Mommy and Daddy at the World Series!

So on October 22, 2011 (when Jack turned 17 months) Ben and I got to go to the World Series to see MY Texas, MY Rangers play baseball.  Now, Ben got to go to every single playoff game this post season so I was glad it was my time to get to experience this.  I'll just start off by saying we lost, but it didn't really matter.  It was awesome!

We were able to drop Jack off at his KK and Papa's who were going to keep him for the night.  That was nice when we got home and went to bed at midnight, not having to get up extra early to get Jack ready for church was nice.  Here are a few photos of Jack supporting the Rangers.

Notice the A&M decor in the background.  

They were finishing up their game at this time.

"cheese"  Jack can say this word now!

So after dropping Jack off, I came back to pick up Ben who was still stressing over the Aggie Game.  We left and listened to the end of that game on the ride over to the stadium.  They ended up winning 33-17 by the time we parked.  So needless to say, it didn't feel like we were walking to a World Series game since Ben's attention had been on another game.  But once we arrived, walked across the street with a HUGE crowd it was feeling special.  We arrived at our seats in plenty of time to take some pictures and get ready for the National Anthem and first pitch.

St. Louis Cardinals vs. The Texas Rangers

Cardinals colors are red so I had to get a new BLUE shirt.  

This was a little sad because I love Ranger Red.

It was such a beautiful night.  Cool, about 78 degrees, nice little breeze.

It was time....time for DIRK!  Dirk Nowitzki threw out the first pitch.  There was a lot of controversy over this.  First the MLB said Dirk could not throw it then I guess there was so much fan uproar on Twitter that they changed their minds.  Ben has a HUGE man crush on Dirk.  So needless to say he was a little giddy  :)  Here is Dirk:

Dirk in awwe of everything.

Walking out, being announced

Ready...

Pitch to Michael Young

Walking off with Young

All done, crowd still going wild!

Then came time for them to announce the teams.  I tried to get a picture of all of the players but some of them are just too quick coming out of the dugout.

Ron Washington - Manager

.

IAN KINSLER - Love him! My favorite, not having the best couple of games but that is ok.

Josh Hamilton, had a great night

Michael Young - Designated Hitter, also did well

Nelson CRUZ! - amazing, ALCS MVP

Yorvit Torrealba - catcher, giving Napoli a Rest

Harrison - pitcher

Both teams, Rangers on the Right side

Then came the Singing of the National Anthem (Dunn, of Brooks and Dunn).  

Then the game started.  The crowd was great, at first.  We did have a fan behind us that wanted the crowd to be even more into the game than we already were.  I left after the 3rd inning to go and get some garlic fries and then everything blew up.  After the fourth inning, Ben and i decided to switch seats. And for a while it worked, the Rangers scored 6 runs in the next two innings.  But that wasn't good enough.  

Some things I noticed is, when the World Series comes to town, it seems like they have to play "commercials" on the big screen or generic baseball videos.  I missed the Ranger pump it up videos and the dot race. 

I don't think I have screamed so much since probably the NBA championship games that we went to.  Ben reminded me that we went to Game 3 of the MAVS/Heat game and the Mavs lost but then we went to game 6 and they won and won the championship.  Ben said we might need to fly up to St. Louis for game 6.

Rally towel that they passed out and World Series pin

Probably in the 8th inning when we knew we weren't going to win but were still having a good time.

Night Time Fun

I found these videos and had to post them.  They were of one random night right before Jack went to bed.

Jack reading out loud some very important papers.

Then singing the Aggie War hymn, Jack Style.

Taking Reveille and pushing him down the slide

A lot more singing of the Aggie War Hymn

Tubes Playdate

Jack got to go to a fun little playdate with a few of his friends.  We went to The Tubes at Irving Bible church and met his friends Brynlee, Aubrey Kate, and James plus their mommies.  I was a little worried about Jack because he has started being finicky about playing.  He'll do something for a minute and then be done.

Jack exploring the tubes.

There was only a small spot for the little kids.  It was connected to the bigger kids tubes so they had fun trying to walk up the big slides.

Aubrey Kate and James

Jack trying to crawl up the slide, Aubrey Kate looking at him like "What are you doing?"

Baby James

Weee

All four of the kids

Jack and Brynlee, or Bee-Bee as he likes to say.  

Jack looking through the mesh at the other kids.

It looks like Jack had fun the whole time.  And he did have a good time, but he was the first one ready to go.  He'd walk to the door and say "all done" and "bye-bye".  So we took a walk to the car, changed his diaper and walked back.  

After all the kids were ready we headed to a Chick Fil A that was near.  What kid doesn't like Chick Fil A?  Jack, James and Brynlee shared a table and Aubrey Kate sat close by with her grandparents who were also there.  As we were leaving, a man came up and asked how old the kids were.  I told him around 17 months.  He said he was asking because he has a small child and was so impressed with the floor under the table where the kids sat.  He couldn't believe how clean it was.  I was a proud mama at that moment.

Yummy!

Jack and his Sports

So far, Jack is all boy and loves his sports.  Of course it helps that everything in his room has soccer balls, baseballs, basketballs, and footballs on it.  He says "ba-baw" when he is talking about any kind of ball.  He also points at the tv when you say "where's the baseball?" or "where's the football?" when a game is on.

September 3rd

We sang the "Saw Varsity's Horns Off" part of the Aggie War Hymn a lot this day so we got Jack singing part of it too.  He just does one little phrase of it over and over AND he sways back and forth which is part of it.  It is SO cute!

September 4th

First Aggie Game of the season (they won).  Jack playing right before church.

September 15th

Jack on a walk with his Texas Rangers hat and a baseball.

September 16th
The very next day he was all about basketballs.
This video shows Jack "bouncing" the basketball and making a basket in his clothes hamper.

September 17th

Game Day!  Jack and I went to a concert in the park and listened to the Arlington City Band play.  

Jack sat on the picnic blanket and ate his snacks while we listened to the band.  

Then he was ready to move.  You can see the stairs in the picture and that is what he was headed to.

Jack, Ben and Papa

Later that day we went to a pregame dinner at Ben's parents house.  

In between the concert in the park and game night...

Jack practiced his basketball. We started out with him using Ben's ball, but then gave him my ball.  It's made for women, smaller. 

Throwing the ball

Double dribbling

 All done!

September 23rd

A game night for the Rangers (they won).  

I took this picture to send to Ben while he was at work.