Patriots Day Event

We were up bright and early this a.m. to go to my company's annual Patriots Day outing. We haven't been too many times. There is always a shortage of tickets to the ball game which is a part of the event. The Boston Marathon runs the same day and the company knows that many people like to come in and see that as well. But the big draw is always the ballgame; especially with the price of tickets to a ballgame nowadays. And truthfully, for a family of 6 (though only 5 of us went) this is the way I can afford to offer a major league game experience. If I buy the tickets, we watch farm teams. Still fun, but totally a different experience.

We park at a T station about 1/2 way between our home and the Big City. We got our weird subway card pass. Sigh. My age is showing. Tokens were sooooo much simpler! But nice transit people helped the rubes from the country get their pass and we got on our first train. It was a great ride. The kids loved it. We got to the station where we would switch to the next train. Alas! Havoc! Chaos! Mayhem! Well maybe not mayhem but how about gigunda crowds and trains so packed that dead sardines in a can had more room? K held Lissa in her arms. Lissa was seriously ticked because she wanted me to hold her. But truthfully KC also needed to be held and he weighs too much for K to hold. I was wishing I had brought the sling and then I could have done them both. Both littles were very anxious during that subway ride. It seemed to take forever but I know that was because we were all so uncomfortable. I couldn't even reach a bar to hold onto for balance. Literally we were held up by the wall of people. Have I ever mentioned I am claustrophobic? I am and try to hide this from my kids. I don't believe in sharing my fears and phobias; they have a lifetime to decide on their own. However the only way I could keep KC at all calm was to hum his favorite Bob Marley tune in his ear the whole train ride. Yup, the whole ride. Even for me, that was a bit too much Marley! :-)

Got to my corporate office at about 10 of 11 which meant we were going to be late for the game which started at 11:05. But we needed bathrooms and handwashing after the crush. There were brunchy things to grab a quick bite and of course, I had to get our tickets. We did all this and walked to the ball park. Our seats were great. Up real high but we could see amazingly well. Also there was a wall behind us so that we didn't have to worry about drunk guys spilling beer down our necks or chilly breezes from the back. The weather was not horrible. Not spectacular but we had a forecast of a rainout till a day ago so I am pleased we got what we did. Watery overcast sun with a chilly breeze. We dressed for it and even I with my Reynauds wasn't cold.

Got the kids a bit of food at the park. If you are careful, some things are a decent buy. Like a papa ginos personal pizza. $6.00 and all 3 kids shared it. Stack that against a diet coke. The diet coke that I lusted after and refused to buy at the park because it cost $4.50 Are they serious????? Come on people, we are in a recession! I had packed snacks that we could um, conceal on our persons as well. Little bags of goldfish, m and m's and drinks for the littles. The last time I was at the park they checked our bag for foodstuffs as they were contraband. Today, they didn't look. I could have had a whole dang picnic in that thar diaper bag and they couldn't have cared less!

The game was good. Rob's fave player hit an out of the park home run and there were numerous great plays. I am not a fan of the home team. Sadly I am a fan of their ultimate arch rival. But I still enjoy going to a ball game. There is a certain fun energy at a game, particulary when you aren't stuck sitting next to drunks or jerks. We were with people who were really nice. Some were people we knew from work; some just happened to be there and were nice.

The pictures show Lissa in her baseball gear, KC asleep (yes you read that correctly. . . I have the only child who has not once but twice fallen asleep at a very loud baseball game) and Robbie grinning for the camera. All the kids did real well. Lissa is a live wire and was up and down out of our arms, climbing on us and around us and enchanting everyone. People were equally enchanted with KC but he quickly became a sleeping lump curled up mostly in his chair but overlapping a bit into mine. I covered him with fleece and didn't hear from him for an hour.

Rob took lots of pictures (including the ones of his brother and sister) but I snapped the one of him. He loves to watch a ball game and though he is the quietest fan I have ever known, he did do the wave, and clapped and grinned from ear to ear.

We left the game before it was over, hoping to find an easier subway train ride back to our car. It was wise as Elisabeth was exhausted having not napped at all. Unlike KC she is one who has to sleep in her own bed ,in the same way that she is always put to bed. So if we are not home, she just stays awake. But the bottom line is that the cars were not crowded because neither the race or the game had completely finished and we were able to be back at our house just before supper time. All in all, a fun day.

The other thing that makes this event special to K and I is that 5 years ago when we went, we had only Chet and Robbie as our children. When we got home from the ball game there were 5 messages on our answering machine to call our adoption agency in Chicago. KC had been born prematurely (he was supposed to be a C section delivery the end of May) and we were needed in Chicago.

Chet had a quiet day at home while we were gone. He doesn't understand sports and while that in itself would not be a reason not to come, the fact that subways make him very ill, is. He gets migraines from the fumes and the flashing lights. So for health reasons, I think it best that he stay home.