Take Me Out to the Ballgame

I used to be a MAJOR Houston Astros fan. As a kid we would go to games in the old Astrodome several times a week. When we weren't at the games we listened to them on the radio. I knew all the players, who was pitching, and their record and standing in the central division. I flew home from college to see the final regular season game in the Astrodome.

The last time I was in Houston during baseball season was 2003 right before I moved to Florida. I was home for 5 days and I went to 5 games. I tried to follow the team when I moved. I paid way too much money for a baseball package from our cable provider that let me watch all the games. I listened to games online when I couldn't watch them.

Over time though I have lost touch with my baseball past. I still love the game, but my favorite players have retired and it is too much work (and too expensive) to follow my team the way I used to. Honestly I don't mind too much.

This week though I finally got to take the Irishman to an Astros game. Grandma was thrilled to have that baby to herself agreed to babysit. I dressed Caitlin in her Astros gear. It was a bit boy-ish, so I tried to add a skirt and a bow. You can see what she thought of my bow...



After looking online for a while at seats and tickets, I reluctantly decided we would sit in the $2 cheap seats. We stopped at the store on the way for the necessary drink wrappers, filled the car with gas, and were finally on our way.

By the time we got there I was not in the best mood. I was stressed from driving downtown. I wasn't sure about where we parked and the distance we were going to have to walk to the car after the game. We were in a huge line for tickets. I forgot to bring our camera.  To top it all off we realized that after paying for parking we only had $1 cash for the $2 in tickets we were about to purchase. Yep. I was not in a good place.

Then, our baseball guardian angel appeared. I wish a had a picture of her. She may have just appeared to be a woman with short hair and a hot pink t-shirt, but she was much more than that. She offered free tickets. There were three of them and the guy in front of us in line wanted one so we took the other two.

We were in line for '2 for $2' tickets and we were given two $39 tickets.
My mood suddenly improved.

 

We got out of the very long ticket line and found our seats in time to catch the National Anthem and the first pitch. (It doesn't sound like much, but we'd have still been in line and climbing our way to the nosebleed seats had our baseball guardian angel not saved us!) The Irishman took out his new phone and took some pictures for me.

I know that purist won't agree with me, but I LOVE watching baseball indoors. If I lived somewhere where the low temperature of the day was less than a million degrees I might think otherwise, but that is not the case. Marlins games are miserable in the Miami heat. A retractable roof is the best of both worlds...I love it!

After a few innings we went off to get dinner.  The Irishman decided on deluxe fajita beef nachos. I cringed when they put a pile of jalapeno peppers on the side. While I was waiting in line for my dinner there was yet another repeat of the pepper incident. He found a water fountain and decided to remove the offensive green items from his plate before returning to our seats. Some people never learn!

There are only two players that are still around from the days when I followed the team. As Lance Berkman came up to bat, the Irishman said, "Maybe he will hit a grand slam for you here." As I answered back with a, "Yeah, right..." Berkman DID hit a grand slam. I couldn't have asked for more!

We asked someone to take our picture for us using the Irishman's phone....twice. Both times the top of Morgan's head didn't make it into the picture, but that's okay!

It was a perfect night.

Go 'Stros!

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Hosted by Cecily and Caitlin