{Take Me Out to the Ballgame}

Long long ago.... in a land far far away (Kansas City)..... I went to the Royals baseball game. A lot. My dad used to work for Kraft Foods, and we ALWAYS had tickets (it seemed) to the game (company tickets). We sat to the right of the home plate, not on the ground, but high in the sky. My dad would buy us frozen chocolate malts, cheese dip in a little cup while we brought in Aldi's nacho cheese chips, and sometimes we brought in peanuts to crack open. Occasionally ... my brother & I enjoyed a cotton candy treat. It was always so exciting... sometimes we took our mitts and wait in hopes of a ball that never came our way. Sometimes I took my book b/c I knew I was going to be dying of boredom. Always anticipating "the wave", and ready at the drop of a hat when it came to our section.

::doing the wave::

In the middle of the 7th inning, we stood up, sang our hearts out to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", and boogied our hearts out to the wild music they played throughout the game during the breaks & clapping our hands to the rhythm. When my aunt Nay came along, she really boogied down with them all. ::blushing:: But she is one cool aunt, so I couldn't be too embarrassed, y'know?

But one day, it all came to an end. No more Royals baseball games. I got married. I had two little girls. Sadly, we never took the girls to a real life Major League Baseball game! (or is it American League Baseball?) ... whatever.

When my parents came down to Texas a few weeks ago, my dad mentioned going to the Missions here in San Antonio. I was ALL for it! However, this is the minor league, and I had never experienced minor league baseball before. Turns out, they play the same game! Who'd have thought?!

"Papa... Papa.... I'm thirsty... Papa... Papa...."

Katie's new bangs... but this was before we redid her bangs so they're much cuter now! Blog post to come soon about that!

Our church had a "Mormon Night @ the Missions", and tickets were pretty cheap. Not to mention, they promised no drinking or smoking in our designated areas (which I thought was pretty stupid to even try to offer & enforce b/c we were all intermingled w/ non-Mormons & they were drinking). Anyways, back to my story! They had a "giveaway", if you want to call it that. So, I entered my parents, my girls, and myself. The prize was to meet the famous Jeff Kent, a MLB player, who was also LDS. I think my dad is our lucky charm, (someone always wins when he's around), as a few innings into the game, Katie's name is announced as being one of the winners to meet this ballplayer. She is clueless though. My dad was VERY excited about this (don't deny this Dad... you were excited, Mom & I could tell!). "What's going on?" she asks... "where are we going?" she asked again. "WHO am I going to meet?" she finally exclaimed. My dad takes Katie to the top of the "secretive society of rich people who can afford to sit only in the air conditioned rooms" of the Mission stadium. She comes back with a autographed ticket, and my dad grabbed a picture of them together.

Finally, my girls have been able to experience something that I experienced multiple times in my childhood. I can finally cross that off my list of things to do in their life.

Both Maddie & Katie said while we were leaving ... and I quote

"man, that was the most boring night of my life".

Guess we won't be going back to another game anytime soon!