do lots of things to get the fans clapping. After the popular "thump-thump-clap, thump-thump-clap" B asked (in her outside voice) "mommy, how come they stopped before 'we will we will rock you'" - the people behind us totally cracked up. B wanted to clap to every thing and dance in her chair whenever the played music. I think this was our best baseball game ever. Both girls had a blast, and we lasted til the 8th inning!

On Sunday we had the circus in the morning. We went early so we could go down on the floor. The girls LOVED that. Big Man stayed in the box with Daddy (we had my company's tix) and had fun running around. All the kids were enthralled by the circus. Big Man did a lot of shouting and pointing. The girls loved the acrobats and the clowns. And Bello (the clown the the hair sticking straight up) didn't annoy me the way he did last year.

Then, last night DH and I went to opening day at the new park. It was really a GREAT time. You certainly couldn't have asked for a better game (walk off home run when score is tied at the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs!!!). It was VERY cold, but with long underwear, winter coats, gloves and a blanket we were ok. The new park is gorgeous with amazing vendors. They need to work out some kinks with transportation. We took a free shuttle bus after parking (for free) at the old stadium. Getting on was quick and easy, as was the short trip to the park. But they let you off about 5 blocks away (not great when you have little kids and Nana didn't appreciate it either); and the pickup was a mess. On Sat it wasn't bad, because we left in the 8th inning. But last night we stayed til the end, along with another 25,000 people. It was basically a just a mass of people all trying to get on the buses, with little order. There wasn't chaos or pushing or shoving or anything - but it was very disorganized. We were lucky that after 25 minutes or so a bus just stopped right in front of us and we were able to get on. But that was just sheer luck. Hopefully, they will work out all the kinks soon.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

So this weekend is opening day for the Nationals. Nevermind opening "day" will be at night and it will likely be around 40 degrees. And I am trying to get over my frustration about tickets. We have been season ticket holders since the team came to DC a few years ago. We have a 20-game package, and we have 5 seats. Since the start, opening day is not included in our 20-games, but we have always been able to buy the same number of seats we have (4-5) before they went on sale to the public. Not this year. This year all 20-game season ticket holders could buy 2 tickets. End of story, period. I was so annoyed. If they didn't have enough tickets that is one thing, but they gave ALL season ticket holders free tickets to the exhibition game the night before, and there were enough.



Anyway, I am letting it all go and just getting excited about seeing baseball in our awesome new park. Go NATS!



(ps the Red Sox won their season opener in Japan earlier this week!)

Red Sox ROCK!

YAYYYYYYYYYYY. For the second time in three years my beloved Red Sox have captured the World Series title. I only wish my mom had lived to see it. Not once in her life did she get to enjoy a World Series win, and now we've had two. So awesome. Mikayla even put on her Red Sox shirt this morning, and she didn't even know what was going on (as the game was WAY too late for her).

In other news, Mikayla lost her first tooth yesterday! She was upstairs "napping" (not) and came down and said, "Mommy look!", she had her tooth in her hand. I didn't even know it was lose! Luckily Barnes & Noble was open late last night and we grabbed a Tooth Fairy kit. Very cute -- book and pillow and cards and stuff for her to send to the tooth fairy with subsequent teeth. She was very excited to find a dollar under her pillow this morning.

YAYYY Sox!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

So my brother pointed out that I have yet to blog on one of my favorite things -- baseball. Specifically, the Boston Red Sox. And what a great time to do it. Must gloat while I have the opportunity! The Red Sox are currently the best team in baseball, and have been since nearly the start of the season. They are 8 1/2 games ahead of their nasty rival whose name will not be mentioned, but begins with a Y (as in YOU) and ends in an S (as in SUCK!). Anyway, I have always been a baseball fan, and how can you not LOVE the Red Sox? (Josh, don't answer)

That said, we are a three-team baseball family. There is Her team (the aforementioned Sox), His team (the St. Louis Cardinals), and Their team (our local Nationals). We became season ticket holders from the first moment baseball returned to the Nation's Capital. Ok, we don't have a full season, or even a half, (we have 20 games), but we still count as season ticket holders. We have been to all (three) of the season openers, and many many games in between. When the girls hear the word "baseball" they automatically say "let's go Nats!". They can both sing "take me out to the ballgame" (even if some of the words are interesting). Big Man will be as enthusiastic, I'm sure, once he can speak.

There is something so relaxing, so SUMMER, about being at the ballpark on a warm day, drinking a beer, and taking in the sites and sounds.