New Experiences

Well, as should be expected, Brayden has had some new experiences in the past few days. Friday night, Angie's company had a company outing, at the Texas Rangers game. They sent us 5 tickets for our family. So, after work, we loaded up in the trusty old CHEVROLET SUBURBAN, yes, that's a barb intended for my father-in-law, and headed to the Ballpark in Arlington. Needless to say, it was Brayden's first time at one of my favorite places in the Metroplex. It was DAMN hot, but he handled it well, so did Angie, who, as always, carried the load with the baby. He handled it considerably better than my wallet. We spent in the neighborhood of $60.00 on food and drinks. Anyone that knows me, knows that I love concession stand food, but that is ridiculous. $20.00 for 4 hotdogs, $3.50 per coke, $6.50 for nachos, $4.00 apiece for Lemon, or Strawberry/Banana, chills (basically sherbert frozen harder than normal). I really wanted a frozen margarita, but they were $9.75, and that's too much even for me.

O.K. back to the real story, the ball game and other happenings. It was the Rangers versus the Astros in a little interleague action. In the second inning, I saw something that I have never seen before, live or on TV. Laynce Nix threw a runner out at home, for the second out, and Kevin "Shrek" Mench threw a runner out at home for the third out of the inning. WOW, that was incredible. Mench is my favorite Ranger, by the way, so twice as nice for me. Natalie asked a million baseball questions, "Dad, why does the pitcher keep throwing to first base, and why don't we throw to first base in softball?", "Because they get to lead off of the bases in baseball and we don't in softball." "How come?" "Because those are the rules." "Oh. Why?" "I don't know, probably because the pitcher pitches overhand in baseball." "Oh, how come we can't get a foul ball, I want one." "Well, babe, they have to hit it to us, I have never gotten one either, but I have gotten a homerun ball." "Can we get a homerun ball, I want one." "No Natalie, we are in foul territory, a homerun has to go over that wall over there." "Why didn't we sit over there?" "Because mommy's boss bought us tickets here." "Why?" Matthew "Dad, I have to go to the bathroom, BAD!" "In a minute Matt" Natalie "Hey dad can we move down to the front row, maybe that guy will just throw us one." "No, Natalie, the people in the front row would get mad at us for taking their seats, maybe in a little bit, if some of them leave." Matthew "Dad I really need to go to the bathroom, I'm serious." "OK, OK, lets go, maybe we can get something from the concession stand again."

This went on all night with Natalie, she was really into the game, and I was loving that, maybe not the constant bombardment of foul ball questions, but she loves baseball/softball. Not sure if Matthew knew we were at a baseball game or not, but he enjoys concession stands too. So it was a win-win situation for me.

After the game they had a fireworks show, and Brayden loved it. Angie and I thought he might be scared, but he was able to see them and only one actually scared him, and they went on for probably 15 minutes. Super show. The planes from DFW were taking off directly over the Ballpark, so they must have gotten a pretty good show also. That would be neat to see from a plane, maybe the first one might have caused a little bit of a commotion on board, that could be funny. Just imagine "Holy crap, what was that!?"

Brayden has also cut the 2 front bottom teeth, so he is sleeping much better now, and that is great. He had some semi-hard nights, but it seems we are in the clear until the next set begin to come in. He is a really great kid, lots of personality, lots of smiles, just like his brother and sister.

Natalie "Hey dad, can we come back and sit up there and try to get a homerun ball?" "Yes, sweetie we can." "I think we should keep coming back till we get one." DING DING DING, WE HAVE A WINNER. "We will come back after school is out, get here early, and get some batting practice homerun balls too, maybe try out that new half pound hotdog while we are at it, how does that sound?" "Great!" You better beileve it does, I'm hungry already. Matthew, "Hey dad, I need to go to the bathroom again!" "Good, the concession stand with the ice cream is just on the other side of the one with the hotdogs, let's go!!!"

All for now, hope it was as fun to read as it was to experience!!
Jim