Weekend Journal

Just regrouping after a really fabulous weekend with the kids. I need to settle down and get work done, but first I need a brain-dump on the blog.

It was a packed weekend with lots of socialization and outdoor activities. On Friday, we went to a barbecue at my folks' house, and on Saturday, we played on Long Island at my buddy's house.

The boys swam for three hours straight in Margie's backyard pool and then inhaled two cheeseburgers each. I love watching them get stronger in the summertime. Jonah's hair is bleaching out like it does ever summer. He'll be a surfer blond in another day or so. Ian is losing the last of his baby mush, and all he wants to do have races around the house. I'm losing my winter flab as well.

Yesterday, we took them to their first Yankee game. As we pulled off the Cross Bronx and approached the twin Yankee stadiums. Steve looked up and saw the Yankee sign above the stadium and sighed. He's from Cleveland and, even though he's lived in the NYC area for 15 years now, he stills feels guilty about rooting for the Yankees. He said it was easier to convert to Catholicism than it was to convert to a Yankee fan.

We followed the crowds into the stadium and found our seats. Real nose bleeders about three rows from the top. We bought the kids a program ($10) and hot dogs ($too much) and settled down.

It was tough for Ian at first. It was a huge sensory overload. Even the bad seats gave us a great view, because the place is built like a cone. You go straight up. Ian said that he was worried that he was going to "fall out of the sky." And it was loud. He ate his chicken fingers with one finger in his ear. He toughed it out for a couple of innings, but then I had to take him for a walk until he got used to the sounds and sensations. We walked over the bleachers and did a lap or two around the stadium. Then he felt good enough to go back to his seat. He settled in and really did great.

Jonah had a religious conversion. He saw God and he has the face of Derek Jeter. We have really failed to teach Jonah about baseball and sports in general. Steve never watches that stuff on TV and much prefers to talk with Jonah about barbarian hordes in the third century rather than baseball stats, so I was rather appalled when Jonah started talking about "rounds" instead of innings. Ugh. Husband fail. So, I gave him an education. I explained what all the abbreviations meant. I showed him how to keep score in the program. I explained how they came up with batting statistics and what a good score looked like. He lapped it up like it was free ice-cream. 

It was a great first game for Jonah. It was a high scoring game (10-8). The Yankees were up in the beginning, then the Blue Jays were up, and then Yankees won. He got to see homeruns by Jeter and Matsui. The game lasted about three hours.

When we left (parking $30), Jonah was wearing a new Jeter t-shirt ($30) and clutching the program. He is going to take down his old Pokeman drawings above his bed and tape up baseball pictures. We came home and played baseball in the backyard. He said it was the best day in his life.

We're exhausted now. It was a full weekend, and the boys were given a feast of great experiences. They need a little time to process everything, and I need time to wash the wet towels and get myself back to work.

Comments

[Sam]

Jeter Akbar!!

[Wendy]

OMG, I don't think I can post here any longer if you're going to be Yankees fans.

Here in SE Mass, the locals forgive the 86 series (which was all Buckner's fault, anyway) so long as I can assure them I hate the Yankees as much as they do. Let's Go Mets!

I tried so hard to get my sister to name her son Shea. She went with John.

[bj]

Baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie, no? Did you have apple pie?

We went to pseudo-small town fireworks. It was perfect. Nice show, but fairly uncrowded, didn't pay for parking, and got to watch kids running with flags silhouetted against the setting sun.

(I can't do the nosebleed seats -- I have a memory of a particularly unhappy experience in which I was trying to manage my 18 mo old daughter while getting lightheaded from nosebleed seats. I also can't do the really loud noises. Earplugs work for htat, though)

[Doug]

I suppose it's inevitable that people in and around New York will like New York teams, but making your husband convert? And also, isn't cheering for the Yankees a bit like cheering for Microsoft?

Not to tread on our gracious hostess' delicate sensibilities, but LG&M has a good tag for their baseball posts involving the AL team from NY.

[flubber]

I have no opinion on the Yankees or sports, but it must be great fun to see your son get so excited about something new.

Discovering the worlds of drugs and (stupid) rock music are the only similar experiences I can recall in my yoof... Dunno whose fault that was.