Spring Training!!

Spring Training weekend is one of the most anticipated weekends of the year! Can't you tell by looking at Rock's face?

 Ryker brought his sloth that he hates.

 The M's have started playing more night games in the spring, that allowed us to catch an extra game Wednesday night.

 The first thing they wanted to do was find the Whiffle Ball field to take some BP.

 Jens wanted to spend some time on the grass in the outfield, so the two of us enjoyed a hot dog and popcorn.

 The park is a pretty great place to be.

 The kids spent their whole time at the field and couldn't tell you a thing about the real game.

 The post game Culver's frozen custard run is always a great way to end the day.

 Another change with the night games is that practice starts a lot later. We filled that time by returning to the International Outdoor Show. The kids were excited to rock climb, zip line, and return to the Mega Meltdown. They quickly found the rock wall.

 And...there was no Mega Meltdown to be found, except for the one from the boys when they found out that it wasn't there and their revenge would have to wait.

  After lunch we went straight to practice and the kids started their baseball collection.

 As soon as they found foul balls, batting practice balls, etc., they started getting autographs on those balls.

 Ryker was rockin' his new shades.

 D-rell and his family showed up sometime Thursday at practice. D-rell wanted to go back to sleep.

 Big league autographs!

  For some reason, Ryker was obsessed with getting a signature on his hat. He finally did and it made his day.

   The giant decorative baseballs were popular.

 Cousins!!

 More Whiffle Ball!

  Grandpa's lap was a popular place for the kids to be.

 And being Spiderman, that was popular, too.

 MAXAMILIANO!! showed up to surprise the kids at Culver's.

The boys were especially excited to see MAX!!

They all snuggled together and relaxed while watching Looney Tunes.

The next day we went to Camelback Ranch for a day game against the White Sox. D-rell wasn't happy with the dumb stadium policies that prohibited sunscreen and mini tri-pods. It's easier to deal with the TSA than the agents at Camelback. 

MadBum was happy because she scored some sweet Italian shaved ice.

All the kids ended up with shaved ice, Rock chose blue to make his lips match his jersey.

Jens was happy with her new red lipstick and tongue dye.

Ryker ended up with peanuts instead of shaved ice. The other little cousins were hovering around trying to steal stray nuts.

The kids all wanted to spend some time on the berm, so their favorite uncle hauled them all out there for some fun on the grass.

The kids were excited to have some room to roam and run off their wiggles.

We had all the cousins but Huddy, Kass, and Bubbles. 

This was intended to be a picture with me and the kids, but you can see how that turned out.

The little kiddos barely made it to the car, and the silliness of Camelback spread to the design of their parking lot. There was one two lane road to leave the parking area designed for 14,000 people. It took forever to get out of there, and that gave all the kids plenty of time to fall asleep. Eventually we did arrive at Chino Bandido for our annual visit. D-rell decided that he would rather sleep.

After lunch/dinner we let the kids unwind in the pool. It was relaxing for the kids, definitely not for the adults.

MadBum liked being snug in a rug, I guess that makes her a bug.

After everyone dried off and warmed up, we hit up Culver's.

It was obvious that the kids were starting to run out of gas. Jens ended up falling asleep early despite all the noise and action.

One of the cool things about Camelback was their speed toss gave away free pizzas at Blaze Pizza. The kids received a personal pizza, so that was obviously a big deal.

The kids had so many autographs that they ran out of room on their baseballs. They scrounged for things to have players sign, like this novelty baseball bat that now has autographs from random minor leaguers and Dan Wilson.

We arrived early on Saturday, after our stay at the Blaze, to watch a minor league game. As we were walking in a Mariner player hit a home run right at us. The ball ended up right at Jens' feet. That was enough to make her trip worth it.

About five minutes later the player that hit the home run walked by and was nice enough to sign her baseball. Now she has a signed ball by the player that hit the ball out of the park!

The kids loved sorting through their autograph haul.

How many autographs do little kids need?

Apparently they need all the autographs.

Whit was getting ready to leave us and spend time with her fake family, but stopped by to let the kids tell each other their good-byes.

Our last game of the spring was filled with more speed toss. They were pretty sure that either the radar gun or the old lady reading it were broken.

They gave out free scorecards (likely because the spring is almost over and they had a bunch printed up that they needed to get rid of) and the kids wanted to learn how to keep score.

It was fun for me, and I think fun for Nick. The kids were excited until someone mentioned peanuts. Then they all wanted to go find the peanut guy.

Did I mention that they like speed toss?

Notice how they all look back at me to make sure I didn't escape.

The fatigue was definitely settling in by now. Jens fell asleep at Culver's, Rock was a zombie, and Ryker was complaining that he didn't get to do something that he thought he was going to get to do. You know, typical tired kids stuff.

The car ride to the airport at 5am wasn't much better.

You know it was a good trip when Rock is the one passed out on a dirty airport bench.

Ryker enjoyed the flight home with his sloth that he hates.

Yea for spring training!