Take Me Out To The Ball Game

One of the activities on our list of things to do this summer was go to an Angels game. Joe is a huge baseball fanatic and his entire family are big time Angel fans, which of course makes Jake and Jadyn Angel fans as well, so much so that when we all watch games together on TV, Jake knows many of the players names and will scream and cheer for strike-outs and home runs. It is really quite cute.

We also knew due to logistics that going to game was going to have to be a spur of the moment type deal. Joe did not want to deal with going to a game on the weekend (bigger crowd), during the day (too hot) or against certain teams (too hard to get tickets). Add to that the kids summer activity schedule and a 3 hour drive and our window of opportunity was limited. But when Joe got home from work a little early yesterday, that opportunity presented itself and so after finagling some tickets off the net, we were off.

On the car ride there I could not help but reminisce. Growing up our family did not really go on summer vacations and although I do remember going to the fair and Disneyland here and there the one thing I do remember doing as a family on a fairly regular basis was going to ball games. My Dad was a huge Dodger fan and both my brother and I played ball growing up. I remember driving into LA, stopping at Tommy Burger for a quick bite, hanging out in the parking lot tailgating (and so my Dad could drink a few before going in) and how amazed I was at the size of the stadium and the athleticism of the players. I remember eating cracker jacks, peanuts, Dodger dogs, singing during the 7th Inning stretch and going home with a small souvenir. They are very fond memories of my family all together. They are in particular very fond memories of my Dad. I can still see his smile - the one he got when he was doing something he really enjoyed liking playing his bass guitar or watching the Dodgers play ball.

So it may not be the Dodgers (did I really want add another hour to an already long trip plus battle with my tried and true Angel fan husband?) but I was really looked forward to introducing the kids to a major league game, although I knew it would be hard to keep Jadyn entertained, I was pretty certain that Jake would get a kick out of it.

Here we are arriving at the stadium:




And before going in, a shot in front of the stadium:



Someone saw me taking pictures when we first got to our seats and was kind enough to offer to take a family picture. However, Jadyn was not in a very photogenic mood so this is the best we got:

At first, similar to the Nascar qualifying, Jake was not too thrilled about the noise level. He would plug his ears with his fingers when the fireworks exploded as they announced the starting line up or when the crowd would cheer super loud. Overall however, his reaction was exactly what I expected - wide eyes and huge grin, in awe of of his surroundings and seeing the players on the field in person. He had on his glove so he could try to catch a foul ball. Honestly, he was pretty bored when the Angels were on the field, but when they were up to bat, he cheered, clapped and charged with the crowd, recognizing the Angel players and rooting for them to get a hit. He loved it when the ball was hit in our direction (left field) or the few times we saw home runs (unfortunately for the opp sing Indians). Unfortunately we did not get to see them "light up the halo" as the Angels lost the game. Even more unfortunate, was that the one home run that the Angels did hit occurred when Joe was taking Jake to the potty. Go figure!

Jadyn was as expected, hard to entertain. She kept wanting to walk around and so I would leave the stands and take her to walk around in the breezeway. With her little Angels tennis dress and pigtails she looked like a miniature cheerleader and we had lots of compliments on how cute she was. The best part was when I took her into the Angel store so I could get my own t-shirt and she became particularly attached to a rally monkey with Velcro hands and she attached it around her neck in a hug. Of course I had to get it for her after that. When she was in the stands, she enjoyed clapping and cheering too, even repeating a few of the player's names when Joe would call them out. Overall, I would guess that the kids are still too little to truly enjoy a major league game and it will therefore probably be awhile before we go back as a family but I am still very glad we went and I am pretty impressed the kids made it through all 9 innings. As Jake said, "That's a long time for me!"

Taking in the stadium:

View from our seats in left field:

Jadyn hugging her rally monkey:
Jake with the rally monkey:
Blury I know, but here is Jadyn acting silly with Daddy's Angels hat on:

Jake and I as nighttime fell upon the stadium:

Since Jadyn was pretty non-cooperative yesterday, here she is with her rally monkey today:
She just hangs it on her neck and goes about her business:

So two things to tie up the loose ends of this post:

On the way to the game, we stopped at In-N-Out to grab dinner. If you are not familiar with In-N-Out you a) Don't know what you are missing and b) Will have to remember to eat there if you are ever on the West Coast. Anyway, while there we ran into another group also on their way to the game, which was pretty surprising as we were still several cities away from Anaheim. We then decided that like Tommy Burger before the Dodger game, In-N-Out must be the pre-game meal of choice.

Secondly, with as busy as we have been this summer, you may be wondering what else is on my list of things to do: 1) Beach on a really warm day 2) River trip (planned for August) and 3) Discovery Children's Museum. I cannot believe we only have 5 more weeks until school starts. Time sure does fly when you are having fun!