Baseball, Baseball, and More Baseball

I don't know about you, but we received a lot of rain in April and May causing a crazy baseball season for us.

With 5 children playing baseball, a lot of rain meant a lot of make-up games for us and even a few doubleheaders. In the month of June we lived at the baseball field. Our calendar was filled with baseball for 22 straight days. The season began without games on Sunday and as we neared the end of the season we were running straight from church to the ball field. It was crazy, but crazy fun too!

Sometimes we even had two games going at the same time, and I'd run back and forth trying to catch everyone bat or field the ball.

The weather did get better and who can complain when you're watching baseball and you have a view of the mountains in the background? It makes you slow down a little and appreciate the beautiful scenery that God has created for us.

Because we love baseball so much one team just wasn't enough for  Thomas. It just so happened that some dear friends of ours were playing in a tournament near our house and they were short a few players. They asked Thomas to join them and he had a blast! With a few more games on the schedule Thomas ended up moving in with them for a few days. These boys are like long lost brothers. They know how to get into a lot of trouble together.

Since Thomas got to go home with his buddies they kidnapped Rachel (and Rebecca) too! It was only slightly quieter in our home for those few days. ;)

Since Little League baseball wasn't enough for us we hit up a Rockies' game with our St. Louis Cardinal loving friends.

The outcome was fabulous considering I went to the game with very low expectations. I mean come on, the Rockies were near the bottom of the barrel in baseball and the Cardinals were probably going to go to the playoffs again.

Guess what? The Rockies won! It was a great game if I do say so myself. 

What made the game even better was that we got to hang out with our sweet friends at the same time. It will definitely be a memorable game for years to come. I'll never let you forget it, Mandy. ;)

Beach, City, and Baseball

Our hotel has a private beach, so when I finally rolled out of bed, (my husband got up and worked out at the gym before I woke up), it was time for brunch. We decided to stroll along the beach over to Mission Beach to see what we could find.

We ended up at this cute little place right on the beach. We sipped coffee while eating breakfast outside, and taking in the view of the ocean waves.

After brunch we decided that some relaxing beach time of tanning and people watching was just what we needed. The weather was perfect!

We lounged around the beach just long enough for my husband to get a little pink coloring on his pale, fair skin. The Rockies were in town playing the Padres, so we started a Craigslist search for tickets and scored some great seats with parking too. With a meet up time downtown to pick up the tickets it was perfect timing for us to do a little exploring around the city. I love walking around bigger cities. It's fun to see the different characters of each city. Someone had to get ice cream at Ghiradelli. Can you guess who?

After we picked up our tickets we realized that we hadn't eaten anything since brunch so we stopped into the Stone Brewery Tap Room right next to the stadium. If you love IPAs you'll LOVE this brewery. IPAs are a little too hoppy for me, but I did love the flatbread pizza that went well with my beer. :)

We're huge baseball fans, so naturally when our favorite team was in town we had to go, right? Okay, so maybe we planned it that way. We've always wanted to travel around and check out other ball parks, so this was the perfect chance.

Not that I've been to many ballparks, but what I think makes Petco Park unique is the sand box they have for the children to play in during the game. How fun is that?

There's also a grassy knoll for a cheap place to sit during the games. While the view of the field isn't great from here, this huge screen makes up for what you can't see from the hill.

We walked around the stadium before making it to our actual seats. That guy in the field is former Rockie, Seth Smith. He was one of my favorite players.

I think their screen is similar to the one at Coors Field.

We finally made it to our seats. Check out that view!

At this point in the game we thought we had a chance to win. Our team was scoring runs. If you don't follow baseball let me fill you in by telling you that the Rockies are pretty much the worst team in baseball right now.

There was a little hope, but then. . .

the Padres began scoring more runs and Charlie Blackmon is all, "C'mon guys! We've got to hold them." Maybe that's not what he's saying, but maybe he's giving them a pep talk?

The Rockies didn't end up winning, but we had fun checking out Petco Park and downtown San Diego.

Colorado Rockies

Our local Thrivent rep puts together a group rate for the Rockies game every year. We try and get as many people from church to go with us. 

It's so much fun to attend a game with a bunch of people you know. It must be a camaraderie thing.  The day we went to the game it just happened to be a day that they gave away Troy Tulolwitzki jerseys. It's a one size fits all kind of a deal. Oh, and they spelled their all-star player's name wrong, so we get replacement jerseys in September along with a free ticket to another game. Score!

We sat way up high, but the view was pretty sweet!

Hanging with friends makes everything so much more fun!

My Lutheran Stud and I are heading to San Diego to watch the Rockies play soon. We can't wait!

Photobombers!

The Rockies scored plenty of runs which made the crowd happy.

It was a beautiful evening for baseball even with a little rain falling.

The Rockies came out ahead and stayed ahead for the win. Woot, woot!!

Final Game of 2013

As my family was hopping on a plane to head home my Lutheran Stud and I packed our children up and headed to the ball field one last time. It was the perfect end to Elizabeth's birthday. I must mention that we did an illegal thing by taking my husband's pickup to the game. We piled 5 children into the cab of his pickup while 3 of us sat in the front seat. Yeah, my car wasn't cooperating in the way of starting up and we didn't want to miss the game, so what were we to do?

We've been pretty blessed and spoiled by our church members this year. One, in particular, has season tickets to the Rockies. She will show up to church with an envelope of tickets and tell us to enjoy the game. When she found out that our children enjoy the games too, she handed me an envelope with 8 tickets inside. It was super sweet. As the season got worse for the Rockies they quit going to the games. We were able to take those tickets and trade them in for some pretty amazing seats. Our kids had a blast!

This game in particular was pretty exciting. There are times when the game can be kind of slow and other times we see a lot of action. This hit here was by Michael Cuddyer. Can you see that tiny white dot above that player?

Sometimes it can be tricky to judge the ball and one can run right into the wall and not know it. That's what happened to that poor fellow.

Cuddyer did come up with a triple, so things were good for us but, 

not so good for Pence. I think he ended up leaving the game.

The hits continued during this game and Helton had a hitting streak going.

He kept his streak alive with this home run.

When home runs are hit by the Rockies at Coors Field the fountains shoot up. We've taught our kids that this happens, so now they always ask about it and get really excited when it happens.

Todd Helton recently announced his retirement this season and the whole state of Colorado was a little sad when they heard the news. He's kind of a big deal around here. Helton has played his entire career with the Rockies organization. He will be greatly missed.

We love this guy, Rosario, aka Baby Bull, too. When he makes it on base he always does this.

With just a few innings left in the game a rain delay postponed the game for a short time.

These fans were making a run for it while we were able to stay dry where we were. Our seats were just under the awning. Boy did we luck out.

The game wasn't postponed for long. This special dirt sucks out all the moisture in the ground and soon the Rockies were off and playing again.

It's always a good sign to see the high fives from teammates at the end of the game.

The high fives mean it's a win for the Rockies!

The game began with the sun and heat blazing and ended with light cool breeze and some sprinkles on our walk back to the car. No one seemed to mind and the children can't wait for hte season to begin again next year!