Michiganders Invade WV-Part II (MLB Game)

The big finale for Family Adventure 2012 was and MLB game. Detroit Tigers vs. Pittsburgh Pirates. As you can see by the group photo, my little group of 3 is completely outnumbered!

With 4 small kids it's hard to get a good photo, so I set my camera up to take multiple shots at once, hit the timer and ran for my spot. I may have skinned a knee, but look how good we all did :-)

There may have been a few out takes too!!

It was kids day outside PNC Park before the game, but the lines were sooo long to do anything that we headed in after a few obligatory pics. They close this bridge to auto traffic on game days for fans to get over the river. I only had my zoom lens or it would have been a much more interesting photo of my bro and his little men!



We had made sure to watch the Friday and Saturday games in the series on TV. The Pirates took those with relative ease and I was excited to witness a sweep. Of course we had to go on the day Verlander was pitching...

Justin Verlander vs. Andrew McCutcheon-2 All-Stars!

We had great seats in the upper deck above behind home plate. I actually prefer upper deck seats, you can see all the action! And the TV announcers were right ove our shoulders, they throw out great SWAG at the 7th inning stretch; the hubs managed to snag a shirt!

The Tigers got 2 runs in the 1st and then there was a long stretch of pitching duels-yawn. G was very into it though! All the kids got braided Pirates necklaces just like the players wear!

Of course the Pirates chose to score their only runs while I was in line for ice cream. Has anyone noticed that I grab every excuse for ice cream?! So it was a tie game- I got excited and fans started getting out their brooms in anticipation. And then with one hit we were let down. Oh well, 2 outta 3 ain't bad Bucs.

The boys had the opportunity to run the bases after the game, and after standing in an extremely long line in the heat they got their chance. I hope it was a highlight for them since they had hours in a car back home right after!

On a parenting side note, I learned that I am not yet prepared for all day outings with G in tow. I tend to be a minimalist when packing but with a baby you really do need to be prepared for anything. Or at least the regular things...see, I thought I had everything ready; sunscreen, hat, stroller, food, prepared bottles, travel diaper tote...wait where are the diapers? Not a good question to ask when strolling to the ball  park in the middle of downtown Pittsburgh. #new mom failure

Lucky for me my SIL packs everything but the kitchen sink and I was able to borrow (thanks Bethany!) but I still felt just plain dumb. I'll get there with a little more practice!

I have much to learn. But look how far we've come in a year-we went to a game late in the summer last year. What a difference!! I love my little family!

And I love my big family! I have to say that ALL of the kids were great. We are very lucky and I had a great time hosting everyone. It makes me even more grateful every time we're all together. I imagine by the next time it will be even harder to fit in my house since there are bound to me more little ones, and the ones that are little now will just be bigger :-) But I can't wait.

Michiganders invade WV!! Part I

My entire family made the 8 hour drive (well, a few more than that with 3 kids!) from MI to visit us in Wild and Wonderful WV this past weekend. My brother and SIL haven't been here since my wedding in 2008 and we have both added one to our families since then.

I wanted them to have a good time, but not be exhausted when they went home. It was a vacation after all. We chose some good old fashioned putt-putt golf and batting cages for Friday (can I just say that I would love to have every Friday off in the summer-who wouldn't?!)

This guy towered over the course-crazy coal miner!

One cool thing about the putt-putt course was that everything was made from old mining equioment. There were even explanations at each hole to show what the 'obstacle' was once used for. Fun and education all in one! PS-I'm a horrible putt-putter, even though that is one of the better parts of my real golf game :-(

To say my oldest nephew is obsessed with baseball is an understatement so the batting cages were a big hit with him. All 3 generations gave it a whirl, some with more success than others-I'm not naming names.





Generation 1-my dad



Generation 2-my brother



Generation 3-my nephew

 

G hung out on the side lines and played with Gramma Bonnie. I can't resist this litte hat, it somehow makes her even cuter!



Of course we had to follow this with a gluttonous ice cream trip, which I thankfully have no pictures of! Although when the youngest boy discovered how good french fries dipped in ice cream were I kind of wish I had the camera!

Saturday was a stay at home day. My nephew, dad and I made a hike to the little cemetery on our property. I knew it was there but never really explored it.

We counted about 50 headstones, some with names, but the older ones were just upended rocks. The oldest one we could make out was fromt the 1840's. I needed to pull an Indiana Jones and pencil rub the stones to get some more info off them! One of these days I would like to do some research into who these people were, especially now that I've walked all over their resting place!

G got a new pool so we had to give that a trial in the afternoon. It was a hit with the little ones, it was too small for the rest. Although my 13 month old nephew got a little splash happy and scared G, they quickly made up and enjoyed some time together. I can see this getting alot of use this summer.

We also grilled-and I didn't take any pictures of the food because:
#1-my family is not into the 'blog thing' and would think I'm crazy, and more importantly
#2-I ate WAY too much of it.

I've been trying to keep regular workouts since this whole ankle debaucle put my running plans on hold but I think hiking through the woods and chasing kids around counts for something...as for the food-hey I was on stay-cation! :-)

Part II-MLB Game-family style!



Full House

It has arrived...the weekend where I finally get to see what it's like to have this big ole house of mine full. And not just for a few hours but several days. Here are a few of the weekend players...

We have these guys...and their parents-my brother and SIL who I apparently need to take more pictures of!

And these guys...

 And of course my little family...

And yes, G is in every picture, because as a new mom no picture is complete without my baby girl in them :-) This adventure almost didn't happen as the boys are getting over Hand, Foot and Mouth disease...it's way worse sounding than it actually is!! But I do have copious amounts of Lysol on hand just to be safe!

The whole group of them are troopers for piling into one vehicle (with two carseats) and driving 8+ hours to the hills of WV to visit. I can't wait to share all the fun we have!! I think up frst may be putt-putt and batting cages, which can only be followed by ice cream. Sounds like a good day to me!