Take Me Out to the Ballgame

On Monday night, we took my mom and dad to the Frisco Rough Riders baseball game. This was my dad's father's day present. Now that Mom and Dad are officially Texans, we thought this was the perfect way to initiate them :) The only problem was that the Rough Riders were playing against the Arkansas Travelers so Daddy had a little trouble knowing who to root for...that was on purpose :)



This was Nathan's very first ballgame!

Nathan's just one of the guys!

The baseball experience just isn't complete without ballpark junk food. We wasted no time getting started. Our first treat was peanuts!



"I wish I could have some peanuts, but I guess I'll settle for Cheerios."



I was a little nervous about how Nathan would be sitting through the game. What if he doesn't want to sit on our laps and just wants to get down and crawl? Well, he was absolutely perfect! We all took turns holding him, and he kept all of the other people around us very entertained by his cheering and clapping.


And when Nathan seemed to get a little antsy, Papa took him to walk around. They are at the fence next to the kids.


Nathan loved watching everyone and everything going on. Whenever the crowd would cheer, he would do the same thing! It was so funny because sometimes he was a little late with his clapping. Everyone would be somewhat quiet and then you'd see Nathan clapping his hands and yelling "Yay!" Everyone around us kept laughing at him. He really put on a show!


"I love my Papa."

And since this was Nate's first baseball game, Papa bought him his first baseball cap. Nathan has always been really good about keeping his hats on, but that night, he just wanted to play with it.

Every baseball player needs to get re-hydrated right?

"You all can have your junk food, I've got milk!"

Although this picture may not look like much, it's got a great story. See the guy in the red baseball hat towards the front? He's a security guard who is in charge of the man in front of him (brown shirt and bald spot). That's Nolan Ryan! He is considered one of the best pitchers of all time and is baseball's all time leader in strike outs. I didn't know this at the time, but Wayne and Dad filled me in. Long story short: He's a big deal!

And since this was Nathan's first baseball game, I thought it would be so neat to get him to autograph Nathan's new hat. The only problem was the security guards. We kept watching people going down for autographs and being stopped and turned away. But Wayne and my mom thought it would be a piece of cake for me if I took Nathan with me. He wouldn't turn away a mommy and baby right? Well I wasn't so sure, and I can't stand rejection of any sort so I really didn't want to try it. But they kept pressuring and pressuring me! I just said "Maybe I'll try later." Well then there was a little break in the game while the teams switched and we were all standing up. Mom and Wayne said that was my chance and they physically PUSHED me out of the aisle! Half of me didn't want to go, but half of me really wanted to do it for Nathan.

See the little bit of yellow at the very front? That's me! Nathan is with me but you can't see him. Wayne told me not to go in front because there was another security guard right there at the edge, but to slip in behind Nolan and tap him on the arm before the other guard could see me. That's just what I did! Right when I tapped him and said that this was my baby's first baseball game, the security guard leaned over quickly and told me "Not Now!" rather sternly. He was very harsh (probably embarrassed that I was able to get past him) but Mr. Ryan was so sweet and said "Of course I'll sign his hat." I rambled on about how I hope Nathan grows up to love baseball and Nathan started saying "Dada." Anyway, he was very sweet to us and I'm so excited I got the autograph! Mom, Dad, and Wayne were very proud of me too! After I left, the security guard moved closer to the aisle so no one could get past him again :)

We stayed a few more innings, but Nathan was starting to fade.

Look at those heavy eyes.

But then he got a second wind!

And here is Nolan Ryan leaving. He was walking kind of fast so the picture is a bit blurry. Too bad Nathan can't wear his hat now. We're going to frame it with the ticket stubs and program. But I'm going to go get him another hat to actually wear :)

Here we are leaving the game. What a fun night!

"It is way past my bedtime, but I had so much fun! When's our next outing?"