That One Time We Went to the World Series!!!

 

 

 

Let me tell you, it’s a beautiful thing when a husband and wife share the same interests. You never know, it just might lead to a spontaneous mid-week road trip!

 

But first, let me start at the beginning. You see, I’ve loved baseball my whole life. In a state that bleeds St. Louis Cardinals red, I grew up rooting for the Atlanta Braves with my daddy, mainly because all of their games were broadcast on TBS. Easy access, you know. I was a fan way before Chipper Jones took the team to the top…back in the heyday of Dale Murphy, Ron Gant, David Justice, Fred McGriff and Brian Jordan. Oh, and I loved me some nutty John Rocker.

 

I was the girl who sat alone in the sorority house basement watching baseball playoffs in the mid-90s when the Braves were killing it.

 

Before inter league play, I barely knew there was an American League.

 

Fast forward some years when I met a guy who didn’t speak my language. You see, my boyfriend was an AL guy. Sheesh.  I even took him to St. Louis to a Cards/Braves game on one of our first dates, hoping to convert him. And what happened surprised us all…

 

 

 

 

I married him anyway and he converted me. It took some time, but I think I’ve turned into an AL gal. This guy who stole my heart also took me to Kansas City, to the most beautiful baseball stadium, to introduce me to his favorite team. Over the past 12 years, we’ve sat through opening day temps below freezing, we’ve been to games with more ushers than butts in the seats and we’ve dragged our three kids to a game that was standing room only (NEVER AGAIN).

 

Even better, we attended the 2012 All-Star Game and Home Run Derby in Kansas City, which has definitely been the sports highlight of my life thus far. This was also Chipper’s final All-Star game, and I might have cried through most of it, but I can’t say for sure.

 

I might be a girl, but after getting to the All-Star Game, the biggest remaining thing on my bucket list was to get to a World Series game. I’m sure that we would have laughed if anyone had suggested, even five years ago, that the KC Royals would be in the WS, which would give me the most logistically convenient path to attending a World Series game. 

 

 

 

Being the most excellent wife that I am, I bought AL playoff tickets for Lee in 2014, because I knew he’d waited almost 30 years to see “his team” end their cycle of loserness. I was also happy to cheer them on, but I wanted him to soak in the moment. I gave up my ticket for mommy duty (regret), and he took off to enjoy a couple of days in KC gorging on baseball and BBQ.

 

So, when fate took the Royals back to the Series this year, we knew we had to get ourselves there. We debated all through the playoffs—to go or hold off for the WS?  We held off, in hopes that we could get a hold of some tickets—beg, borrow, steal or take out a bank loan. We talked ourselves into heading to KC for Game 1 vs. the Mets, but changed our minds last minute due to the awful weather forecast. Of course, this ended up being the game that went FOURTEEN INNINGS.  Sigh. Oh well. We made arrangements for childcare and I took two days off work so we could head to Game 2, WITHOUT TICKETS.  What???  I know, probably the most impulsive thing I’ve ever done, but so glad we did.

 

 

 

We got to KC in time to have a little tailgating time with several thousand other blue-clad, die-hard fans, most of them already having tickets in hand. Once our burgers were finished, with a pocket full of cash, we started the walk to the stadium in hopes that someone would have mercy on us. Let's just say, that mission was not accomplished. You see, the poor, down-trodden, overlooked Kansas City Royals from the past are none of that anymore. They are champions and the fans have multiplied! There were easily another several hundred other people with the same idea as us, and as unlucky as us. Nobody was selling tickets at all. We hung out until after the second inning then took off toward home. We stopped along the way to watch the game and have dinner and talk about what might have been.

 

We aren't sorry that we tried. We had a lovely adventure together and used the long ride home to plan our ticket procurement strategy for next year. Challenge accepted.

 

 

 

 

More KC Pics

Here are a few more pictures from our recent trip to Kansas City. I usually have a hard time taking lots of photos because I just don't have enough hands to carry everything else with a camera, and hold hands with kids.  Surprisingly, I got several pics this time.

The kids' area at Kaufman stadium is very nice. There is a carousel, a mini golf course, playground, batting cages and a place for kids to hit and run the bases.  Since we didn't have seats for the game, we spent a lot of time in the kids' area this time. 

The kids wanted me to take their picture with the "big ice cream." It was out in front of the ice cream stand at the stadium, naturally. Boy Twin really just wanted to lick it. Good luck getting them to all look at the camera.  Ewwww!

Weekend Travels

Last weekend, we took a quick trip to KC for one night. It was the last home stand for the Royals this season, and there were potential playoff implications at stake (I know, crazy!).  After soccer on Saturday morning, we hit the road and headed north.

Lee and I have always loved going to  KC, that's no big secret. We've taken Big Sis a few times, but this was the first time for all five of us to go together. The little ones were quite excited.  Girl Twin asked repeatedly if there was a beach at "Kansasth Thity." Sadly, there is not. But our hotel had a cool waterfall.

Long story short, the game was sold out--never, ever, ever in a million years has that ever happened to us in KC--so we missed the free fleece blanket giveaway. If you know Lee, you know that us not walking away with five blankets was enough to ruin the weekend. Period. We had to get standing room only tickets, which meant we watched the big screen in the kids' play area for most of the game. The kids had a blast, and didn't even know what they were missing, sadly. However, by the mid-7th inning, we were able to find seats in the handicap area and they were in awe of the "bigness" of it all.

Our view of the field once we found seats. And, look at my baby boy! He never took his eyes off the game! Didn't even notice the guy next to him with a blue face and mohawk...

We ate lunch at Fritz's Railroad Diner and had our food delivered to our table by a mini train. Huge hit. We explored for at least an hour in the Crayola store, which blew Big Sis's mind. We walked around Union Station and saw the model train exhibit, which took up a whole room. Then, we walked across the bridge just in time for a real train to drive below us. In 24 quick hours, we crammed in a lot of fun!

My Crayola kids

And, we boarded Fergie for the first time ever. What a diva dog! I think we were nervous to leave her, but she did just fine. It was only for one night.  It was a good test to see how we'd all manage on a weekend fun trip. It clearly wore some of us out.