Reds Game

We took the kids to their first Cincinnati Reds game this past weekend. I know, I know-six years of Abby being around and this was her first game? In my defense, we meant to go earlier this season, but would anyone really want to see a pregnant woman sweating it out in the nose bleed section with two crazy kids? That would be a no.

It ended up being the perfect night to go. Actually, let me rephrase-the perfect weather night. As for other circumstances, not so much.

We bought our cheap tickets and headed for the top section. This is where I am torn as a parent. The top section means no chance of a line drive hitting my child in the head. But, it does make me dizzy and in constant fear that they could slip on a step and go hurdling down onto the section below.

Yes, I am a mom.

Of course the kids were excited about our seats in peanut heaven. To them, that was the best place to be. They happily settled down in their seats, lasted about two minutes before begging for cotton candy, and excitedly watched their surroundings.

Our seats actually had a pretty good view-right behind home plate (well, behind and up a bit). On an aisle so this pregnant lady did not have to make people move with every bathroom trip. I even said to Nick, "These are great seats because we will be able to see everything really well." Okay, so I guess I jinxed us.

Turns out it was Boy Scout night. And, it turns out, most of the Boy Scouts just happened to be in our section. Now, these are not your polite, mature, older Boy Scouts-these were little kids who did not have any idea on how to sit still through a baseball game. Heck, they could not sit still through an inning. Okay, not even one at bat.

Between the crazy scouts who kept running up and down the stairs (while their parents ignored them and watched the game) and the drunk guys in the next section over who got escorted out, I am not sure I watched too much of the actual game. Oh, and let us not forget the other spectators in our row...

Here is a lesson for all of you who do not know how to sit down at a game:

-You look at your ticket and find your section.

-Before heading up or down the stairs in that particular section, take another look at your ticket and find your seat number. If it looks like your seat is closer to the other side of the row, start on that side. Does it really make sense to enter your row from the side that is furthest from your seat?

-If you really cannot handle the above lesson and still make your entire row stand up for you to cross through with all of your food and bags, can you not give the nine month pregnant woman a dirty look for not giving you enough room?

-Make a decision about where you are going before standing in front of an entire section of people who paid to watch a game and not your behind.

Once the drunk guys were thrown out, people stopped arriving to our section and the boy scouts settled down (because one little boy bumped his head and a genius adult finally said, "You guys need to settle down!") it was the seventh inning. We stretched and sang our song, then left with the kids who were hitting their exhaustion point. Ice cream in hand, we walked the six blocks uphill to our car (waiting for me to go into labor at any point) and headed home.

The kids were asleep before we crossed the first bridge out of the city.

As I started to drift off as well, an image from the movie Parenthood popped into my mind. It is the opening credit scene in which the family of five is walking back to their mini-van from the baseball game with all of their gear and exhausted children. That scene always made me tired and now it just makes me smile.