Wordless Wednesday: Big Girl Elle

This past weekend, we headed out for our first spring training game of the year. Since it was a hot day (February in Florida is a joke) and Elle inherited her mother's sweat genes (I could be in a blizzard, see a photo of the sun and break out in an intense sweat), I decided to pull her hair back in to a ponytail. I've been trying to get Tim to style Elle's hair more (since he gets up with her and spends the first part of the day with her, Monday through Friday), but I fear that I may have just dealt a blow to my cause.

You see, Elle With A Ponytail looks much, much older than Elle With No Ponytail. As we finished getting ready for the game, Tim would only refer to Elle as "Big Girl Elle." And if our baby girl is gone when we pull her hair back, perhaps we shouldn't pull her hair back until she's 18, right? Tim and I are on opposite sides of the "Elle needs a haircut" debate - he claims she desperately needs one. I say that she doesn't, especially since her "bangs" have grown out to the side and the length makes it easier to pull back. As a female, I think I will probably always win this argument, but Tim never fails to make his opposition known. Her hair is thin and has a natural curl, so it takes a minimal amount of detangling and maintenance.

 I've been pulling her hair back for dinner lately, too, because I like to minimize the chances for toddler mess whenever possible. The less hair hanging in her face equals the less food that might get in it, so I feel like my efforts are worth it.

Anyway, here are some photos of Big Girl Elle to file away in the "My Baby Isn't A Baby Anymore" department:

Spring training 2012

Taking it all in.

 We went to our first spring training game of the year a few weeks ago. When we went to games last year, Elle was young and immobile, so the biggest challenge of the outing had been getting her to nap in a busy, unfamiliar place and finding a quiet, cool place to nurse her. This year, Baby Girl was all about eating a hot dog, walking around, checking out all of the people, sights and sounds. There would be no napping, and we knew that, but luckily we timed things right so that she slept on the way and the way back.

We drove down to Port Charlotte, home of the Tampa Bay Rays and about an hour south of us. The Pirates spring train in our city, but we both had the day off, the schedules were favorable and we hadn't been to Port Charlotte in two years. The Rays were playing my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates, and a friend of mine from my previous job was covering the game, so it was good to see my team and my former coworker.

Stuffing her face, pre-game.

Elle was a trooper, sitting through 3.5 innings with little fuss. She was content to eat and play on our laps, and it didn't hurt that the game was going quickly. The weather was nice, but hot, hot, hot. The sun beat down, so even though there wasn't much humidity, it was still quite toasty.

Early on ...

She and I walked around for a few innings, enjoying a lovely patch of overcastness and a slight breeze. After a brief return to our seats, we met up with my friend, and then Tim took Elle for an inning before the game was over, ending in exciting fashion (and an unfortunate loss for the Pirates).

Officially over the game.

The whole time we were there, it continued to strike me how different things, like spring training, are now that we have Elle. We obviously couldn't focus on the game as much as we used to or enjoy our hot dogs and peanuts slowly like we might have long ago. We used to go to several games and will probably only go to two or three this year. But we wouldn't trade it for the the world. We had the opportunity to watch our daughter delight in the music and cheers coming over the public address system. We watched her clap in response to the claps of other baseball fans. We saw her people watch and ham it up for people who didn't care that she had a tendency to walk directly in their path without a second thought.

After a long day at the ballpark ...

And I kept remembering the last time we were at that park for a spring training game - me feeling huge at 22 weeks pregnant and watching baseball after a particularly disheartening OB appointment.

Wordless Wednesday: Date night at the ball park

A long-overdue date night ...
We headed to watch Tim's team,
the Reds, play the Rays on Tuesday :)

I'm bad luck for the Reds -
they lost 4-3 on a walk-off home run.

A perfect day

Yesterday didn't start well - Elle woke up almost two hours earlier than usual ... and didn't go back to sleep. There were brief naps, cluster feeding and fussiness (on her part and mine). I was running on less than five hours of broken sleep, and we had a lot planned for the day. Tim and I hardly ever have days off together, and they usually end up crammed with errands, chores and end with us collapsing to watch a movie on the couch.

But today we had plans to enjoy the day. Be a family. Not be bogged down by laundry, dishes or grocery shopping.

And it was glorious.

We had an 80-degree, breezy and sunny day. After Elle's rocky morning, we headed out to attend out first spring training game of the season. The team I'll always root for, the Pittsburgh Pirates, hold camp in our city, and there is a deal this spring for county residents to get in to Monday games for $5. We took advantage of the deal and arrived just as the national anthem was being sung. 

Elle was hungry and insisted on eating the Ergo.

Decked out in her Pirates gear. (Thanks, Aunt Marti!)

"Daddy, my rattle is waayyyy cooler than those baseball players."

Elle was great - lasting through seven innings before the heat and her tiredness got to her a bit. We went home to give her a chance to nap. While we were home, I got a very special phone call from my uncle, who let me speak with my grandma, who isn't in the best of health right now. It meant the world to me to be able to talk to her and hear her voice, and it really made my perfect day even better.

After Elle woke up, we headed to the park. There are certain "first things" that we want to do together, and with our crazy schedules, we wanted to take advantage of the chance to both experience the "first time to take Elle to the park and swing."

The park we go to has three play areas, and the one we headed to was deserted. We started on the swings and played around on the other equipment.

"I'm a natural, guys!"

She loved being pushed:

"We've gotta do this more often!"

Family fun :)

And after that fun, we were hungry, so we came home to have dinner. Well, first we got the mail, which included my last W-2 that we were waiting for, so Tim filed our taxes and THEN joined us for dinner :)

Elle LOVES yogurt. She dabbled in carrots, chicken
and toast as well, but she couldn't eat the yogurt fast enough.

Elle was covered in sunscreen and yogurt at that point, so I gave her a bath, nursed her and listened to her babble happily as she drifted off to sleep. I edited the photos from our day, caught up on some e-mails and crossed a few things off my to-do list (OK, full disclosure: I also added a few items to my to-do list). Tim went to the gym, I did a Pilates DVD (one of my favorites is a prenatal Pilates video that can be done without adjusting for the limitations of different trimesters - but the instructor is 36 weeks pregnant in the DVD, and I realized it makes me feel skinny, haha) and then we ... well, collapsed to watch a movie.

But it was a perfect day. One that happens far too infrequently, one that wore us out and one that made us stop and think about how lucky we are.

Babymoon!

Earlier this year, Tim and I had considered taking a trip to Arizona to visit my best friend Meghan and her husband and to see the Reds in their new spring training home. Alas, those plans quickly unraveled because my husband's place of employment didn't grant him the time off fast enough and flight prices skyrocketed out of the range of our budget.

Soon after realizing that we wouldn't be taking a spring trip, I started doing some brainstorming. We've driven through Atlanta countless times, but any past plans we've had to stop in the city have been thwarted. As I researched, I found that - conveniently - the Reds were playing the Braves in mid-May. And it was a two-game series in the middle of the week. (Read: Cheaper trip with less vacation time used than almost anything else we could have planned to a place we wanted to go anyway.)

My only wish for a trip to Atlanta? To see the Georgia Aquarium.

So with three days off, we could easily drive up, see the aquarium, catch both baseball games and drive back. And because it was a drivable destination, we could wait until a few weeks before to make definite plans (like buy tickets or book hotel rooms) and not have to worry about something happening with the pregnancy that would render it impossible for me to travel. We asked my doctor about the lengthy drive, and he said it would be fine at that point in my pregnancy as long as we stopped often to stretch my legs. (And considering how small my bladder felt on that trip, stopping often to stretch my legs wasn't the issue - it was stopping to find a bathroom.) But we waited until the appointment before our trip to get final clearance to go and make plans.

We scored a great hotel right downtown via the Priceline negotiator, and we were shocked that we didn't hit terrible traffic. I was dealing with a nasty sinus infection that had hit days earlier, but other than that, we had a great trip. The sickness mostly made sleeping well an issue and prevented me from enjoying any of the food I ate after the first day, but as long as I had a box of tissues at all times, I dealt with it.

I had solicited some recommendations on places to eat, and before we checked in to the hotel, we headed to a barbecue place called Fat Matt's.

It was delicious. The seating area was small, but the service was fast and the food was really good - Tim order half a slab of ribs, and I got a half-order of chicken and we shared it. The only downside? The heartburn I had later that night. But it was worth it!

We checked out our hotel and decided to walk around the city a bit before it got dark. We got a little turned around trying to find the Georgia Aquarium (where we were visiting the next day), but we ended up finding the aquarium *and* Centennial Olympic Park, another place I had wanted to check out. We got to see some cool fountains at night and walked back to the hotel through the Georgia Tech campus, which was really pretty. Because of the heartburn, I requested that we stop at The Varsity, another restaurant that had been recommended to us, for an F.O. (Frosted Orange).

The Varsity: This place was awesome,
and dangerously close to our hotel.

It was yummy, and the perfect thing to eat after a long walk and a meal of BBQ sauce. We headed back to hotel and watched some basketball.

The next morning, we were up early to get to the aquarium as soon as it opened. We were blessed with gorgeous weather during our trip - it wasn't too humid or hot, and it was nice and sunny for our walks. The aquarium was about a mile away from the hotel, and we took the same path through the Georgia Tech campus. And then we realized the aquarium didn't open until 10. And we thought it opened at 9. So we headed over to Centennial Olympic Park again and explored some more.

Tim in front of a park sign on our morning visit to the park.

We headed back to the aquarium at 10 and dove in. We had pre-purchased tickets using our AAA discount, so we cruised in and started checking out the five main exhibits - Cold Water Quest, Georgia Explorer, Ocean Voyager, River Scout and Tropical Diver. I loved them all, but my favorites were Tropical Diver and Ocean Voyager.

Big wall 'o sea in the Tropical Diver exhibit.

I love seeing massive amounts of tropical fish, seeing sea life that lives so close to the Florida coast and learning about the ecosystem, which is pretty much what Tropical Diver provides. Ocean Voyager had massive tanks of impressive animals - whale sharks, other sharks, rays, etc. I was blown away by the scale and beauty and calm of it all. Tim loved the Cold Water Quest because they had beluga whales.

We also had tickets to the 4D theater, so we saw a show there and bought special passes to see the Planet Shark exhibit. We didn't want to spend a ton of money on lunch in the aquarium cafeteria, so we split some food and went back to my favorite exhibits after lunch.

I really, really enjoyed the Georgia Aquarium, although I'm not sure if it is my favorite aquarium (while on the trip I counted - I think I've been to nine aquariums now). It definitely ranks up there, though.

When we had seen everything at the aquarium, we headed back to the hotel - but first, we stopped for a meal at The Varsity. My sinus infection was in full force at that point and I couldn't taste anything, so I had a burger while Tim had two burgers and some onion rings. Then we headed back to the hotel to take a quick nap before our next adventure: Navigating public transportation to get to Turner Field.

We asked a few questions and consulted a few maps, but luckily it was pretty easy to figure out. I rode the light rail system in Pittsburgh for almost a year and a half, and I've also been on the light rail in D.C., but basically all we had to do was buy our passes and follow people in Braves attire :)

We took the rail to a shuttle bus, which took us to the stadium. Then we found our seats and enjoyed the game! (Except the Reds lost. Ouch.)

View from our seats for the first game.

The seats were really good and we had a great view of the field, no one in front of us and a nice breeze. Perfect. We took the same route back to the hotel (although we got a little turned around when we came out of the light rail station, and a helpful-but-somewhat-suspicious-looking man helped us find out way back to the hotel). Tim decided he wanted to order some pizza, so we settled in for a relaxing night of watching the NBA playoffs and eating yummy food.

The next morning we had to check out of the hotel, so we packed everything up and Tim went for the car. This time we were driving to and parking at the stadium for the day game. We made it in plenty of time and went to find our seats, which were near right field and wayyyyy in the sun.

Holy sunny: View from our original seats for the second game.

It was crowded and hot, and we lasted about three and a half innings before I couldn't really take any more pregnant-woman-baking-in-the-sun. We found a nice shaded area above the third base line, got some ice cream (for Tim) and some frozen lemonade (for me) and proceeded to watch the Reds blow a six-run lead. The way they lost was quite a feat, too - a walk-off grand slam that nearly was caught by Laynce Nix. To see the two losses - and have them be quite dramatic - was not cool.

So we headed out of downtown Atlanta - around 5 p.m., mind you - and prepared to brave some fierce traffic. But really, once we got out of the immediate downtown area/game traffic, we were surprised at how well traffic was moving. (We have had HORRENDOUS experiences with Atlanta traffic in the past.)

We ended up stopping for dinner around 9 p.m. and figured we'd make it back to the condo by 1 a.m. ... except the exit we needed to take off of I-75 was closed. We could have taken the previous one, but there was no indication that *our* exit was closed. And then the next exit was closed. None of this would have been a big deal except my bladder and I had a deal with Tim that it would be emptied by 1 a.m., and we were now two exits south of where we needed to be and running out of gas. Luckily, we still managed to get home a little after 1, and I half-ran to the bathroom and all was good again.

It was a good trip - not too busy, but we got to see several things we wanted to see. We thought about trying to cram some more in to our trip, but it was supposed to be relaxing, and it was. We didn't have to rush any where, got to take naps, got to sleep, eat well and be out and about. In our books, that's a pretty good trip :)

It's spring training time!

Tim and I took advantage of some great weather to head to Pirate City earlier this week. (It was baby's first spring training experience! I admit I *did* look at Pirates onesies.) We went on Monday, which was the day before the full squad was required to report for workouts, but a lot of the team was already there.

We watched the pitchers and catchers during some drills, and then we watched a few of the players take batting practice. It was a really windy day, and there weren't a lot of people out watching the team.

Spring training is the perfect place to encounter snowbirds, too. Tim recognized the former owner of the Lima Locos as one of the people "braving" the Florida sun to watch the workouts, and we also enjoyed hearing people talk about some Toledo-area high schools. We watched people aggressively try to get autographs from some of the players, too. I love going to the workouts because it's a) free and b) a much more intimate baseball experience than going to the games. It's just a totally different experience than the spring training games or the regular season games.

This year, the Reds aren't training in Florida, so Tim is feeling a little lost. We'd hoped to take a trip to Phoenix to visit Meg and Mike and see a few games, but that ended up not working out. The Orioles have taken over the Reds' spot in Sarasota, and we've got several other teams training within about a hour of us: Pirates, Phillies, Blue Jays, Rays and Yankees. Not too much farther away are the Tigers. We're hoping to get to several games this year, although it might be a bit tricky with Tim's wacky work schedule and my two jobs. But we'll do our best!

Here are a few photos from our trip:

Lastings Milledge, who grew up in Bradenton.
Andrew McCutchen is on the right edge of this photo.

Andy LaRoche takes batting practice.

Manny Sanguillen. We saw him last year, too. Here, he was watching the catchers.

Baseball+concert=heaven

About three months ago, the Tampa Bay Rays released their post-game concert series. Since they made it to the World Series last year and have improved attendance this year, the performers are considerably more high-profile than last year's, when I think the biggest name was LL Cool J. This year, the concerts will showcase artists like Pat Benatar, Ludacris, Flo Rida, the B-52's, Beach Boys, Daughtry, Big and Rich, Smash Mouth, and ... 3 Doors Down. One of my absolute favorite bands.

When I heard the news (which was sooner than most, because, haha, I work in sports!), I immediately texted Tim and told him we were taking May 30 off. (Working in newspapers means we work every weekend.) When he found out why, he refused, but I pointed out that a) it was baseball, too, and b) I've seen Dokken, Queensryche and Sebastian Bach in concert for him. And 3 Doors Down is as close to his music as I get. He even likes their song "Citizen Soldier." So really, this wasn't too much to ask, right?

Proving what a good sport he is, Tim not only took the day off, he also purchased awesome tickets to the game as part of my birthday present.

We started the day with lunch at my favorite downtown St. Pete restaurant, Red Mesa Cantina. Then we walked to the ballpark and got there early to watch some of batting practice. We got to see an amazing baseball game between the Rays and the Twins, and thanks to one of my fantastic coworkers, we were able to get on-field passes for the concert. The Rays' rookie phenom David Price made his first regular season start at home (he pitched in a post-season game last year and had a start on the road the week before the game we attended). We saw some big plays and home runs, and the Rays continued their streak of being undefeated in Summer Concert Series games (bringing the concert series record to 9-0 at the time).

The concert was absolutely awesome. There was initially some trouble getting down on the field - they'd closed one of the exits we'd been advised to use, then we had to fight all the foot traffic to retrace our steps. But we made it to the field before they started playing, and after getting over the shock of a) being on the same grass that the Rays play on and b) being so close to the members of 3 Doors Down, I really enjoyed the concert. The band played for almost an hour and a half and played songs from all of their albums.

I've seen them in concert once before - they played at the Post-Gazette Pavilion with Staind and Breaking Benjamin and I got lawn seats for $10 because I worked at the P-G. That show was great, too, but it wasn't as intimate, it was rainy, I was a lot farther from the stage ...

I'm so glad we were able to take the day off and go to the game and concert. It was a long day, but I loved it. I think Tim even likes 3 Doors Down now, too! :-)

A study in picking a favorite baseball player

I don't cheer for many teams as a whole. In major league baseball, I like the Pirates, and I like the Yankees. Because of Tim, I know a great deal about the Reds, and long ago I realized it was more fun to follow the team if I had a favorite player. We have his and hers favorite players - Tim loves Brandon Phillips, and during spring training, I went about adopting a fave of my own.

After careful perusal of the Reds' media guide and several trips to see the guys warm up and play, I chose Jeff Keppinger as my favorite player near the end of spring training. He seemed to be an underdog pick but would get decent playing time. His birthday was one year and 8 days before mine. He had been drafted by the Pirates. That was enough for me. We clearly had a connection, and I would root for him.

Two days later, he was traded to Houston.

I've been lost and aimless (much like the majority of the Reds roster) as Tim has religiously followed his team. I had no one to identify with ... no one to cheer for ... until last night.

We were driving back from Orlando (another post about that trip is soon to come). We were listening to the radio and heard that Adam Rosales was playing in his first game with Reds. On my birthday. He got two RBIs and helped them win over the Astros (take that, Keppinger!) 3-0. The radio announcer also told us that Rosales went to Western Michigan. He graduated in 2005. Tim and I actually saw the Broncos play in 2004. Rosales had some big games in spring training, but since he didn't have much of a chance to make the team, I eliminated him from Favorite Player contention, even after he had a game-winning hit in the tenth inning at one of the games (the photo of him, at right, is from that game).

We got home to watch the end of the Reds game. I asked Tim to get the media guide out so we could find out more about Rosales. Tim told me to guess when Rosales' birthday way. I guessed May 17. Tim was surprised I was so close and told me the real answer: May 20.

And that sealed the deal. May 20 is the birthday of both my sister, Marti, and my best friend, Meghan.

Dear Adam Rosales,

Please get lots of playing time so I can continue cheering for you.

Your friend,
Kristin

Sunset in Sarasota

One of the several enticements to my moving to Florida two-and-a-half years ago -- besides Kristin, the weather, beaches, golf courses and fresh seafood -- was the fact that my destination was just 11 miles from Sarasota's Ed Smith Stadium, the winter home of the Cincinnati Reds. I've since enjoyed three springs of watching the Reds work out and play exhibition games both in Sarasota and our adopted hometown of Bradenton.
Well that's over now, the Reds having pulled up stakes for Goodyear, Ariz., where they'll share a new facility next spring with the Cleveland Indians.
But thanks to a scheduling quirk at work -- made necessary by an 11th-hour stay of execution ably chronicled in earlier posts on this page -- I got to say goodbye to the boys at the team's final spring training game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 2. And thanks to a friend whose wife works at the team hotel, I sat in the first row behind the plate!
I got there early in hopes of snagging a T-shirt commemorating the final season in Sarasota, but the nice lady at the merchandise stand said the Reds don't sell such a thing and directed me to a sports bar in town. Eh. Maybe another time.
Before the game began, two things struck me. One was that the stadium was mostly empty. Only 2,935 people showed up, the fewest of the spring. Our newspaper speculated the low turnout was a result of snowbirds' condo leases running out on March 31. But the Reds don't really draw that well in Sarasota, except when the Yankees or Red Sox come to town. The other striking event came in a pregame ceremony featuring a clueless mayor and Reds owner Bob Castellini. Sarasota's mayor, Lou Ann Palmer, introduced a county commissioner and city commissioner for a farewell presentation and was absolutely stunned that Reds fans booed them lustily even though the team had done everything it could, save stay in a dilapidated stadium, to remain in town. Then she introduced herself. Even louder boos. Then she introduced a moment of silence for baseball in Sarasota. It was not silent. Eventually, she gave Castellini a key to the city, which he dropped, then dabbed the tears from her eyes as he spoke. Hilarious.
The game itself was rather uneventful, the kind of long, ugly exhibition you get at spring training. The Pirates won, 6-5, and I happened to get a shot of the final pitch at Sarasota, a called third strike on the Reds' Drew Anderson thrown by Pittsburgh's Lincoln Holdzkom.
It didn't really hit me that it was all over until I walked around the stadium and the workout complex taking pictures and remembering the good times, like seeing -- and hearing -- Josh Hamilton taking the first swings of his comeback attempt from drug oblivion in 2007; talking to Chad Moeller about his late grandfather, whom I knew from Ohio; watching players like Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Johnny Cueto, Paul Janish and Ryan Hanigan move from the back fields to the major league lineup; witnessing my first favorite player, Joe Morgan, tutor my current favorite player, Brandon Phillips, on how to turn a double play at second base; and choking the day I almost spoke to Hall of Fame announcer Marty Brennaman when he turned and looked at me but I couldn't get a word out.
During my photo journey, I walked over to the parking lot where Reds players and personnel were leaving the facility. As Brennaman was driving away, somebody yelled, "We'll miss you, Marty." He replied, "We'll sure all miss you, too."

The last pitch.

Locking up.

The exit.

The familiar sign.

Diary of a baseball widow

It's baseball season. That much is clear in THIS household. On Sunday, when the Braves and Phillies met for the first game of the 2009 season, Tim walked around wishing me, Mario and Sidney a "Happy Baseball Day!" Several times. Each.

On Monday, Tim got up early and worked out before the baseball games started for the day. On Wednesday, we planned our day around the Reds 7:10 start. And really, I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. I love baseball. I grew up with baseball. And I've known Tim for six baseball seasons. We've traveled to see the Reds play the Marlins in Miami every year. We are planning a vacation in California this August when - you guessed it - the Reds are playing out there.

It's just become VERY apparent to me how baseball season is going to go now that I actually LIVE with Tim. Last baseball season, he would stay at home to watch games instead of come up to my apartment in St. Pete because he had the Extra Innings cable package - where he gets to watch virtually every game every day. Now, I live in the home where we have that same MLB package. If I want to have a conversation with him about anything not related to the Reds or baseball in general, I need to do it before the games start for the day. I've gotten a taste of this over the last few years during football season, but that's 16 days. That's manageable. This is 162 games, people. Tim assures me he'll be disenchanted with the Reds by the end of May, but I don't buy it.

I should have realized just how serious he was about baseball a few months ago. It must have been late December, and I was getting ready for bed. Tim came in to the bedroom looking about as serious as I've ever seen him and told me he was worried. I thought "Is he worried about our marriage? His health? Our finances? Our jobs?" I said, "What are you worried about?" He sat down, looked at me with a grim face and said "I'm worried about Adam Dunn."

Adam Dunn. The former Reds slugger who played with the Diamondbacks in the 2008 season and was left without a contract over the winter. Adam Dunn, who makes millions of dollars playing baseball. Finally, when Dunn was signed (to a $20 million contract) by the Nationals, Tim was a little bit relieved. But not entirely. He didn't think the Nationals were paying Dunn enough. And it still apparently keeps Tim up at night, as he asked me last week if *I* was as worried about Dunn's performance so far as he is (because, you know, Dunn needs to perform well to keep earning the mere pennies in his contract). Clearly, I am not. I had to ask Tim, though, if he thought Adam Dunn was worried about HIM when he got laid off. Tim didn't think so. And Tim maintains that he is merely mock-concerned with Dunn's livelihood.

I hear whistles. Claps. Shouts. Cries of "C'mon, Brandon!" Yells of "What are you thinking, Volquez?!" Whimpers of "Hon, they just don't know how to play!" On Thursday Tim came jogging in to the kitchen to tell me Votto had just hit a homer. And this is from THREE. GAMES.

It's going to be a long season, folks.

Special bloggity news

Greetings, half dozen loyal readers. We (well, *I*, I guess) have some blog news to share: Tim might - just might - blog about his experience at the last Florida Reds spring training game. I'm working on him, but really, who could tell the story and capture the memories better than him? (Aside from the fact that I was not there and the Reds realllly aren't *my* team, so this honor should really fall to him.)

Alllllsssooo, I have a new blog that will debut on Easter Sunday. Excited? You'll have to wait for details. But I think it'll be fun, informative and full of conversational writing and interesting photos!

Pirates/Rays game, March 15

On Sunday, March 15, we continued our weekend of baseball with a trip south to Port Charlotte. Last year, the Rays trained in St. Petersburg - I could go there right before work and see almost a full game. Now, though, the team is about 90 minutes south of St. Petersburg. The hope was that the move would boost attendance/interest in the Rays. (I think the World Series appearance helped the cause, too.) But it worked - Rays spring training attendance was up 30% this year, while the rest of the Grapefruit League was down 20%.

But we had a day off and decided to make the trek out to the middle of nowhere. The field was nice enough, but I've heard enough stories from the Times' beat writer to know that "the Port" is a different place. Wild boars in the parking lot of the complex. Alligators in the lake outside of the field. A limited choice of restaurants - Perkins, Bob Evans, Buffalo Wild Wings, Olive Garden and Applebee's. A Days Inn. Not exactly an exciting place in the city.

But people don't go there for bright lights or lack of wildlife - they go for the baseball. On the day we went, there were 11 innings of baseball. And the game ended in a tie. The game looked over in the ninth, with the Pirates down four runs. But in a rare offensive explosion, they tied it up.

The exterior of the ballpark.

Carl Crawford.

Joe Maddon makes a pitching change.

Pirates in the infield.

Reds/Rays game, March 14

On Saturday, March 14, we went to see the Rays play the Reds in Sarasota. Tim got some awesome free tickets, right behind the Reds dugout, from a friend at work. The weather was amazing, and the crowd was big because Sarasota is closer to St. Pete/Tampa than where the Rays play their home spring training games. There were a lot of Rays fans.

Here are some photos from the game:

Mascot Mania!

Our seats were seriously *thisclose* to the dugout.

Brandon Phillips was especially charismatic.

Mr. Red performs an enthusiatic "YMCA."

Yayyyy, baseball!