Take Me Out to the Ballpark….And Feed Me.

We took the two older small men (G-man and B-man) to Opening Day at The Ballpark in Arlington Friday afternoon for the Texas Rangers vs. Boston Red Sox game, and it was a phenomenal day.  The sun was shining gloriously, it was a balmy 85 degrees and there was a light breeze carrying the unmistakable smells of baseball – hot dogs with onions and relish, fresh roasted peanuts, sweet cotton candy, ice cold beer and sunscreen.

Only G-man had been to a major league baseball game before, but neither had experienced the ritualistic ceremonies of Opening Day and all of the fanfare that goes along with it.

Their little minds soaked it all in – the chants, the cheers, the songs, the players, the fans, the colors, the sounds, the smells. 

G-man about to give the ball a good whack at Little Sluggers Field.

And their bellies?  Well, their bellies soaked in all sorts of caloric goodness.  First it was hot dogs.  Then nachos and popcorn.  Then cotton candy and ginormous pixie sticks.  Then ice cream sandwiches.  All washed down with an icy Orange Crush.  The sugar high was off the charts, like out in homerun territory or maybe even past that.
  

G-man: 1.  Giant pixie stick: 0.



B-man and his pink cloud of cotton candy.



To top this off, we find out a few innings in that we’re sitting right beside The Cookie Lady.  No seriously – this woman has “The Cookie Lady” engraved in a silver plate on her chair.  As in, permanently.  I couldn’t be happier about this, because I love, love, love cookies.  So much so that my husband often calls me the Cookie Monster.  I peer over while she’s engaged in conversation with a friend and see that she has about six dozen homemade snickerdoodle cookies carefully stacked away in two large plastic containers.  Jackpot, baby.

Every usher in site and half the concession walkers working that day stop by to chat with The Cookie Lady and collect their sweet treat.  She asks them all about their kids, their wives, their jobs, their college classes.  I realize she is a fixture around the ballpark and a real gem as well.  She sweetly offered us cookies about halfway through the game, once she realized there was a small boy behind her fixated on the cookie container and repeating over and over, “I really do like cookies.”  And who could say no to his sweet face?  Certainly not a grandmother toting baked goods.

The other angels at the game who couldn't tell him no was the couple behind us - grandparents as well, with a brood of 8 boys and 2 girls (not with them - they came alone).  So, while they weren't rookies to the noise and activity of small boys, I figured they wanted to enjoy the game in peace on their Friday date night.  So much for that.  B-man talked them up the entire game, managed to eat half the guy's Snickers bar and a few of his cheese fries, and by the 8th inning was playing some game of arm wrestling with him.  I turned around several times to apologize, but they were so nice and understanding that they would hear nothing of it.  What I think is that most Rangers fans are just nice people.  Good folks.  And we hit the lottery Friday night in terms of seat-mates. 

The boys had a blast and can't wait to go back.  I was thinking that their affection for the game (at least for now) was entirely related to the endless sugar buffet, but then they surprised me this evening by joining their dad in the living room to watch tonight's game on TV.  I walked into the room and G-man was giving me the play-by-play on what I missed.  I love that they are developing a love and understanding of one of America's favorite past times.  I am all for any activity that will further sew the threads of our life closer together.

In fact, we basically turned the entire weekend into Texas Rangers family weekend, with dinner outdoors at our neighbor's house on Saturday night followed by the game on their patio TV.  I captured two photos that made my heart happy that evening on our way over - one of my husband toting our son's backpack (full of diapers and wipes for the youngest) and one of G-man and Wee-man manning the Radio Flyer wagon full of caesar salad and deviled eggs up the street, with B-man way ahead of the group (as usual). 

To me, it's the needle pulling the thread through more loops and a little tighter.  Like the stitching on a good ball glove.

"That's the way baseball go."  ~Ron Washington

 

P.S.  The Rangers won 9-5 that first afternoon (and continued their winning streak to sweep all three games of the series).  Off to a great start!

P.P.S.  We also went to Sunday's game with my sister and brother-in-law, and it just so happens The Cookie Lady was back – this time with homemade pineapple sandies with brown sugar icing.  Heaven.