Take Me Out To the Ballgame

Today Andrew Jeff and I were off to the ballgame. Our destination was the Salt River Stadium at Talking Stick Resort. Grandma got the directions from Map quest, it was a 28 minute drive from the house.  Note to self......don't trust map quest.
Regardless Jeffs natural radar kicked in with help from Andrew and we arrived at the right place.
It was pretty stinking hot and we were sitting in the sun all day. The plastic seats felt like hotplates! Ready to watch the Arizona Diamondbacks play the San Diego Padres.  Our seats were pretty much even with left field, or maybe it was right field?! Anyway, the field, and we were about 6 rows up from the level field. Pretty good seats.
Andrew was enjoying the game and we were making sure he drank lots of liquids.
Unlike tennis where if a ball goes out of the court spectators have to throw it back, in baseball fans keep the balls, in fact players often randomly toss balls into the audience and lots of kids and adults bring their own mitts to the game hoping for a catch. During a time between innings one of the Padres was tossing a ball to a youngster, the ball hit the wall and bounced up hitting ME on the forehead. The guy sitting next to me tried at the last second to deflect but missed! Of course the ball bounced off my head and back down to the field!  the Padres player was most concerned and was calling up to me to see if I was ok, several other stadium people also came to ask if I was ok. I realized we were in the country where sueing is big business!
The game continued and after 9 innings the score was tied 3/3. At this point a couple of the players were heading off the field to the lockers walking by our seating area. One of them was the player who had beaned me and as he came even with us he asked if I would like a bat and pulled one out of his bag. I must say I was about to ask if I could have a ball instead thinking it would be easier for Andrew to take home! Good thing I did not! The guy sitting beside me was horrified at that plan! Little did I know the value of the personalized bat! The Padres player had last year played for the LA Dogers and consensus was that he would be a fall of famer one day. The bat was engraved with his name MATT KEMP, his number etc. it was also covered in sticky pine pitch. Andrew very carefully and revlantly carried it out of the park to the admiring looks of many people. Several people spoke to us about the bat and we began to realize more fully that this was of great value. We were advised not to clean the pitch, to leave the bat as is, to place it in a protective case! I told Andrew one day he could sell it to a collector and have the down payment on his first house.
I could tell that was the furthest thing from his 15 year old mind!
Meanwhile the Diamondbacks and the Padres played a tenth inning which did not result in anymore runs for either team and the ballgame was over.
We arrived home just after 5pm and were on our way to Harolds bar for dinner and to listen to the blues/rock band the Arizona Blues Project. We had a table for 8 as friends, Preston, Nancy, Susan, Brian, and Ron were joining us.
It was a good evening, Andrew watched both a hockey game and our afternoon ballgame on the bar TVs and enjoyed the music.
I would say he definitely enjoyed his last day.....he is heading home to Vancouver tomorrow, we loved having him here!

Another Day in Lalaland

Today Jeff was off playing tennis so Andrew got to sleep in again! Breakfast became lunch and Andrew was off on his vey first motorcycle ride. The destination was an outside Bar called Greasewood Flats. It is down a short dirt country road and is rustic in decor. There is beer if you are past the age of 21 and lots of "funny" people watching.  Andrew is getting his fill of those!
Afterwards returning home, some time was spent at the swimming pool.
We went out for pizza dinner at a little place run by the same family for over 25 years, it is the best pizza we have ever had so Andrew was in for a treat. Several funny things happened.......first we noticed that maybe the servers were a little different, like maybe they were a bit simple, simple but very friendly....all good.  WHen we were ready to go we asked for the remaining pizza to be put in a take away box. For some reason something told me, when the girl brought the boxed pizza, that we should check if it was Indeed our pizza......sure enough it was not and I realized the couple walking out of the restaurant had ours. So I yelled after them.....hey, you've got our pizza! The server grabbed our box and ran after them and the switch was made! Phew, saved by grandma!
Next stop was the Buffalo Chip  Bar/bull riding extravaganza. Andrew had an x drawn on each hand with a felt tip marker, this is so he can't be served beer. We watched the band and dancing for awhile then in time we went out back to the grandstands, found seats and settled to watch the bull riding. Wednesdays are for amateurs and it was a bit slow till one cowboy got his hand stuck and the bull could not unseat him. He was dangling like a rag doll and about six clowns ran to the rescue.....piling on the bull to try stop him. Eventually the hand was released. It was quite a sight.
Back to the homestead where Andrew offered to finish off the coconut cake for us......thanks Andrew!
Too late for a hot tub tonight.

Andrews Spring Break Visit to Arizona March 2015

We are so happy to have Andrew visit our Arizona home. He has visited before with his parents and siblings. We aim to show him our side of Carefree and Cave Creek.
Day one after picking him up at the airport we drove home through Cave Creek as there was a big "happening" happening! Loads of market tents, and hundreds of Motorcycles. It was quite a sight to see all the "funny" people as grandpa calls them! Just regular people in weekend mode. The day ended with a hot tub.
Monday morning it was early rising as grandpa and Andrew were climbing Black Mountain with our friend Strat. Black mountain is a strenuous climb pretty much a scramble up a pile of black rocks. Grandpa said later it was like Andrew was on an escalator, as he powered up. Of course grandma made sure he had a banana before they left and a camelback with water. Good thing as the camelback was dry on their return.
After the climb the three of them went for "coffee" at The Red Truck where Andrew devoured a sandwich.  He spent some of the rest of the day napping. Teenagers do need more sleep I told grandpa!! Before dinner we took a drive out to Bartlett Lake which is about 10 miles from our house. We had heard the wild flowers were in bloom but if they were we did not see them. The day finished with the ritual hot tub.
Tuesday morning we let the "boy" (grandpa calls him that!) sleep in, while grandpa went off to play pickle ball. Andrew got up at my urging at 10:30 as he had to eat before the excursion of the day.Grandpa was home at 11:00 and shortly thereafter they were off to a spring training baseball game. We had bought two tickets to the Camelback Stadium where the San Francisco Padres and the Chicago white Sox had a game. The seats were behind home plate and up eleven rows.....very good seats. Oh....on the way to the game they stopped to buy Andrew a pair of us glasses as he had forgotten to pack his.
Home again, it was bbq time, and afterwards we had a bonfire in the back garden overlooking the runway, and pointing the iPad at the sky with the star walk app.
Again the day is finishing with the ritual hot tub.
Tomorrow is another full day.