I think we missed the full season last year, and this was the last home stand weekend for the Barons...and I won some tickets, so after our day of service with AHG, we packed up and headed to the game excited to get there early and eat our favorite pizza from Tortugas. Since Tortugas closed down at the location on 280, we rarely get this treat, so I think some of us were more excited about the pizza than the game. After finding our same parking spot we always get 3 blocks from the stadium, we began our walk to the restuarant, then as we got closer we saw the door shut, and lights off. Then we saw the manager standing out front. We did not ask, but he could see it on our face, so he told us "Sorry, we are closed, we had a water leak".
So he told us about a small place around the corner called Hotbox, so we sat at the picnic tables below and tried Hotbox. A free night with the Barons I have found it not very free when you have to feed family. But we had a really good meal. Both Sam and I got some giant egg rolls, I can't remember what Dave got, but it did not hit his stomach well, then Belle got a chicken sandwich. Then we played a little pass the plate and all tried everything. I ended up with the chicken sandwich, as Belle did not like it, but the eggrolls went over really well. Magan felt young when they carded her going into Good People brewing to the restroom, then when we saw some white haired folks with a cane also getting carded, we all had a little fun with Magan.
Inside the park, they were having a ChickFilA night, so we all got a cow, and got to guess how many cows were in a giant box, the winner got ChickFilA for a year. Big signs in the team store about items on clearance for the end of the season, that ended up being one small rack. But Davis found a cool Barons hat that could replace the one he has worn down to almost nothing. Me and the boys had out barons gear on (Sam still wearing his Jordan jersey he got about 6 years prior on his birthday here at the park), even Belle and Ruby with ball caps on. Do they love watching baseball as much as I do at the parks? Maybe not, but they have learned to enjoy it. "Hey Dad, can I go play in the blowups?" Ruby quickly began asking? But Magan was nice enough to take her for me, so I could watch the game.
It was a really fun game to watch. The Lookouts had a pitcher throwing in the upper 90s, and the barons could not touch him. Basically a 2 hit game thru 6 innings. During one of these mid-innings, they began throwing ChickFilA cows from the upper deck, and Davis (just a big kid) ran down there and caught about 5 or 6 of them. He had his glove for a ball, and we never had anything come close, but 5 cows in the glove ain't bad. Ruby came back and told me about how she had thrown the ball so good at one of the games in the kid area. I had to go see her do it, and she did throw it really well. After the blowups had to come down, Magan took the kids for some ice cream, and they got them in the cool baseball helmets...except the helmets were Washington Nationals helmets. Oh well. So what happened in the game? The lookouts pitcher hit his pitch count, and they took him out of the game, then the barons just starting smashing the other pitchers, ending up with a grand slam and winning like 7 to 1.
After the game we found out about the ChickFilA count, and I was so close. I had guessed 1259, and I think there was 13 hundred and something, but someone else was closer. Our night ended with some fireworks. A fun ending to a fun night of baseball. These are the days I will miss one day, that I hope will spark a few more memories of this fun night as I read them later. Glad Ruby will still run with me to get a picture with the cow. Fun to watch every foul ball with Davis, hoping the next one will be ours. Proud to see my oldest boy always taking care of a sister, and never ashamed to put his arm around her and be a good big brother. Never will anyone be as cute as my Belle with the ball hat turned around. And at least that pretty lady in the middle below will still "Take me out to the Ball Game". What a fun day!
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