Remember a couple weeks ago when we had Sports week and we had planned on wrapping it up with a Sunday trip to see the Rays play, but it didn't quite work out? Well, today we finally got to use our tickets! As a bonus when we had previously been scheduled to go, Asa was working. But today he wasn't, so he got to go along with us. On Friday we found a ticket for him in the same section as us, just one row in front of us, and directly in front of our seats, which was as close to perfect as we could expect.
We all piled in the car and headed over to Saint Pete for what the Rays call "Family Fun Day". These happen every Sunday during the regular season. Kids 14 and under (Calib still qualifies!) get all kinds of perks. It's great! Not only that, but cars with 4 or more people get to park for free. You can't say the Rays don't try and bolster their ticket sales.
It was a hot one out there today, and on the way home we encountered sunshine, then a torrential downpour, and then sunshine again (oh, Florida summer weather). Lucky for us, the Rays play in a nice air conditioned dome at Tropicana Field.
We were there early to get the giveaway for kids. Each of the boys got one of those little basketball hoop sets that you can hang on the back of doors. Then we played some games. During Family Fun Days, it's all free for kids.
Both Peyton and Hayden tried their hand at pitching. Hayden topped out at 17 mph, but Peyton got up to 30 mph.
Calib did the batting cage and hit a few.
Before we headed to our seats, we got a nice view of the field close up. Calib and I have gone to a couple games together, but this was Peyton and Hayden's first time at a professional baseball game. They've been to the minor leagues and had a good time, though.
We were up in the 300 section, but we're pretty used to that with our Bucs tickets way up high.
And the four tickets I had previously bought cost me $25 total, so it wasn't too pricey.
When the game started we realized Hayden had no idea what was going on. We're not really baseball people, but we do keep an eye on the Rays. As far as strikes, outs and even innings, the kid had no idea. So here is Asa trying to explain.
To make things even cheaper they let you bring in your own food! Only Peyton would request I bring go-go squeeze to a baseball game. They do let you bring in your own water and juice boxes too, so we had a whole mini backpack stocked.
After the third inning, Hayden was a little fidgety, so I took him to do some of the other things going on around the stadium while Asa, Peyton and Calib stayed behind to watch the game. First up, Hayden got a baseball card of himself.
We got a close up view of David Price pitching (He did a great job, the Blue Jays didn't score at all!)
The Tampa Bay Rays even have some real sting rays in a touch tank that you can pet!
Then I took Hayden to play some more games.
He even got to play a little mini golf, and some wack-a-mole.
The best part, it was all free-- from the baseball card to the touch tank and all the games.
We stopped on the way back up and splurged on some snacks for everyone. I got a blooming onion from the outback steakhouse stand, and some popcorn. All in all, that was the only money we spent today at the stadium (since we already had the tickets). Even that was only $12, which I figured was pretty good for stadium food.
The best part of all- the Rays won! They beat Toronto 3-0.
We didn't get to see any home runs (which we were really hoping to!), but it was a good game and we had lots of fun.
After the games on Sunday, kids can run the bases! By the time we got down to the 100 section the line was pretty long. It went out the door (but it was moving pretty fast). Peyton, meanwhile, ended up with a lizard on his foot. He was happy to leave it there.
It only took us about 15 minutes to get to the front of the line for base running though.
The boys took off, allowing me zero time to get my camera ready.
By the time Asa and I got over to home plate, Calib and Peyton had already crossed. They did hand me a Sneak Peeks type card though, so there might be a really good picture out there. I just haven't gone to look at it yet. I did get Hayden running across though.
Running the bases did get a couple mentions at 'favorite part of the day' time at dinner.
It was a good afternoon at the baseball game for the Waterstrauts! Even Asa was happy he went, and he isn't so much a baseball fan, football is more his speed (training camp is coming soon! and our season tickets should be coming too!)
On the way home the boys had the magna doodle and were doing math, totally on their own. At one point Peyton was trying to explain something to Hayden and I heard him say "now, bear with me here".
We had put dinner in the slow cooker before we left, so dinner was on the table less than 10 minutes after we got home, which allowed us time to hit the pool before it closed.
Also worth noting, Asa passed another class so it was rootbeer floats all around! He submitted his Java project for review yesterday and got it back late last night with 4's on everything! Only two weeks into his six months and he's already passed one of the required four classes, that's pretty awesome.
Oh, and in case you're wondering what week is up next, it's going to be Disney Week! This got postponed from being our first theme week to smack dab in the middle because of lots of events the first week in June. Since it's a short week (we lost today to Baseball, and Saturday starts our next week), we threw a little Disney in this morning with a brunch of Mickey pancakes before the game today. (I realize now I should have had Asa turn his plate around).
We've even got a theme menu this week (and next with USA week coming up next)
That's it from here for today. Asa is work from home this week, and we have some fun Disney crafts planned, so it should be a good time.
Up Next: DISNEY WEEK! (Can you tell I'm excited?)
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