Spring Training! Cousins! Mullets!

It really sucked that we didn't get to do spring training last year. The kids and I were super stoked to go this year. DeA was excited to leave us and go to Galveston with Jacqueline Dynamite.

So, Alaska spends about twenty minutes telling you how safe the plane is and that they have HEPA filters and that they have special UV lights, but then they freak out on you if your mask is completely over your nose. It's stupid theater.

We flew from Wenatchee to Seattle and had about an hour layover. The kids spent 58 minutes of it slowly nursing their ice cream so that they didn't have to wear masks.

Rock lucked out and got an entire row to himself, but don't worry, the flight attendants made sure to continually check his mask.

Neither Jens nor Ryker wanted to sit by Rock, so we cuddled together.

Jensley pulled out her homework as soon as we took off. She didn't want to risk getting behind. The boys did not do their homework and I'm sure that they are still behind.

We all crowded into Whitni and Stewie's place. The kids were excited to see cousins and also to see what treats Hampa Dale had picked up from Costco and surrounding enterprises. Donuts are always popular.

Kids spend a lot of time playing together on the Switch and giving the younger cousins broken controllers to make them think that they were playing too.

We took all the kids to a park with bouncy ground and a lot of stuff to climb and run over.

We stopped by Chick Fil-A only to discover that they are not allowing inside seating. We had to pick up the food and drive to the M's stadium. I guess you could say that we were tailgating, but with a bajillion kids it did not feel like tailgating.

They had these silly little boxes painted in the outfield and we were supposed to stay in those boxes. It took about two innings before we were not in our box and no one cared. 

Hats!

Cotton Candy!

Snow cones!

Family!

"Jens, you can take your mask off for the picture"

"But it is against the rules!"

Brandoni was pretty excited to be in our family picture.

There was a lot going on, and kids would randomly drop and nap.

Adults were passing out, too.

The kids expect to go to Culver's every night for frozen custard. It's tradition.

The younger cousins agreed that it is a great tradition.

It great to be together as a family, enjoy quality time away from distractions, and just enjoy Stewie's mullet.

Sk8er dude

I was a good son-in-law and drove the kids all the way to Mesa to see Gpa Dave and Mama Zista and Aunt Linds. 

We went to another big part with lots of fun stuff to do.

We just had to go to Handel's ice cream. DeA once blasphemed and said that it was better than Whitey's, but she was wrong. It was good, but not Whitey's good.

After driving to Mesa, we met the family in some other Phoenix town and did an hour of Top Golf. We took turns whacking the balls and trying to hit targets. It was a blast.

That's a way to not swing to hard.

After golfing we did the right thing and to Culver's again.

My kids left with Dad to go explore Arizona, Arches and Zions National Parks, and to drive home. I ended up spending quality time with D-rell and his mullet.

Baseball tickets were too hard to get because of the covid rules, so KC, Nick, Stewie and I went to a Nascar minor league race. It was a lot of fun, even though it was silly cold.

Nick's fly-away eye brow makes him look angry, but he seemed to enjoy it. I'm not sure that KC knew where we were, unless somehow it made its way into the fan fiction that he was reading.

I flew out Saturday afternoon, but first we hit up a taco place. A little piece of advice, if a taco place only has birria from 11-1 on a Saturday, go get birria between 11-1 on a Saturday.