Fun with the Folks 2011

I have told you before about going out to Spring Training games out at Disney's Wide World of Sports.  This time we sprung for box seats while Mom and Dad were here.  We waited too late to sit low, but, honestly I think every seat in the house is a good one.  We got out early for batting practice and to watch the ground crew do their thing.  It was St. Patricks Day so they had a bit extra to do--one of the pics shows the big cloverleaf stencil they put on the base line.

Dad had a bit of trouble with all the walking from the parking lot, but, he ended up doing ok.  The staff is really helpful and made sure they had a temp seat for him if he couldn't make it up and down the steps.  We were a bit worried about the weather, but, it turned out perfect.  Not to hot and not to cold.  

The game was against the Washington Nationals and the Braves ended up blowing them out despite the Nationals late game challenge.  We got to see a couple homeruns, and, the fireworks they shot off after.  Oh, and it was the  first game back for the coach who got hit by a ball and lost his eye a month earlier.  Thank God, there were no mishaps this game. 

A couple nights later we took advantage of more good weather and scooted over to City Walk at Universal Studios where we had dinner at Margaritaville.  It was fun, the drinks were plentiful, food was delicious and the music was loud!  This is usually a problem for Dad's ringing in the ears, but, the waitress offered earplugs and he made it through with no complaints.  

  

We also made a run one afternoon over to Tampa to see my cousin Angie, Nick and the kids.  What a great family they have!  I don't know how in the world you keep house for five kids, home school and keep yourself in one piece but Angie has it all figured out.  Nick was just back from a month of training which took him back up to Quantico (I think that was where anyway) and we were happy to see them all.  Below you can see Christian performing his drum solo and Andrew playing around.  Somehow I missed a group shot on my camera, but, I hope Rod or Mom got one!