Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

We took Elizabeth to her first ever baseball game on Sunday -- a MLB game, no less (she only goes first class!) Pittsburgh v. Detroit.

A few things of note: Throw back day to 1909 -- not a good thing! No music, no video board, no additional scoreboards (so you can keep up with other games), no mascot, no 7th inning stretch...a bit of a snooze-fest, IMHO.

Traffic was ridiculous. Not completely because of the game, but the Pittsburgh Arts Festival is going on, too...and the way the signs directed traffic from the Interstate was not well thought out. We sat in traffic for much longer than we typically would have, so we didn't get Elizabeth as much time on the bouncy toys as we would have wanted.

Reid kept score, like he and his Dad would do at games they attended together. Some day he'll be able to teach Elizabeth how to keep score at a game.

It was a beautiful day...very sunny...quite hot for early June. I sprayed both Elizabeth and me down with SPF 50. She managed to darken her tan. I burned my shoulders, not painfully though, a bit on my legs, and a bit on my face. I'm so thankful that Elizabeth has Reid's complexion...it's an awful lot of work to stay as white as I am!

A huge thrill for us was the introduction of the Pittsburgh Penguins -- with Sidney Crosby carrying in Lord Stanley's Cup. Woo Hoo! Let's Go PENS! What a treat for E's first game!

Although Elizabeth didn't watch a lot of the game, she was sooooo good. And she got a couple of "surprises" for Papa in the gift shop during the 2nd inning. (Although she may have let the cat out of the bag yesterday evening on the phone. We'll see if Papa can get an Oscar for his acting surprised in a few days...)

The Pirates won, making it a very bad weekend to be a Detroit fan. Elizabeth is now a fan of the Pirates, too. (No worries, Papi, she still says that the Red Sox are her very favorite.) She was disappointed that she didn't get to see Baseball Papi. I tried to no avail to explain that Baseball Papi plays for a different league...

One of Elizabeth's highlights was getting to run the bases after the game. It is really neat that they let kids down on the infield to run the bases on their Sunday home games. Elizabeth, like many of the kids, was a bit disappointed that she didn't get more than one trip around the bases. However, later in the evening, when we were eating dinner at Cheddars, E saw a picture of PNC Park behind our booth. She told us, "That is where I ran 'round, and 'round, and 'round, and 'round the bases."

Shame on Daddy

Elizabeth doesn't like to be shamed on. She doesn't really mind being in trouble. She doesn't care if we tell her to stop doing something because she may get hurt. But shaming on her -- that she wants no part of! (See Blog entry from January 12, 2009: http://wvu-mama.blogspot.com/2009/01/nearly-forgotten-elizabeth-funny.html).

We were having an indoor picnic lunch today when Reid started playing with the left-over popcorn kernels. I told him to stop since I didn't want Elizabeth to pick up on this. (He does listen, so he stopped.)

But ever the Daddy's girl, Elizabeth said to me, "Don't tell that to Daddy."

To which I, ever the one to egg on, said, "Shame on you, Daddy. You shouldn't do that."

Then Elizabeth moved from sitting beside us both to sitting as close to her Daddy without being on his lap and told me, "Don't shame on my Daddy! He's a good boy!"

He didn't offer to buy her a pony for taking his side, but I think we're going to "the Oglebay" in a little bit to go swimming. And he just got us tickets to go to the Pirates game tomorrow. It will be Elizabeth's first MLB game (sorry, kiddo that you won't be watching Baseball Papi and the Red Sox!) It looks to be a pretty neat day for her first game -- there are a ton of promotions going on: Players at the Gate - where all players & coaches (excluding the starting pitcher) will be greeting fans at the gates from 12:00 noon - 12:30 p.m.; Turn Back the Clock Day - The Pirates and Tigers Turn-Back-The-Clock at PNC Park to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the 1909 World Series matchup that saw the Pirates defeat the Tigers for their first World Series Championship. In honor of this anniversary, both teams will wear their 1909 uniforms as the Pirates replicate the turn of the century ballpark in-game experience.; Kids Day - Sunday home Pirates games are Kids Days! From the Giant Eagle Kids Fun Zone on Federal Street before the game to after the final pitch when all kids are invited to Run the Bases right down on the field, Sundays are for the youngest Pirates fans. (Pre and post-game activities are subject to schedule and weather.); and Kids Ice Cream Bowl - Kids 14 and younger get this ice cream bowl.

She is sooooo excited to go to the game tomorrow! I hope she does #2 in the potty so she can eat the ice cream out of that bowl tomorrow... We shall see!

Where Is It?

With just about 4 minutes to go in the nail-biter that was the Game 6 of the Stanley Cup (Go Pens!), Elizabeth begins the quest to find her paci.

"Where is it, Mommy?"
"Where is it, Nana?"
"I don't want that one, Papa."
"Daddy, where's my paci?"

This is basically all we heard for the final 4 minutes of this ridiculously tight game.

There are 26 seconds to go in the game when Papa asks Elizabeth, "Where did you have your paci last?"

E replies, "In my MOUTH!"

She's too darned funny!

Let's Go Pens! It would be too sweet to see Crosby lift that 35 pound cup...