A Night at the Ball Park

Back in June, Alex and Eva won tickets to the Cardinals Baseball game through the summer reading program at our county library.  I was really shocked when the letter and ticket vouchers came in the mail.  We’ve attempted to do the summer reading program for several consecutive summers.  We have always failed.  Well, wait, let me rephrase that.  I have always failed.  They have always been eager participants.  I have not been very good at going to and from the library to turn in their forms and get new books.  This summer, we put the summer reading club on our bucket list and I committed to helping them complete it.

After the first prize stop, they were able to enter a drawing for the baseball tickets.  I put both of their names in and never thought about it again.  A few weeks later, the letter and voucher were in the mailbox.  And not just for one of them, but BOTH!  I still have my suspicions that the librarians may have rigged the drawing based on the level of smitteness they had taken with Alex and Eva.  But, who am I to judge.

Each voucher was good for 2 tickets so we had just enough to take the whole family.  Granted, Layla would have to sit on my lap, but whoo hoo free baseball game.  When they got the vouchers, we had just gone to a game the week before.  A game in which I purchased tickets at a ridiculously low rate.  Even though it was scorching hot at that game and we were as far in the nose-bleed section as possible, we still had a great time!

For this go around, I decided on bleacher seats.  Of course there were many blacked out dates that the tickets couldn’t be used and with the visitation schedule with their dad in combination with the Cardinals home gameschedule, I found one date that would work…and Eva would have to miss soccer practice.  She made the sacrifice and we went to the game last night.

With the exception of Layla, everyone was in a great mood yesterday afternoon.  From the time I picked her up from the babysitter all she did was cry.  She looked exhausted and maybe a little under the weather.  I thought dinner (French Dip sandwiches and chips courtesy of my forethought crock pot dinner idea) and a little down time at home would lighten her mood.  It didn’t.  At 6pm, I made the executive decision that she wasn’t going to the game.  It broke my heart, but I rationalized that at 3 years old she wouldn’t remember that we went without her.  Plus, she has no interest in baseball at this age.  It was a chilly 60 degrees.  And her incessant crying would probably turn what was supposed to be a fun night into a living nightmare for all of us.

My mom agreed to keep Layla and the big kids and I went to the game. 

Because I’m going to New Orleans in two weeks and Christmas is only a few months away, and I have high school tuition and attorney fees to pay, I’ve been operating on a very, very tight budget the last few months.  I was a little nervous about even being able to afford the game even though the tickets were FREE!  But doing what I do best, I improvised.   The most expensive part of a professional sporting activity is the concession stand.  However, Busch Stadium (and maybe other stadiums, too) allows you to bring in your own snacks.  It’s a little restrictive such as no glass, no cans, no alcohol, but better than nothing.

I made some popcorn after work packed some drinks for me and the kids.  Now I know they don’t allow cans or alcohol, but I thought I’d take a little bit of a risk and “sneak” in a beer or two.  The secret to this is to have the beer cans positioned strategically in the bag.  Typically the worker feels the bag and pokes around on the top.  They don’t have you remove every item…which is perfect when you are pinching pennies.  We got ourselves and our snacks and drinks in without a hitch.

The game was great!  It was a really nice evening weather wise.  We were prepared with sweatshirts, jackets and blankets.  It was a rather slow game with no score or hits going into the sixth inning.  This, too, was actually perfect.  It meant the game wasn’t going too late and it gave us all an opportunity to chat and catch up without me wrangling a 3 year old.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Cardinals scored the first run.  Quickly followed by a second run.  The crowd was on their feet and very, very loud!  The kids had never experienced this level of excitement at a game.  They were laughing and cheering and overwhelmed with joy.  We left our seat when there were 2 outs in the top of the 9^th and nobody on.  As long as nothing crazy happened, the Cardinals would win and we’d be on our way to the car.  Within seconds of getting to the gate, fireworks went off declaring it was a winner!

What makes this game so special is that every win matters now!  The Cardinals are in hot pursuit of a play-off ticket.  They are now one game closer.

It was a great night with my big kids.  And total cost of the evening….$15.