Weekend Trip-Day 2

Truly the purpose of this trip was to catch a Twins game. The past few years Eric has really enjoyed taking Joshy to ball games since we lived pretty close to the Metrodome, so moving here (away from those games) was a bummer in that way. But lucky for us, the Twins played the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland, so because of that, our weekend trip was born.

I was fairly skeptical about taking all three little ones to a baseball game, especially over naptime. But it turned out to be the highlight of the trip. It was Kids Day, so we got three sets of Indians sweatbands and wristbands. There was a little park area for the kids to play in (and TVs for the parents to watch the game). The bathrooms were clean. The walkways were wide. The seats were pretty comfy. The kids even got certificate commemorating their first visit to this ballpark. Jacob's Field was the most family friendly ballpark I've ever been to. It was also only the second ballpark that I'd ever been to.

Joshy was so excited. He asked to wear all three of his Twins shirts. We put the limit at two.

Right when we got there, we found the Twins' bullpen. Glen Perkins, the starting pitcher, was warming up. Eric held Joshy up and yelled to get his attention. Glen (we're on a first name basis, you know) glanced up and tossed his ball to Joshy. Fun! But the best part was that Joshy right away ran over to Mari and gave the ball to her. "I already have one," he explained. (He really does--a foul ball off Justin Morneau from a game in Mpls). Mari loves it except for the fact that it's rather dirty. We try to explain that the dirt is there because an actual Twins player was using it. She's not impressed and is doing her best to clean it up.

Jacob's Field is an open ballpark. It was a hot day, and our seats were in the sun, but when we got there, there was a lot of open seats in the shade a few rows back from our seats. So we asked the usher if we could move. He was so friendly and accommodating, mentioning that a lot of families with young children do the same thing (as do older people, we realized). We sat comfortably in the shade until we left in search of ice cream.

Really, Mari had a much better time that her facial expression lets on. After all, she did get to have a lot of pop (she kept asking for a drink of "water", and Daddy kept saying yes, not realizing that by "water", she meant his Sprite).
This was our view from our shady seats. I took these photos right before we left, right as the sun was creeping up.
Yes, in the seventh inning we headed out in search of lunch. After browsing through a few food stands that sold brats, hot dogs, and pizza, we all decided ice cream sounded best. It was almost ninety degrees! Mari and I shared a cone, and so did Eric and Joshy, except that Eric was trying to rock Sophia to sleep so really Joshy flew solo on this one. He did fairly well, and we all had a good laugh.
On the lower level, there are areas with tables and chairs that anyone can sit at. There are also TVs there to keep tabs on the game, but Eric, standing up, could see the field from our table. And no one had any issues with us hanging out near the lower level to catch the rest of the game.
In fact, the usher didn't even bat an eye when Eric, Joshy, and Mari decided to find themselves some lower level seats in the eighth inning.
Sophia and I, on the other hand, stuck to the shade and settled for watching the game on the TV. I never thought I would say this, but it was a rather relaxing afternoon at the ballpark. It's just too bad the Twins lost.