Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Take Me Out To the Ball Game

The Rae Girls go to the ball game!
I thought for today's post I'd do a little rewind .... to February 27th, 2011. Some of you may remember this as the day of Disney's Princess Half Marathon. Well, this may shock you, but I'm not posting about that for a change (although it was a pretty freaking awesome experience, if I do say so myself!) Instead I want to invite you to take a little photo trip down memory lane and join me at my first ever professional baseball game!

It was the Spring Training home opener for the Atlanta Braves. I learned from my grandpa that they are in the Grapefruit League. How can you even take teams seriously when they are in a Grapefruit League? I'll say now that I, before this, hated baseball. Snooze fest. Boring. No thanks. My mom didn't understand this. She grew up watching baseball. My uncle and step-dad played together and were really good! SF Giants? Heard of 'em? Yeah, so has my step-dad.... in the form of a uniform! Last year at the expo my mom was dying to go to the baseball game instead. Obviously it is all about ME so we stayed with the runners. This year, however, I decided to surprise her. I looked at the dates and sure enough the home opener was while we were still in Florida. Once I told her she flipped out - and we immediately had tickets behind home plate! 

We quickly spotted the Mickey head in the field!
Believe it or not, I was kind of excited! I had visions of getting the peanuts, cracker jack (why isn't there an S?), nachos, beer, chewing my Big League Chew (which I forgot in the hotel room) and buying a gigantic foam finger. Sadly they had no foam fingers, but Biker Boy and I were texting (this was at the start of our little love affair) and he suggested getting some hats since we forgot to put on sunscreen. (Why didn't we just buy sunblock?? Because we had some ... in the hotel room. Blond moment!) So there I was, wearing my half marathon medal, my new hat AND my new Atlanta Braves jersey that I just had to have so I could dress like a fan!

The weather was beautiful, and actually a little too warm, but I'll take it! I was so happy to get some nachos and plop down in my seat. I never did get the beer either. (My post-race hunger wouldn't kick in until the day AFTER the race.) The people watching was great, and Disney sure didn't let me get bored. There was so much going on before that I had never seen - teams warming up, watering down the dirt, etc...

Opening pitch by a news gal? I didn't know her, but she had a good arm!
Isn't he the cutest??
I'm always impressed at the strange form of a pitcher. My step-dad was a pitcher!
The Atlanta Braves
My mom was obsessed with Chipper Jones. Don't know why - NOT hot at all. 
I enjoyed the 7th Inning Stretch. I had been practicing the song at home so I'd be ready! Actually I was pretty entertained throughout. There were giveaways galore, although we didn't get anything. And tons of fly balls! One even landed just 3 seats down from me. Plus I was able to reunite with a friend that lives there. She was sitting only a couple sections over. Such a small world that Disney is!

It seemed the crowded didn't really care who won. I know I sure didn't. I was just waiting for exciting plays -there were a few, and even a broken bat! In the end the Mets won the game, and I went home with a pretty wicked sunburn.


Mommy was very happy!

All in all it was a really fun day! A fabulous first half marathon, followed by a fun and relaxing first baseball game!

8 comments:

  1. You mom, Bella and I have a love of Chipper in common. Now, Bella and I love him because he's just simply awesome not because of the looks, there are other boys that fill that role. Bella's first real Braves jersey is a Chipper Jones one that we bought her at a game last year. I digress, I wasn't into baseball either until I got married. Now, I am a fan although I prefer to watch it in person than on tv, nothing like the rush of being at the game.

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  2. how fun is that?! i LOVE baseball!! but my team is the cleveland indians! :)

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  3. Watching baseball on TV is fun, but there's nothing like going to a ballpark to watch it live. I hope I have the opportunity to attend a few MN Twins games this year at Target Field. Awesome pictures!

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  4. Your mom has a Boston hat on! Are you from there? I heart the Sox. I have never been to a spring training game at Disney, your post makes me want to go! See you next year! :)

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  5. We aren't from Boston - Oregon, actually! But a former OSU baseball player now plays for Boston, so that's why she chose that hat!

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  6. Looks like you ladies had a lovely time!

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  7. May I ask what type of camera you have? Your pics are always awesome? I am a huge Braves fan, but love the Reds a tad bit more.

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  8. Oh my - it is a Lumix something. Well that's what took these. A couple of them are from my phone, but most from the Lumix. But then I have another camera that I use when racing because it is smaller. It might be a Nikon? I'll have to look at all of this later because now I'm not sure!

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Thanks for reading my little blog, your comments rock my compression socks!! ºoº