Tuesday, August 12, 2008

ballgames, birthday parties, and snacks.....

This past Saturday we took a little road trip......Donovan's company was having a company picnic in Cincinnati at the Great American Ball park.
The company gave us unlimited hot dogs, pop, chips, popcorn, and peanuts. All we could eat.



This was my first time at a major league baseball park, and I was very amazed at the size of it. The stadium can seat over 42,000 people! Here were some other statistics I found to be equally amazing....





Ticket windows: 25
Concourse widths: 40 feet (12 m)
Escalators: 3
Passenger elevators: 14
Public restrooms: 47 (20 women, 20 men, seven family)
Concession stands: 28
Parking spaces: 850


And thankfully the company also gave us ballpark bucks to spend at the game...the piece of pizza in the above picture was $5! That's $5 for one piece of pizza people!!! I was seriously livin' the dream....when they gave us $50-ballpark bucks to spend while we were there. I am very good at spending money actually. Whether ballpark bucks or otherwise.




And while the kids did enjoy the food and atmosphere of being at the ballgame....the real question was....."When can we go back to the hotel and go swimming?"





Our hotel was also funded by Donovan's work....again livin' the dream. Loving staying in nice hotels...with free breakfast, at absolutely no cost. Our hotel was actually in Kentucky. Which was just across the bridge from the ballpark. Which conveniently we could walk across the bridge after the game. I couldn't resist stopping to get a picture of sweet little Suzy perched up top of papa. She kept leaning her elbows on daddy's head singing her little made up songs. She was loving it.


getting back to the hotel....and loving the huge king bed.....







Here is a attempt to get a picture of our hotel...in the background, the next morning.



Here was a highlight for the kids...the hotel pet.
Another highlight...sneaking out the next morning at 8:30 while little sister and little brother are sleeping .....to go swimming. Donovan stayed with the younger 2, while I took the older 2 swimming....

At breakfast, enjoying hot chocolate.
After filling ourselves to the brim with the free breakfast, we took a walk to the bridge to see what it was too dark to see the night before. How fun to be so carefree and relaxed on a Sunday morning.






This wall was just in front of our hotel. It is the Roebling Murals, it was amazing. It was a time line of events of the city.



And while we are admiring the amazing time and artistic talent that went into this project....William comes over, points at the Buffalo's back end and starts laughing...because there is something stuck to the buffalo's bum....while making little boy comments, that only seemed to amuse other boys.


The view from our room.


And what vacation wouldn't be complete without fighting over who gets to push the button to the elevator???


After packing it up....we headed out for another adventure. This adventure was about a 6 hour drive. My cousin who lives in Michigan was having a 50th Birthday Party.....

My sweet cousin...Wilma. She has just finished treatments for breast cancer, and is celebrating life. Her hair is growing back darker, and I think it looks awesome on her!


Wow, she has been an encourager and an example to me in this last year with the amazing faith she has had through all of this. She is one amazing lady. We had a really great time catching up with cousins and other family members....enjoying some awesome snacks and refreshments...and really enjoying not being in the car!!!

I wish adults always threw birthday parties.


So on with the quote of the day....

Fresh from the memory of tonight.


Jack: "Where are we going Dad?"

Dad: "We are going to Mr. Showalters house for snacks" (side note: our new pastor)

Jack: "Why are we going to Mr. Showalters house for sex?"

Dad: "Jack! I said, Snacks. We are going for snacks."

Jack: "oh, o.k."


Thank the good Lord in heaven...the conversation ended there. I didn't know Jack even knew that word.

9 comments:

Kim said...

Sounds like so much fun heather! Yeah, kids sure can throw you a curve ball sometimes can't they?

Kim said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

o happy days! looks like a fun weekend, heather. the pictures were all great! the one of suzy w/ her head propped on donovan's head was the sweetest! her face expression was so cute.

leave it to the boys for saying something like that! =D

sherri said...

What a fun weekend! Perfect get away before school starts. Loved all the pictures!

Jack, you crack me up! Now I want to know if you shared the funny quote with the pastor? :)

Cindy said...

So I'm just sitting at my computer laughing hysterically!!! :) And the elevator thing ... do all kids fight to push the button? My 14 and 10 year old still fight about it.

Unknown said...

Cindy....You mean I still have many years left of fighting over the elevator buttons???? GReat@!*#&@&@



Sherri, After we had some warm up time with the pastor, and got to know them better.....we knew they would crack up. So we told them what Jack said, and yes they loved it!

Beth said...

You have some of the cutest kids and stories from them that I've seen.... You're quote of the day, TOO FUNNY!!! I can so here a kid saying that! You are very descriptive with everything, would love to scrapbook with you to get ideas :)!

cheryl said...

The trip to Cinci looks like it was a fun one. I love baseball, so it would have been rigth up my alley. I've walked past that park, but have not seen a game there.
You thanked the good Lord in Heaven that the conversation ended where it did re: the "snacks". Just be glad he didn't walk in the door and announce to the pastor that his dad said you were there for sex. That would have been funny, um, not so much! ha!

Anonymous said...

Great pics! I always love the little stories and all the cute quotes!