Spring Training is always one of the best times of the year. We go down to the sun and watch baseball for four straight days. Along with that we also have Chick-Fil-A every day for lunch and Culver's frozen custard for the nightcap. The boys were especially excited.
One of the senior volunteers gave the boys #1 hands that they loved.
They discovered that the concession stand sold Drumstick ice cream cones so that was their second breakfast.
They ran around trying to grab autographs from the players as they walked from one field to another.
They loved their hands.
Because of the harsh sun I let them pick out sunglasses at the store. They loved the Batman shades.
They had plenty of cotton candy. Too much if you ask me, but they never did.
They picked up a bat and ball to show off their skills at the practice. Surprisingly no Mariners scouts stopped by to sign them to a contract.
Ryker found a ball on the other side of the fence and parked himself there until Walker kindly tossed it over the fence for him.
Ryker walked up to one of the minor leaguers and talked to him. He gave him a high five, the player asked Ryker's name and then as Ryker was leaving the player called him back and gave him a bat. Needless to say Ryker was ecstatic! So now Dario Pizzano is Ryker's favorite player.
It's always great to spend time with Super Cheese.
There was an outdoor expo that the kids (myself included) loved. There was a bow fishing booth where the kids could shoot off of a boat.
There were two tanks where they could catch sunfish and catfish.
The sunfish bit very quickly but Ryker was unimpressed. He said that he had caught many fish like that in the lake by Grandpa's house. The catfish weren't biting but he was so persistent that he wouldn't quit.
Rock did catch one but wouldn't touch the slimy beast.
They tried to cast the hook into a fish's mouth but had better luck launching them into the rafters.
They found a zip line and a rock wall. Rock did the zip line three times and was asking for more.
Ryker didn't want anything to do with the zip line so he tried the rock wall. He did pretty well but would get to a certain height and then just let go.
Inside they found a Wipeout game. It started fun but then eventually both boys were crying and/or begging for ice cream.
After all that fun we tried Haus Murphy, a German restaurant. The boys were pretty exhausted by this point but were still having fun.
Rock was more than a little tired.
It was a side of him we don't normally see.
Thankfully the giant pretzel perked him right up.
The boys loved swimming in the pool but eventually the fish hit their breaking point.
Rock hit the ball from right about there into the fenced in bullpen area to the right of the picture. It was a pretty impressive hit!
Rock found a booth that would give him free turns if he would help pick up the balls.
He used the money he saved to buy a sno-cone.
Our tickets were right in front of John Ryan of the Seahawks and some drunk friends. They had fun teasing Rock and Ryker but the boys had no idea who he was.
Nick and Ryker started out pretty strong...
But the extra inning spring training game was a little too much to handle.
Expedia screwed up our reservation so the boys ended up on the floor in front of the bathroom. Even though the ground was hard they slept solidly every night.
We met DeA and Jens at the airport where Delta and the TSA tried their hardest to make EVERYONE miss their flights. Despite their efforts we made it and had a smooth trip home.
At one point every one of us ended up just like Jens here. I guess that's the sign of a good trip.
