This is What Its All About

I just wanted to simply say to and about my boys,

I LOVE YOU BOTH VERY MUCH

I will continue to try to do the best Dad impersonation I can!

Cubs at Phillies

I went to my first baseball game ever when I was in college. I went to see the Chicago Cubs play at Wrigley Field when me and some friends drove another friend to the Windy City for a college interview.  I have always been an avid Cubs fan so it was a truly wonderful experience for me...one I'll definitely never forget.  It was Ryne Sandberg's last year playing...Mark Grace was still with them (he jumped ship to the Florida Marlins within a couple of years thereafter).  It was a great experience except that we had to leave after the 8th-inning and the Cubs ended up rallying in the bottom of the 9th for the win.  I was bummed, but it is what it is.

Since then, I've just loved going to professional baseball games.  There's something about the feel of the ballpark that just fills me with joy.  I love the game of baseball in and of itself, which is definitely a bonus.  There's so much history in the game...so much history that shows many correlations with the development American culture through the years.  It is really an amazing game in many ways.  Now, I try not to think about the money involved with the atheletes because it nauseates me to no end.  I just focus on the game...the atmosphere, the embience, the friendly banter between the home team crowd and the visiting team crowd the come to see their teams in the opposing stadiums.  For me, its just one of those things that makes my life a bit more enjoyable, (sans the HGH years, which I totally write off as a travesty and refuse to recognize any achievement that occurred during that time), a bit more....grand, if you will. 

This game was particularly fun for me. To start off, I got the ticket for free because my wife's cousin had 2 extra tickets so, knowing that they were playing the Cubs, he asked if I wanted to go. Saying no was completely out of the question. The seats were amazing...right field just to the outside of the bullpen. I also had the opportunity to rock my throwback Ryne Sandberg t-shirt (which I rationalized by telling some folks who questioned me that I was also representing the Phillies because Sandberg came up with the Phillies and is now managing their Triple-A squad...it seemed to work). The best part, though, was an older gentleman, a long-time Cubs fan, who was about 3 rows behind me who was up on his feet the whole game cheering on the boys in blue...without a care in the world...donned in a white Cubs t-shirt he bought during a trip to Jerusalem. He was a lot of fun...and I plan on going to a baseball game every chance I get in every town I have the opportunity.  Mostly though, I can't wait to be able to take Christopher and Matthew to games with me and share the wonderful experience with them...which is what it's all about.   

Ella's Birthday Party

Happy Birthday, Ella

Our friend's Mike and Annette's daughter, Ella, had her first birthday last Saturday.  It was truly a gala affair at a park not far from their house in Newark, DE.  We all had a lot of fun.  The food was great, there was an awesome playground, and the company was fantastic.  It's always nice to meet up with wonderful people.

 

 

Mother's Day in Berlin, NJ

Colleen and I had spoken a few weeks back about going to NYC with her mother to have dinner and an afternoon of fun-filled NYC-type-things-to-do with her brother, Patrick, for Mother's Day.  I agreed that it was a good idea and would be fun for all of them.  So, they made the plans and they did just that: after church and breakfast, Colleen and Marianne drove to Hamilton, NJ, to catch the train to NYC.  I understand they had a great time, chalked full of fun and that the eatery where they went was very good. 

I figured that I'd have a pretty quiet day with the boys for Mother's Day, which is great for me because I really love spending time with my boys...even through the constant trying times of potty training with Christopher and non-stop responsibility a baby takes, I just love spending time with my children.  So, I entered the weekend prepped for this and planning to take the boys to a really cool park not far from our house to play just be outside.  This, however didn't occur, and it was neither fortunate or unfortunate...it just didn't. 

As stated in my last post, my cousin and her family were down in the area for a First Communion of one of ther cousins on her dad's side.  I had the great pleasure of taking her son, Owen, to a Phillies game compliments of my Uncle Mike's amazing generocity and love for his grandchild (and ultimately his godson -- being me), his love for the Philadelphia Phillies, and his lack of effective communication and planning skills.  As it were, when I arrived to pick Owen up in Berlin, my family was invited to spend Mother's Day with them if we had not plans.  Colleen had plans...I had none other than the usual play and frolic combined with the occasional crying from the baby and putting soiled Cars underwear in the washing machine to soak.  I took them up on the offer.  We had a great time.  The boys had a great time.  Matthew actually allowed people other than Mommy, Daddy, or Nana to hold him for short periods of time...and even got a decent nap.  He was also fed by Rita, so he has a new favorite cousin I'm sure.  Christopher had a great time playing with Owen and another one of Rita's cousins, Frankie (both of whom were amazing with him while they were outside playing football and teaching Christopher to catch and what not).  Rita and her husband, on separate occasions, even got the amazing opportunity to supervise Christopher's "potty time" while I was busy with Matthew in one capacity or another (I guess they're "in" by default now, right?). 

It was nice seeing all of the Sabatos, including Rita, who I haven't seen since I was in high school, and meeting her husband, Randy, and 2 of her children who accompanied them on the trip from Idaho (Owen and Tori), and I'm glad that we made the trip.

(By the way, Colleen and I are going to celebrate Mother's Day next week...but she still got a card, some flowers, and a King-Sized Reese's Peanut Butter Cup...that should hold her over until this weekend!)

Phillies Game with my Cousin

Owen in front of the infamous Mike Schmidt statue

The new Jumbo-tron



Our seats to the left field wall

 



Our seats to home plate



So, there I was, sitting alone Friday evening catching up on my Uno Attack addiction on facebook, when I recieved a message from my cousing Rita.  She, her husband Randy, and two of her children (Owen and Tori) were in town for a First Communion.  I knew they were coming to the area and was anticipating making arrangements for us to take a trip down to Berlin to see them, but I did not expect what was in the message.  Apparently, there was some sort of cross-up where my Uncle Mike didn't check with anyone about the particulars of the First Communion and bought 2 Phillies baseball tickets for someone to take his grandson, Owen, to a Phillies game.

Ryan Howard taking his stance right before he knocked
one out into the seats in right-center

Placido Palanco set up at third base immediately before
fielding a ground ball while evading shards from a
shattered bat that literally missed him by mere inches.
This play ended the game.



Because of this confusion, there were no available adults to make this happen for the young man, so the message from Rita stated, followed by a request for me to take him to the Phillies game.  Now anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a Phillies fan at all, don't mind them, but I bleed Cubs blue through and through.  That combined with the fact that I hadn't seen Rita since high school and had never met her husband or any of her children made things slightly complicated.  The tickets were, of course, complimentary and they were good seats. 



After long and thoughtful consideration of all factors, Colleen gave me some light through her amazing insight (definitely a bane for me at times).  She suggested that I look at it from Owen's point of view and how excited that the game would be for him, reminding me of my childhood and how exited I would have been given similar circumstances.  That pretty much solidified my decision to go ahead and take the young man to the baseball game...and I am very glad that I did.  I made the hour-long drive to Berlin, NJ, socialized with my cousin, Rita, and her family...meeting her husband and two children...and reassociating with her grandmother and grandfather.

Philly Phanatic with the Hot Dog Cannon..shooting hot dogs
into the crowd.  That was truly an impressive display!

His excitement from the moment we got in the car was visibly apparent.  His smile was from one ear to the other, he couldn't stop talking if he wanted to, and he just kept asking about the stadium and about the city itself.  We made very good time from Berlin to the stadium and found a parking spot relatively quickly.  We watched the players during their pregame warm-ups and were entertained by Philly Phanatic throughout the game. (I do think he's the greatest mascot in baseball.) Owen was compltetely blown away by the whole majesty of it all...the new Jumbotron screen, the Liberty Bell out in right-center, and the food.

We both had a very good time.  The Phillies won, which was cool because it was his first professional sports game of any kind he'd ever been to (me, as a Cubs fan very rarely gets to see such a phenomenon). But his child-like excitement during the entire thing was very rejuvenating and rewarding to me in many ways.  Most of all, I love getting to meet "new" family and rekindle positive relations with "old" family that was either lost through bad karma or unfortunate circumstances, or that I'd never had before.  It makes me very happy to have those positive interactions with them as we all seem to grow...and, probably most importantly, have grown over the years

And, the best part of it all?  The Phillies won!



St. Joseph the Worker Fair

There's really not much to say here...we all went to the St. Joseph the Worker fair last weekend.  Christopher rode on the carousel, teddy bear ride, train, and the 50'-slide...had a blast.  Matthew still a bit too little to ride on the rides, but he seeemed to have a good time being outside in the sun nonetheless:

 

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