At the end of April, we took the kids to their first baseball game ever! The kids both participated in the Kane County Cougars reading club this past winter and earned free tickets to a game. Our school had been given two dates to go and we grabbed the later one (the other was on Annabel's birthday and it was not how she wanted to spend her birthday- I didn't blame her and it ended up being a 20 degree day anyway, so- phew).
This day however, was not much better weather-wise. It was rainy (only at first luckily- but still, wet benches, ugh!) and we basically froze all night as temps dropped to 40 degrees (Ben said we wouldn't need blankets- I said we would...and we did indeed! Glad I grabbed them!). We were wearing our winter coats and gear at the end of April going to our first baseball game! Way to show how it's done, eh? But you know what- we had a
great time!
The kids knew nothing about baseball, us being pretty anti-sports people and with no TV connection no ability to watch them anyway. So we had to explain every last thing about the game. But the kids were so interested and asked good questions and really got into the game. (Cutest question, asked by Annabel- "How does that thing (scoreboard) know to change the numbers?! There must be a sensor on the field by the home plate.) At the two hour mark, halfway through the game, with mostly frozen bodies, we stressed that the game was only juuuust now halfway over, did they want to stay (with a "please say no!" but totally game you decide undertone)- but Annabel was TOTALLY into this whole experience, adventurous girl that she is, so you bet she wanted to stay! It turned out to be a really good thing we stayed, too.
The stadium was not even nearly half full (maybe a quarter? couple hundred people?) so it was not a busy night at all. And strangely- we never saw people from our school either. Not that it mattered- it was
our family night after all. But as the game went on, and the night got colder (temps dropped to 40 degrees- brrr! I was past frozen at this point, so any colder and any longer wouldn't have mattered much, and later, when I got up, I realized my pants were all wet from that rained-on-bench that we did "dry"- ah well, clearly I couldn't tell while I was sitting!) more and more people left. So by the end there were maybe 50 people left. (We counted 7 cars in the parking lot when we left, which cracked us all up!) This meant though- that all the fun was left for us!
You see- the kids did know that half the fun of a ball game was trying to catch a foul ball! And after watching kid after kid catch the ones that went down the line farther from us, my kids were pretty determined to catch one of their own, but none never came our way. Sometimes the players would even throw their practice balls up to the kids, too, but there were enough kids wanting those balls that we never got that toss. Until everybody left. Daniel and Annabel moved down to the first row and the next time the Cougars were on the field and coming in, they waved their hands enthusiastically and basically got handed a ball. Annabel first. Then Daniel next. And they thought this was just the BEST thing in the world- "We caught a ball!!!!" My kids were over the moon. So, you see, it's a good thing we stuck it out to the end.
When the game was over (Cougars lost), we headed to the store to get our balls signed, but we were told they wouldn't be signing because the players were too cold. The kids were given squishy baseballs in sympathy, which they also loved of course. So we went back to find Daddy, who was packing up our blanket and rain gear at our seats. Then we noticed the kids that were left were lining up at the door onto the field for some activity. Mine joined the line and then they got to do a really cool thing- run the bases!! Yet another reason we were glad we stuck it out. Daniel and Annabel
loved running the bases! It was so fun to watch them.
(Side note- the post I just did, that early summer one, was literally 3 days after this. So, you know, that's spring around here for you! 40 one day 80 another)
So the whole night was quite the experience and we are really glad we went!
Check out our frozen selves enjoying the game!
Let the game begin! Garfield came, too!
See the empty stadium and my kids down in front hoping to catch a ball?
Annabel caught a ball!!
Daniel, did, too!
They were SO proud of their balls!
Running the bases!
Crossing home plate!
