Saturday, August 18, 2018

Heidi Anne's First Baseball Game

Last week I took Heidi Anne to her first minor league baseball game. Well, her first baseball game in general. In fact, the kid hasn't even been to a tee-ball practice...(poor deprived child). 

We went with the Girl Scouts, yeah, there was a Girl Scout Baseball night, over 100 girls plus adults for supervision. We even got to bring her Cousin A with us since Cousin A is a Scout, too. We were all supposed to spend the night on the field after the game, but our night didn't turn out that way. Anyways, I'm getting way ahead of myself.


We went down and picked up Cousin A, then we went to the ballpark for the game. We had to arrive by 6:00 (we were there at 5:20) to sign in with the Girl Scouts and get our tickets. For some reason, our seats were all split from each other. I figured we'd be able to trade seats and decided to worry about it later. 

We had 40 minutes to kill in the hot summer sun. I noticed a 7-11 across the street and thought a Slurpee would be a nice treat. We went over and it was crowded with lots of Girl Scouts and people trying to cool off while waiting for the game. I tried to get a Coke Slurpee but it was just flat slush. I ended up with Blue Raspberry (which turned my teeth blue, naturally). Heidi Anne got a Lemonade one that turned out to be extra sour. Cousin A got Captin Crunch Berries, that turned her teeth blue, too. 

We went back to the ball field, sat in the shade near the Girl Scout booth and enjoyed our Slurpees. Around 6:00 the gates opened. We had to meet near the Home Plate entrance by 6:40 to meet with the other Girl Scouts. They were getting to march around the field before the game as part of Girl Scout Night. Heidi Anne was super excited about that. 
Once again, we had 40 minutes to kill. We set off to find our seats. Heidi Anne was supposed to be 5 seats away from me on the same row and Cousin A was one row and 3 seats behind me. That wasn't going to work. However, no one was sitting or gathered around either spot for me to ask for trades. We walked around the gift shop and then set off to find what to eat for dinner. There were things like hamburgers, hot dogs (of course), ice creams, BBQ, pizza. More options then I expected. 

At 6:40 we went to where we were supposed to meet everyone. But no one else was there. It had me worried that I was in the wrong spot. After a few minutes one of the activity planners showed up and I was assured we were right where we needed to be, it was just early. (It was really 6:35). Sure enough other troops, groups, and Girl Scouts began to trickle in. 
Around 6:55 we headed down to the baseball field. One troop of just Brownies decked out in full uniform (they were so cute) were picked to hold the banner. Everyone else got to be in the parade and wave. I felt a little bad for them, there weren't many people in the stadium yet. But I don't think they noticed, the girls waved and shouted and everyone got to be on the big screen. The audience and even some of the baseball players from both teams waved and shouted back. Everyone had fun. It took us about 10 minutes to make our way around the field. 

After all that the girls were hungry so I decided we'd get some dinner then go to our seats and beg for trades. Heidi Anne got a hamburger, Cousin A got a huge hot dog, and I got cheese fries. Everyone satisfied with what we got we headed down to find all 3 seats taken over by some troops of girls and no one would trade or move. I found the very back row of the Girl Scout section and the girls and I sat there for the game. Which worked out so all 3 of us could sit by each other. (There was lots of seating confusion and even a hostile takeover on a row by some older scouts that happened). 

I don't know much about baseball. We just cheered when the home team hit the ball or made good catches. We also would check the big screen and it would tell you how fast a pitch was. One cool thing that happened was a baseball bat broke into 3 pieces when the player hit the ball. Also, our home team made at least 2 home runs. Oh, I almost had a foul ball, my hands were on it, but a teenage girl yanked the ball and got it instead. 

Around 9:00 pm the girls were getting bored and tired. I got them some ice cream in novelty bowls as a pick me up. Nothing like lots of sugar when you're young to keep you up. 
Remember those cute Brownies I told you about, the ones picked for the banner? Well, sadly one of them was hit in the head during another foul ball. She got to keep the ball, and different players would come by and sign her ball. Then the mascot came by to sign her ball as well. 
He was then surrounded by Girl Scouts looking for him to sign their gear. Heidi Anne felt left out but then she remembered her ice cream bowl. She went down and got her bowl signed and was pretty content. 
It was around 10:20 with the game still in play that the girls had enough. They decided they just wanted to sleep, not play on the field until 2:30 am. I tracked down the planner and told her we were heading out but the girls wanted their patch for the activity. She helped us get their patches and we headed out. On the way, we caught a picture with the mascot. Heidi Anne had plans with Grandma the next day and she was invited to spend the night at Cousin A's since they live much closer to Grandma. From what I heard the girls immediately crashed and went to bed.

We'll try this again next year! Next time with more prep, like a nap or something. We're also thinking off doing the Snore N' Roar at the Natural History Museum around April, it's where you get to spend the night at the museum.  

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