Friday, October 2, 2009

Take Them Out to the Ball Game

Each year, our great elementary school offers tickets and a bus ride over to a Twins baseball game. It is such a nice way to go, just to avoid the downtown driving and parking hassles alone. We had planned on Daddy taking Jonny, Crispy, and Laura to the game, and bought our tickets over one month ago at the school Open House. At the beginning of the week, Bob informed me that it was looking impossible for him to get away tonight for the game. I enjoy going to the games, but not particularly with a two year old and a baby, which was what this was going to amount to for me. Besides, I had done this combination two years ago when Tubby was a baby, and Laura was 3 years old, as Bob had to cancel at the last minute. At the large Metrodome with the extremely large crowds, it was a slightly anxiety filled excursion.

I planned accordingly and bought a ticket for Tubby online for a cheap seat with all intentions of him sitting with us in the reserved section on our laps. The ticket was simply to get him through the gate. With all the crazy processing fees, and despite my own printing the ticket out at my home, Tubby's "cheap" seat $8 ticket ended up being more than $16!!! Isn't there something just VERY WRONG about that???

Luckily, everything ended up working out, and Bob DID make it home in time to take the kids. That was a good thing, because those kids were very much looking forward to spending some time with their Daddy. Bob texted me messages throughout the game about cute little things the kids were doing, and sent me some pictures throughout the evening, and even sent me a video of Laura opening a peanut. Cell phone technology is great this way. It almost makes it as much fun as being there!
It turns out that Bob spoiled those kids MUCH MORE than I would have done. Thus, the kids had a REALLY GOOD time. Going from a lame, "sit down and watch the game" type of night that they almost were subjected to with me, as I would have had to lay down the law of the land with so many of them there, to a super happy fun day baseball game with super-happy-fun Daddy. They had peanuts, popcorn, pop, cotton candy, sno cones, AND hot dogs. Gee. Whiz. Spoiled kids? You betcha!
Bob also spent a lot of time entertaining Laura and a new little friend of hers from school. He said that he really did not see much of the game, but he had a fun time with the kids. I am sure that the kids will have lots of fun stories to tell me about tomorrow!

Meanwhile, the rest of us spent our evening in and out, rather than quietly at home. I took Michael and Tubby out to dinner at Subway, where Michael chose to eat as a "safe" dinner before hockey tryouts later in the evening. Tubby was just a stitch! He has been going through a silly boy phase where he is just so goofy! Making funny faces, funny gestures, saying "Oh, man!" when something doesn't quite go as expected, jumping off of things(OK, that one scares me a bit), and simply not sitting still....kind of like the Energizer Bunny on caffeine. Realizing that he is cracking us up gives him the fuel to keep going and to be even sillier.

After dropping Michael off at the arena, I was majorly craving some chocolate chip cookie dough, so I whipped up a batch of cookies quick before heading back to watch some of Michael's pre-tryout practice. It certainly satisfied the craving, and I ate enough raw dough to not want anymore for a very, very, long time. Ugh...tummy ache. But the house smelled wonderful, and the older kids and Tubby enjoyed the unexpected treat. And I spent significantly less money on making cookies than my husband did buying all those treats at the Dome!

At the arena, Michael is looking fast and confident on the ice. Evaluated tryouts begin tomorrow morning, and it is always such a high-stress time. Not so much for the boys as it is for the parents. I am confident in the outside evaluators' ability to place kids on one of three teams according to fairly accurate estimation of skill level. Other hockey parents are constantly up in arms, having issues about this and that, the way things are run, the many reasons their own son is the best player out there, etc. Being a rather low-key, go-with-the-flow(mostly) kind of gal, these situations of negativity are very hard for me to be around or to accept. Having Tubby with me offers an excuse for me to chase (rather, encourage) him down to the opposite end of the arena where we can remain in our own happy little world as we enjoy watching Michael play instead of being sucked into the negativity trap which ends up just sucking all the joy out of the game of hockey and missing all the accomplishments of our son. I just do not understand why those other parents choose to miss so much to be so involved in whining and bashing. Oh well...

Tubby enjoyed watching the Zamboni resurface the ice after practice as we waited for Michael to change out of all his gear.

Michael thought it would be fun to show Tubby how to light a match with some matches he had found on the floor under our seats(not a parent-approved activity).

Then Tubby, Laura, and I spent the remainder of the evening watching for the rest of the family on tv at the baseball game. We never did see them, but it was fun to get the updates from Bob on all the fun they were having. Though the Twins were winning by a landslide, the game seemed to be running a bit late, so we finally went up to bed about 10:30pm, as Bob and the rest of them were heading to board the bus. Tubby snuggled happily into my comfy, cozy bed, and seemed to be pretty excited about having such a sweet attention-given night as the "big boy" around the house. I wonder how everyone will be doing tomorrow after this late night for all?!

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