Play ball!!

I totally did this.  A few weeks back, I got an email for the 5 day, 5 county 50% off discounted tickets weekend and I immediately checked my schedule and bought three tickets for us to go.  I really love Brewers baseball and it's been a long while since the kids have been to a game.  So I just did it..kind of spur of the moment.  Since I was ordering tickets right away, we got great seats.  We were still up in the terrace level, but got second row..so basically nothing in the kids way of the action.  

This is one of my favorite pictures of the night, because you can tell that they both look so happy and excited to get inside and watch some baseball!  We did a little bit of tailgating outside, but mostly I planned on buying the kids hot dogs inside for dinner.  Mom also opted for preferred parking, so that we didn't have any worries about little legs getting tired on the way to and from the stadium.  I packed a backpack full of waters and treats and popcorn and we were off!  We got into the park about a half hour before first pitch on purpose.  I wanted to have enough time to let the kids play in the jungle gym thing, and also to get hot dogs and stuff before the game began.  The kids each got to hold onto their own ticket and enjoyed getting beeped in.  They love love loved the escalator rides up to the terrace as well.  

Apparently moms statewide know how important it is for moms to be included in the picture..because a random woman walked right up to us and asked me if I'd like to get in the picture with the kids.  I answered yes immediately and jumped at the chance!

And then we got inside and there was another woman who knows the drill about moms never making it into pictures with their kids and took this one for us!!  

The whole time, I sat there explaining, explaining, explaining to the kids what this was, what that was for, who that player was, what the yellow posts were for, why there are 3 outs, etc etc etc.  But I didn't mind.  It was perfect.  I was sharing something that I loved with them and they were loving it..and that was all that mattered to me. We got to our seats with plenty of time to see the motorcycle deliver the first pitch ball, to stand up and sing the star spangled banner, and to see flags waving.  

At one point, I was explaining to Connor that the person up to bat was a player from the Pirates team.  He mostly only heard Pirates and then after a few seconds, turned to me and we had this conversation:

C: Momma?  Do you know that Pontius Pilate was a bad guy? 

Me: Yes, he was.

C: Momma..he was a naughty guy.  He, um, he put God on a cross, momma!

Me: laughing with shock and surprise, Yes, he did.

C: And then momma, Jesus was in a cave and when they rolled the stone away, momma..he was gone!  

Me: Yes, Jesus was up in heaven.  He died for us.  

C: Yea.  Turned his head and was back to baseball.

Soooo funny to me.  I think the Pirates jogged his memory..like it sounded similar to Pilate.  

Both kids sat sooo well.  We sat in our seats until the middle of the sixth inning, when after a "hot dog race" we got outta there.  Up to the end of the fifth inning, the kids were AMAZING!  Sat, ate, watched, asked questions...just generally totally into it.  We even saw a few Brewers home runs, which meant we also saw Bernie go down his slide a few times!
The kids had a blast dancing in their seats.  Mostly they didn't want to stand up and dance, but they did dance almost constantly in their chairs.  I think their favorite song was "Happy."  The seats were perfect for seeing the dugouts, the whole field, Bernie, the scoreboard, etc.

I'm so happy that I took this chance.  I knew it would be ok, but it's always risky doing something like this solo.  But it builds confidence for me, which I need and proves to them that it's life as usual.  We'll still have fun..still go fun places..do fun things..it'll just be a little different.

And I had one of these to make the night that much more enjoyable for me!