Country Boys in the Big City

Since we had the boys, Ryan has dreamed of taking them to a Cardinal's baseball game. We finally decided the bigguns were old enough to not drive us insane at the stadium, so when our church offered free tickets, we jumped at the chance. We invited some friends to join us, dropped Little Bit off at Grandma's, got pulled over twice for expired tags (long story), and headed to St. Louey. In the city, we oohed and aaahed at the arch, and squashed many "is that the stadium?!" moments (every semi-large warehouse apparently looks exactly like a baseball diamond.) Then, while Ryan was dropping us off, I told the boys that they would see all different sorts of people and they should be polite and not stare, but also stay close to me. Of course they were curious about these "different sorts of people," so I ran through a crash course of hobos and ticket scalpers and kidnappers. Probably not the best idea.

They walked into the stadium, clinging to each other and me and gawking nervously all around. They looked so small and overwhelmed that I had to get a picture. So I wrenched my hand away from Calvin and ran ahead a few steps to get a good shot. Only to turn around and find that they were right on my hind end. Every time I surged forward, they frantically surged with me. These were the best I could get:

So, I passed off the camera to our friends and did my best I-always-smile-when-I-walk non-pose. Look at Reed --paranoia written all over that child's face!

They loosened up a little from the fun of riding the four escalators we had to take to the nosebleed section, but kept on clinging. 

Then they were amazed at the hugeness of the stadium--and the tiny-ness of the players. This ain't no warehouse.

They were pretty much adorable through the whole game. I'm not sure how much they actually paid attention, but they clapped at the appropriate times and got really excited when a Cardinal hit a home run and fireworks exploded. I'm guessing they were doing what Mama was doing, staring at people and Jumbotrons and taking cues from the crowd about the game.  

Posing with a church buddy

They ate the entire bag of Starburst I had stashed in my purse. And half a bag of Smarties. And some of the other food that other people offered to share. And they peed about 8,000 times, probably just to see more sights. Is it selfish for me to be happy they're too old to go in the women's restroom?

We left the game early to avoid getting stuck in traffic, since our gas gauge was on empty (long story) and we weren't too keen on getting gas in downtown St. Louis at 11:00 at night. Ryan and I each took a hand and hauled the boys to the parking garage, past a hobo or two. This time I was the one clinging.

The boys zonked out in the car on the way home, but not before talking excitedly about the stadium, the sights, and even the game. Daddy's dream came true - and without the nightmare of a kidnapping or rogue hobo.