Foul Play

So here we are, another Spring Training trip behind us. Mike and his sister were talking and they realized they’ve been going to Arizona for almost thirty years. I started going in 2003, a few months after I started dating Mike. That first trip was lots of sleeping in, drinking at the pool, drinking at the baseball games, and drinking with his sister and her fiancé at the hotel bar. This year I was woken up every morning at 7am, drank one Chelada at the Dodger game and had a headache the next day, and definitely didn’t even see the hotel bar. A lot has changed in twelve years.

The one thing that Annabel could not WAIT to do in Arizona was go swimming.

I was so pleased to see all of her swimming skills come back to her right away. She had no problems jumping in, swimming to the edge, or diving for toys. We realized we are finally in the sweet spot with her when it comes to the water: she doesn’t need an adult on top of her or even in the water with her at all. Of course, there almost always was an adult in the pool with her, and someone was always watching her and her cousins, but it was nice to see that she’s water-safe. Especially since her little brother toooootally is not.

James hasn’t met a body of water he didn’t like. He cries when bath time is over. He loves sinks. He’d swim in a puddle if he could. So James in a pool…well, we put just about every floatation device known to man on him. He’s starting swim lessons in two weeks, I can’t wait. After I signed him up, the director of the swim school contacted me to make sure James wasn’t afraid of the water. I was like, “He doesn’t have enough fear of the water, that’s the problem.”

At least he listened when I said, “DON’T RUN!”

Of course, the main reason we go to Arizona every March is for Spring Training baseball. Since the trip is Mike’s family’s annual tradition and they are big Giants fans, we always see the San Francisco games. When we were planning this year’s trip, I said, “If it’s at all possible, I would love it if we could maybe see a Dodger game too…since they play in Arizona now…” We found a Friday night Giants at Dodgers game, which was absolutely perfect.

The weather was glorious, perfect for eating lots of ice cream and making silly faces:

We also went to a Giants game at their stadium on Saturday, where Mike insisted on the kids getting this gross picture with some trophy:

It was really, really hot on Saturday at the game, around 97 degrees or so. We were lucky that we had seats in the shade, but we were still sweating. At one point, James was really restless so I offered to walk him around the concourse. He was happy to stretch his legs and we did several laps in the area behind our seats. After we’d wandered a bit too far into the sun, I said, “James, let’s go back this way,” and pulled him back toward the shade. Right then, I heard a loud BANG and I looked up to see a foul ball bouncing off of the press box roof down toward where we stood on the concourse…literally right at us. People started moving towards the ball but they weren’t quick enough. The ball bounced at my feet and I caught it on its way back up. Quick reflexes courtesy of several years of softball and four seasons working in a baseball stadium!

James immediately began yelling, “Ball! It’s a ball!” and started reaching for the foul ball. I let him touch it but didn’t let him hold it – he’s totally that kid who would throw the ball away! I hustled him and the ball back to where Mike was sitting with the rest of the family. It’s Mike’s dream to get a foul ball and he was impressed, although Annabel said, “Whoa Mom, you didn’t even have a glove!” Followed by, “Go catch me one now!” If only it were that easy!

The trips are never long enough, but this one felt especially short. I’m hopeful that next year Annabel’s spring break will be in March so we can take a few extra days to see new places and meet up with friends. We always have the best time in Arizona, and even though a lot has changed in twelve years, I wouldn’t want it any other way.