Matt's Grandma gave us a "family gift" for Christmas this year. She told us to have a family meeting and decide what we wanted to do with the money. We brought up a few ideas and then, as a family, decided to use the money for a Cubs game at some point over the summer months.
Fast forward to April/May, we found out that there was a really good deal on Cubs/Reds tickets. We looked at the dates and realized that we could attend 2 games that weekend - we decided on the split double-header on that Saturday.
Thursday night (eve of leaving for Cincinnati), we were leaving a concert at the middle school and our car wouldn't start. We had some friends there who tried to give the van a jump start but no luck. I called my parents (who had just left the concert) and they came back and waited with us while we had the van towed. I left a note for our mechanic - pleading with him to check the van first thing in the morning so we could plan accordingly for the road trip. He called me mid morning and said that the van started right up for him...yeah, that doesn't surprise me, that's how my life rolls with car repairs! He told me he would do some further digging and call me back. Around 2:30 he called and said that he found the culprit - a loose wire to the ignition. He tightened it, started it up multiple times and it was ready to be picked up. He didn't even charge us for his time. What a huge blessing! I told him we were heading to Cincinnati for the Cubs games, he told me "have the Cubs win and that will be payment enough for me". Thank you Lord!
I enjoyed packing our bag (lots of Cubbie Blue!)...
We hit the road right after school on Friday - arriving in Cincinnati a bit after midnight. We were tired but hyped!
Can I take a second to mention that our drive there (over 6 hours in the car) was really fun?! I did some google searching and put together this huge scavenger hunt list for the kids to work on while we were driving. I gave them two options (everyone gets to mark off the item whenever one person announces it...or whoever announces the item, checks it off their list only. More of a competition/game). They opted to do the competition and it was fun! Will pulled out his tablet the second we left the house. As soon as we got on the interstate (2 blocks away from the house), I passed out the scavenger hunt clipboard. I explained the rules and we started our hunt. I looked back a few minutes later, expecting Will to be on his tablet...but it was put away and he was fully engrossed with the hunt! We got 3-4 hours into our drive before someone asked about a movie/tablet time. I was thrilled. Next trip - I have will prizes!
We drove downtown and found the ballpark right away then started looking for parking. We found a parking garage that charged $10 for the game. We asked if we needed to come back out and pay for the second game as well - she told us that the $10 was for all day if we chose to stay later than the first game. Awesome news!
We walked to the elevator, where we ran in to a few more Cubs fans and a few Reds fans. We had a nice conversation with all of them as we rode the elevator together. We were very surprised when the door opened and we saw that we were right there at the ball diamond! Driving to the parking garage seemed a lot further away then the short walkway to the stadium!
The gates wouldn't open for another hour so we walked around the stadium for some pictures and to stop at Jimmy John's to grab sandwiches to take in to the park. Being a family of 6 on a tight budget (and parents who are too cheap to shell out $20 for a drink and hot dog), we carried in 3 backpacks filled with water bottles, Jimmy John Sandwiches and lots of snacks.
So easily entertained - they made a competition out of "who could run UP the DOWN escalator" the fastest. Made for some great laughs.
We came in on the back side of the ballpark. Here are some pictures of the front entrance. The Reds had a nice area out front with some statues and photo booths.
The gates were opened and we made our way down to the field. No players in sight. Will & Kaitee walked all the way down to the 3rd base side line, in hopes of getting a signature (notice Will's hand with the sharpie and the baseball in the side pouch). He was ready.
I think Will found the biggest guy to stand behind! Sorry buddy, I don't think the players will see you behind him. Soon after this photo, the players started to trickle out of the clubhouse. The girls and I were ready to head to our seats while the guys stayed down on the field to snap some better pictures and hopefully snag a souvenir.
I didn't notice this until just now - as I am uploading these pictures to the blog. This is the Cubs' starting line up for the first game. Albert Almora Jr was our first batter - but the picture is Ben Zobrist. Oops!
Here are our seats! Way up high! If I'd known how sunny the day would be, I would've bought the last row - under the shade!!
Albert Almora Jr - testing his knee after a twist during base running.
When Schwarber walked up to home plate for the first time, Matt snapped some pictures and said that as Kyle passed the homeplate ump, he gave a playful tap with his bat.
We got to see a few paddlewheel boats cruising on the river...
As you can see, the sky (to the East) is pretty dark. That would be the storm that had just passed through. It poured for a few minutes (even lightning'd a time or two) but the game was not delayed. Luckily, we had our ponchos on the ready and didn't get too wet!
Kaitee saw Rosie Reds walking around and asked Matt to take her picture with Rosie.
We got 6 solid innings out of Hendricks. He even got a double to bring in the tying run. The first relief pitcher was Randy Rosario - just called up from the minors. He did a kick butt job!
So, the next inning was an interesting one. Javy Baez struck out swinging, Then mayhem ensued! Benches and bullpens cleared. Luckily, no punches were thrown and no one was ejected from the game. Matt snapped quite a few pictures and we've clicked through them as well as watched the video of the fight. Pretty crazy to see it unfold.
With all that happened, can I say something about Joey Votto? As a Cubs fan, I strongly dislike him. It seems that he always does some major damage against us. As a sports fan on this particular day, I loved to click through the pictures and see his leadership. He got right in the middle of the fight and pulled Baez out of there. He calmed Baez down and then went back in to settle down Almora (Contreras was also doing this). I love seeing good sportsmanship on every level and Joey Votto was a prime example of it during this game. It's one thing to be settling down your own teammate...but to be able to work as Votto did with Baez, that shows a lot of respect in my book.
Getting back to the game, Happ had a wonderful day! During his first game he was a single short of hitting for the cycle! Here he is, rounding third on his way home after his first homerun of the day.
Ponchos on again - for the 3rd or 4th time!
I even got to see my favorite pitcher for an inning! Steve Cishek!
The game went in to extra innings. Unfortunately it didn't end well. Bases loaded, infield in to make their play at the plate. We even pulled in Happ from Right Field to play as an additional infielder. All of that doesn't matter if the batter gets 4 balls and the winning run walks to home plate. Urgh...that sucked!
After the first game, we headed back to the van to sit in the a/c for a while and cool down. I had come down with a pretty bad migraine. After drinking some pop for caffeine and taking an imitrex, I started to feel a bit better and we headed back to the park for the night game.
Will is ready to be the official scorekeeper.
We were thrilled to see Jason Heyward warming up - hopefully his time on the DL was done! He even had a base clearing triple!!
Look at all that Cubbie Blue!!!
Our favorite TV & Radio Announcers...Len & JD (through the glass on the left) and Pat Hughes in the green shirt. Not sure where Ron was.
Some dugout shots - a bit blurry, but not bad considering we were about 5 miles from the field!
I have to say that the second game was much more enjoyable. It was cooler, there was no rain...or sun...beating down on us. The game itself was much more fun (first game was 4-5 loss, second game was 10-0 win). One of the kids mentioned that they liked the first game better - said it was more exciting. I guess I would agree with that. I don't think we ever led during the first game. We were always down and came back to tie the score. It was exciting - just sucked to lose it in extra innings off of walks! However, I enjoy lots of hits and good plays and we got to see that in the second game.
Flying the W again! Fun Times!
We left the park and headed to the hotel - searching for a midnight dinner along the way. We ended up picking up pizza and taking it back to our hotel for a 1 a.m. dinner then bed. We had a great day!!
