Opening Day 2012

Friday, April 6, 2012

Colorado Rockies vs. Houston Astros

Minute Maid Park, Houston, TX

This was a once in a lifetime opportunity where I not only got to go to the Opening Day Festivities and Game but also be able to do this with my family. This made it so special and memorable for me and I will never forget!

 

It all started at 4:30 or so when we got to downtown and Minute Maid Park. We arrived and it was completely crazy and packed. They had an all-day street fest that was wrapping up and we were able to see news crews, bounce houses and other vendors. We went to the Southwest corner of the park and was able to take a few pictures together and even play catch while we wait for the gates to open. It was so special to see Natalie and her daddy play catch on the beautiful lawn. Natalie really enjoyed this and I certainly loved watching them play.

Mommy and Natalie outside of Minute Maid Park

Natalie and Daddy playing catch before we went into the game!
 

We finally got in at about 5:10 or so and made our way to our Mezzanine level seats. These were pretty good seats in right field directly under the big screen. These seats were also ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT! This was very interesting to me and having traveled to Baseball stadiums all my life and all around the US, I have NEVER seen anything like this. We arrived and got a wristband and were able to go and get concession items 4 at a time. We were on the 2nd row of this section and the seats were fantastic. With these wristbands we were able to go to a designated concession stand and get up to 4 items at a time including:

Hot dogs

Nachos

Peanuts

Popcorn

Water

Soda

This ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT tickets were such a blessing to us. We had tried to save up our calories and what not for the game and that also made this $30 price tag more worth while. It was about 88 degrees and we were in the sun at the beginning of the game so we just got 8 waters to start with. Natalie really enjoyed the singing of the Star Spangled Banner and the entrance of the Budweiser Clydesdale horses but not so much of the fireworks. She said they scared her. (I think they scared Luke too... he became very active right after they went off). Soon after the 1st pitch I took Natalie to go potty and get some food. We ended up get hot dogs and nachos. About every inning we would go and get another snack and/ or drink. After the sun went down Natalie was less fussy and began to really have fun.

Natalie eating her share of our "All you can eat" seats!

 

All in all, we ended totally get our $60 worth of food for the 3 of us. In fact, Natalie ate 4 1/2 hots dogs (Keep in mind she doesn't like the buns but still... THAT IS ALOT)! Chris ended up eating several servings of nachos and a couple of hot dogs and I was able to eat some hot dogs and popcorn as well. This really made for a memorable experience.

She LOVES her hotdogs!

 

Natalie loved standing up and doing "The Wave" and having to get up and sing "Take me out to the Ballgame". We had been working on this song in the bathtub for about a week and she sang the first line but then just hummed. It was wonderful for her to be able to sit on my lap and look out on the field and say "Baseball" and "field". I am not really sure if she understood much more about the game but she loved looking for the baseball and saying "Baseball".

 

We ended up leaving the game in the 9th inning to avoid traffic and get Natalie out of there without too much fussing. On our way to the car Natalie said "I had fun at the baseball game mommy. Can we do it again?" These words were PRICELESS to me!

As far as little Luke was concerned... He was the most active during that 2-3 hour stretch than I can remember him ever being. Anytime they hit a home run or scored the Astros would shoot off fireworks and he would just start kicking and dancing to them. Also, anytime I would holler or get excited he would just kick and kick. This too was priceless because that just assures me that my little boy will LOVE BASEBALL!

It was very interesting to see things like a .000 batting average and other zero statistics. I also was able to see the very first home run of the season for the Astros as well as the very first home run of the season for 4 different players. On top of all of that... I got to see BACK to BACK homers! It was AWESOME!

I am just so very grateful to my husband and Natalie for coming to the game with me and helping experience and enjoy this lifelong memory together! I cannot wait for next year... Oh yeah, this will be an ANNUAL THING!

God is Good... ALL THE TIME!