Play ball!

We took the kids to a Salt Lake Bees game today. The Triple-A baseball season is winding down, and this was our last chance to use some free tickets the boys got. We invited one of Eldest's friends, a girl we'll call M who came with her parents. It was their first ballgame ever -- I forget that if you didn't grow up in a big league town, your likelihood of ever seeing a baseball game decreases.

Every time I take Eldest to a sporting event, I try to explain what's going on during the game and get him to pay attention. But he never seems to, and today with M -- they are so goofy together -- he wasn't even close. I almost think Littlest was paying more attention to the game. That's OK -- we all had fun at the game. The Bees feature the Bumble Express -- a train that's really a glorified golf cart -- that the kids rode. They also played at the playground beyond center field for an inning. We got ice cream and hats (50 percent off), sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and clapped along whenever the start of "Center field" played. Eldest and M especially liked all the sound effects, including the loud yawn that was played any time the other team was taking its time (which happened often -- the Reno Aces walked a lot of Bees).

The weather was perfect, too. It's September, and fall is almost here. For one last afternoon, we got to enjoy something summery.

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