Sports Trip 2013 -- Destination: BOSTON

When we were in Texas over the summer, my dad mentioned that he'd be in Boston the week of September 9th for a conference.  It'd had been way too long since my dad, Jay, and I had done a sports trip together (back in 2005, my dad, Jay, and I did a sports trip to Southern California and saw an Anaheim Angels baseball game and a BYU vs. UCLA game at the Rose Bowl the following day) and, after seeing that there was a Patriots vs. Jets Thursday night game in Foxboro, MA followed by a chance to see a Red Sox vs. Yankees game the following night at Fenway Park, I knew we had to make this work.  And...it was an awesome weekend!

Patriots vs. Jets (Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA) -- One of the great rivalries in all of the NFL.  It was crazy getting into the stadium.  We parked a mile away (still paying $25 for parking) and the lines to get through the gates took 30 minutes.  The first touchdown happened as we were still walking up to our seats :( Still, it was a lot of fun.  The first half was perfect weather and half-time had a ceremony for Teddy Bruschi (recent Patriot Hall-of-Fame inductee and long-time Patriots linebacker).  Dad really enjoyed checking the weather on his phone and watching an intense line of thunderstorms coming towards us and very much was proud of the fact that he predicted that we'd be watching the 2nd half in a downpour.  He was right.

Soakin' it all in up in the "cheap" seats at Foxboro. 

PATRIOTS  - 13, JETS - 10...a sloppy game but a close game.   We battled the rain through it all at Foxboro.  While I am very appreciative for the poncho, it would have fit a young kid much better.  I look like Igor from "Young Frankenstein".

Red Sox vs. Yankees (Fenway Park in Boston, MA) -- THEE greatest rivalry in all of sports.  Ever since my first trip to Fenway several years ago, I've been telling my dad and Jay how much I wanted them to experience it and I've been wanting to take Robbie as well as he has yet to attend his first MLB professional baseball game.  We decided to bring Robbie along too and I am SOOO glad that we did. It turned out to be the best baseball game I've ever been to (mostly because I was there with my dad, my brother, and my son - seriously, can it get any better?).  The game itself was also awesome -- the Red Sox scored 4 runs in the first inning and the Yankees chipped away over the next 6 innings to tie it 4-4.  Then, in the bottom of the 7th inning, the Red Sox loaded the bases and Jared Saltalamacchia ("Salty") cranked a grand slam.  The crowd went nuts and I was literally throwing Robbie up in the air.  I yelled at him, "ROBBIE, you just saw a grand slam at your first baseball game!!!"   It was so much fun.  Jay was taking video and it was so fun to watch again.

Robbie is so fun because he can't hold back his excitement despite his best efforts.  There was an accident on the way down to Boston and Robbie couldn't stand how long it was taking to get there.  He was also very concerned about the looming rain clouds and nervous that the game was going to be rained out.  I was giddy to take Robbie with us!

On the Subway heading towards Fenway Park.

Outside of Fenway Park just behind the "Green Monster".

Right next to the 3rd Baseline and the "Green Monster".  We got there early and enjoyed all of the pre-game festivities and the first two innings from these seats where we saw two doubles off the "Green Monster", a rare bunt double, four other hits, and a total of four runs by the Red Sox before the seat owners showed up and booted us out.  

Jay, Robbie, and...A-Rod.

Did I mention how awesome these seats were?

Pre-game festivities.  Jay took this awesome picture -- it really turned out awesome!

The score was tied 4-4 until the bottom of the 7th inning and, after loading the bases, "Salty" ripped one deep into the night and, after seeing Ichiro giving up, we knew it was out.  A grand slam!  It was one of the great baseball moments I've seen in person and got to enjoy it with dad, Jay, and Robbie (and several other drunken Red Sox fans).   :)

All of us after the game.  What a memorable night!!   RED SOX - 8, YANKEES - 4

The best way to describe the night was from the comments my dad and Jay made:  my dad said, "Ryan, I've got to hand it to you, that was like no other baseball experience I've ever had.  You are right, Fenway is a neat place."  Jay said, "I feel bad for Robbie...now, he is going to compare every baseball game in the future to this game and, short of going to a playoff game, I'm not sure how he'll ever beat this."

Saturday Family Sports (Soccer Games, Playing Baseball, and Texas A&M vs. Bama) -- We were going to do some other sports events but we were pretty tired and decided instead to go watch the kids soccer games.  Aubrie, Robbie, and Hallie all had soccer games in the morning and, in between games, we played some baseball, threw the football, and threw around the frisbee too.  It was a beautiful day!

Robbie taking some batting practice after his soccer game with Grandpa, Jay, and I.

Texas A&M vs. Alabama.  An epic game resulting in Bama beating A&M 49-42.

That night, we got chicken tenders from our Manchester favorite, The Puritan.  We enjoyed the evening talking and then went to church the next day together.  My dad made one his favorite meals (rice bowls) with Aubrie as his "lovely assistant".   :)   We then took my dad to the airport and we enjoyed the rest of the evening with Jay.  The kids had so much fun playing with him on the trampoline, downstairs wrestling, etc.  It was such a fun weekend.  I can't wait until the next one!   :)

Lost treasure

I was looking through pictures tonight and found this little gem that I am pretty sure never made it onto our blog and therefore the annals of our family history.


and it really should be.

She is and was just a cute cute girl.  Here is Hallie and Blake on our bed one morning a few years back.  She just loves that boy.

Lately we have had a lot of:

cooler weather....perfect fall already--50's at night. high 60's during the day

apples.  they are so delicious here.  we haven't been apple picking yet but I can't wait I love to go

visitors--Randy and Jay came to visit for a week (WONDERFUL!), Duvall and Amy will be here soon, Tara comes 2 weeks after that--YEAH! perfect time of year to come too

watching football 

soccer practice and games.  all three kids in soccer means lots of soccer field time.  and I love it too.

fighting and whining.  and i really don't know what to about it. it could be a whole post on its own.  i am sure my grouchiness with never feeling 100% doesn't help matters.

trampoline time.  when we are home and they aren't doing homework or jobs, they are on the tramp

going to bed early.  for me :)

soup--I think I could eat soup or salad for dinner every night. luckily the kids like soup alot too.

and we bought a car.  this is a big deal.  Ryan has been driving our teal Mazda (my car from college) our entire married life.  this year for inspection it was going to cost more to fix than it was worth so we decided to bite the bullet.  true to Ryan and I's form of being risk averse, we bought a Toyota Corolla that we got a great deal on after spending 25 hours looking online.  it's fun to have an almost new car.  and I think I will actually cry when we sell our Mazda today.  that car has SOOOO many memories tied up in the fabric of it.   I was telling Aubrie the other day how sad I was to see that car go and she told me I needed to take pictures of it and write down all the memories I could think of.  and I think she's right.

Ryan's new wheels

Flight to bed

Mother/daughter campout at Camp Joseph in Vermont

Perfect Saturday evening on the tramp.  Fall day filled with soccer, jobs, playing outside and a yummy dinner of Puritan chicken tenders and IC and homemade cookies.   

Jay and Randy visiting for a "boys sports trip"

Robbie crushed our window with a rock

Helping vaccuum up the 3000 pieces of glass from the window. Nice brudda

Some how I missed this event

Right after we got back from Texas, a few days later we headed up to Pratt's lakehouse to hang out with Dave and Karla for a little bit.  As always, it's perfect.  We started missing them the minute we left. 

At 3:00 AM 2 nights ago, we (or I) hear "LOW BATTERY!", again "LOW BATTERY!" and so it continued 5-6 times as I am coming out of the deepest sleep.  "Are you serious?" is what I was thinking.  It's always something.  If it's not my back hurting, or my allergies or getting up to go to the bathroom 3X a night--of course the smoke detector would run out of battery...in the middle of the night.

So, being the generous, loving wife that I am, I woke Ryan up (what would we do if we really did have a fire is what I was thinking too) and asked him if he would be interested in changing the batteries of our smoke detector.

I wish I had a picture of him leaning against  the frame of our door, barely able to stay awake, watching the three different smoke detectors near our room to see which one needs a new battery.  And he sat there for 4-5 minutes and nothing happened.    So, then in  my delirium I think something is wrong with the kids and Heavenly Father was trying to wake us up.  So, Ryan kindly went and checked on the kids, all was well and while he is downstairs he decides to test the smoke detector by the kids door to see if that is the culprit.  The smoke alarms downstairs are all connected so it sets all 3 of the ones downstairs off going through their cycle of "Fire, Fire" over and over and then "Carbon Monoxide" over and over all at different times. Doesn't find it and gets back in bed.

 We just are dozing off... and then "LOW BATTERY!" over and over.  Ryan wants to curse, doesn't, gets back out of bed, sits there leaning against the frame of the door waiting to see which one it is, finally it says it again, he pulls it down and goes to find replacement batteries--which of course we didn't have the size he needed.  So, he puts the whole thing down and climbs back in bed and then we hear Aubrie.
"Um, dad.....(we later find out she is whispering because she was trying to hold her breathe because she had learned about carbon monoxide poisoning somehow and had told all the other kids to "hold their breathe" while she checked things out), we have carbon monoxide in our house.  What are we going to do?"    Ryan explained the whole thing to Aubrie and we all laughed about it the next morning at breakfast when Aubrie was explaining it from her perspective.  She must not have fully believed Ryan because she said it took forever to get back to sleep because she was worried.

Good times.

Hallie and Blake

This morning in the kitchen--

Hallie: Mom, I have a surprise for you that I just can't wait I have to tell you
Me: Really, what is it?
Hallie: Well, today I am just going to get out of the car and get in line with the kids and march right into school.  It's boring sitting outside, waiting, waiting, and it's hot.  School is so fun and I just want to get in there.
Me: (just kind of staring at her--because that is a 180) are you serious?
Hallie: yeah.  (huge smile as she walks away)


and that is exactly what happened.  She didn't even turn around and look back.




Sitting in the car driving home from the YMCA---

Hallie: Mom, I have a helper
Me: You do....who is it?
Hallie: Well, it's in my head.  I have a helper in my head.  Well, it's kind of like it's me that's being the helper. And it helps me make decisions.

(and I am wondering if somehow the two conversations are related and I think Hallie is so adept at using her words to explain what is going on in her head and all around her.  I really like to hear her talk.)



We were in the RS room at the church and Blake and I were helping set up for a baby shower and I had stopped to help Blake turn on a show on my phone. He was sitting on the floor with my phone and I leaned my head over his shoulder and kind of leaned in close to him to see what he was doing and then he was just so cute so I kissed his cheek.

Blake:  (smiling) Mom, do you like me?

I think anyone that reads our blog probably has seen this video, but just in case....