Sunday Sunday Sunday!

Back in August the kids and I drove down to Detroit to buy Tigers tickets as a gift for Logan's birthday. We went to the box office because when I tried to buy the tickets online, I was set to pay $16 in fees, on top of the $48 for the actual tickets.

I am nothing if not cheap so, since it was still summer and we were burning daylight anyway, we decided to go down to buy the tickets at the stadium box office and then head over to the Science Museum.

A couple ironic things happened that day. First, I decided to use on-street parking at the Science Museum to save myself the $5 museum parking lot charge. I did not put enough change in the meter and thought to myself, 'Detroit can't even pick up it's garbage. They can't afford meter maids.'

Two hours later I had a ticket for $20 on my car. Keep in mind the biggest reason we were down there that day was to save $16 in fees. I parked on the street to save us $5. I ended up paying $20 in parking tickets. This pretty much sums up how things always end up going for me.

But, still Irony wasn't done with me yet. I somehow lost the actual tickets I'd driven downtown to purchase in order to save myself the $16 processing fees. At this point I've I saved $16 in fees, but spent $20 in parking tickets, then I lost $48 in tickets between the box office and my home.

I did get the ticket situation worked out (thank you Tigers!) and Sunday we finally made our way to the game, and it was worth every penny. It was even worth the $8 we spent on something that called itself beer, but was really water. (It even accidentally got me sober.) (Because it's exactly like water.)

We were sad when the old Tiger stadium closed. There's something I hate about everything being torn down to make something newer and 'better'. I love our house, but I know we'll sell it and someone will tear it down (hopefully after salvaging the oak trim, bookcases and columns) to build a bigger, more modern house and to make that happen they'll have to cut a lot of the things that make our house great out of their budget.

Logan and I talked about how the fun we had at Comerica Park yesterday couldn't have happened at Old Tiger Stadium. Sure, the kids could have played with rusty siding at Tiger Stadium but at Comerica Park we didn't even make our way to our seats for a full 40 minutes. We had other things to attend to.

Keep in mind this is coming from people who read this graffiti on a table in the 'Beer Hall' (another score for Comerica Park) and argued over 'Anderson's' hotness in relation to all the men in the world. So you're not looking at a point of view which holds the history of baseball in high regard. We can't even keep up with the current baseball scenario. Please see:

As it turns out it was Granderson who is the hottest black man alive, not Anderson. It also turns out Logan and I are dolts who should just remain on the fair rides at the stadium and not take up actual seats with our amateurish asses. We did spend a lot of time on the fair rides, because we're "Sports Fans" a lot like Logan's 'friend' was a "lesbian". (Which means, not at all.)

But we paid $50, plus another $20 in parking tickets and countless hours on the phone trying to get my lost ticket situation resolved, so we were sitting in our seats. Even if we had to wear oxygen masks to get there. These were what they call: 'Nose Bleed' seats and not just because they were as high as you can go in the stadium, but also because you actually get a nose bleed when you sit in these seats.

If you make brownies in this seat, you've got to follow the 'High-Altitude' instructions. These seats are so high up you'd better be careful or you'll accidentally get sober because no beer vendors are coming up that high. What? Do you want them to pass out from lack of oxygen? Don't be so selfish. Luckily being so high up also gives you a different view of the city.

We sat in our seats for a while and I pretended I knew what was happening.

We had fun and it was one of those days where the kids made it more fun. Those days happen more and more now that our kids are older and not constipated or tantruming or in need of a nap (or a spanking) most of the time. But sometimes life gets in the way of appreciating and spending time with our family. I'm surprised (given the fact that we don't like sports at all) baseball gave us that time together, but there it is.

We had fun.

And it wasn't over! Because we went home and the Internet came to our house. The actual Internet was sitting at my kitchen island. Right next to my laptop where I usually see the Internet. I have never had the Internet into my house and I've been on the internet for nearly 8 years now.

My mind was about as blown as Juniper's when she saw Gary the Cat and realized cats can be as big as a toddler. Juniper's mind was equally blown when she told Gary to read her a book and Gary silently dismissed her. He's a very large and very rude cat Juniper and I'm sorry.

I was so excited to have the Internet in my house I planned an easy to make dinner and I bought Bell's beer and had everything relatively childproofed so everyone could relax and enjoy each other's company.

And while we enjoyed each other's company, my children had had enough of the day and threw 4 tantrums in 1.24 hours. Max decided he didn't want dinner and when faced with the choice of dinner or going to his room while we ate, he chose his room. Loudly. With many tears and shrieks of the inhumanity of being expected to sit at the kid's table he always sits at when we have friends over for dinner.

Maddie asked for popcorn or another cookie or 'Can we go to the park?' 20 times in 43 minutes and everytime I just stood there with my mouth hanging open wondering who these children were. The children who I'd enjoyed so much at the Tigers game earlier in the day.

Wood spun the situation in a lovely way, saying she was happy the kids felt comfortable enough around them to act up. I found this humorous since I often say this when my friend's babies poop at my house. One friend's little girl poops multiple times at my house. She's extremely comfortable with us. So yes, I guess it could be worse, my potty trained children could poop around the people they're comfortable with. When you look at it that way I'm glad they were just brats in front of the Junipers.

I know you wish I had pictures but I can't think of everything. I failed you and I'm sorry.

PS: Max slept 13.5 hours last night and Madison slept past 6:43am this morning so clearly they were both very tired.

Comments

[KarinGal]

I love baseball for all the reasons (and more) that you mentioned here. It's fun for young and old, and you don't really need to know what's going on--you can just enjoy the beautiful clouds over the city skyline.

Thanks for sharing these great photos; I've never been to Detroit but these make me want to visit. And I'll make sure to pay the $5 parking lot fee if/when I do.

[Suebob Davis]

Granderson IS pretty hot. And you already know that The Internet thinks Logan is hot.

My favorite ball games are in the very good seats (the ones that make it kind of worth worrying about getting hit by a foul ball) or the very far away seats (where it is more about the camaraderie than the game).

We go to Spring Training in Phoenix every year. I don't care about baseball - I'm in it for the snackies and the suntan and the 3 days off work. The Tigers train in Florida - it makes a nice vacation, especially when it is still slushy outside! I'm just sayin'.

[hello insomnia]

I love baseball because I don't have to worry about people dropping f-bombs like they do at the football games here. When my husband and I were dating, we would buy nosebleed seats and sneak into good ones. Now that we have a baby, I don't have the patience to risk being kicked out.

And the one semi-solution to not knowing what's going on sportswise without having to actually learn anything is memorizing as many sports cliches as you can. And if someone asks you to explain yourself, just answer with another cliche. Totally works.

[Sarah]

Both Logan's sunglasses and the ones you're wearing make my clothes fly off.

[mimom23boys]

Ooohhh . . . I see you shelled out the big $$ for the Tiger paw too! My seven year old is the proud owner of one as well that we were suckered into last year. One of my finest moments in parenting was realizing that when he stopped playing with it (the day after the game), I hid it away in the dungeon only to be miraculously located before we went to a game this year. I secretly smiled the whole day knowing that I had had the forethought to not only pack it away but to actually find it again when needed. Do this now and you can recoup your parking ticket money if you go to a game next year!

[Mrs Ca]

Last time we went to Comerica Park, my husband didn't even drink one beer because they were so big and he had to drive at the end of the game. I'll let him know that he probably could have had more than one and still been okay. Or, you know, offer to drive next time.

[Sweetney]

oooh, i miss bell's beer. sniff.

[flailingmyarms]

Going to baseball games, regardless of where you sit, is awesome.

[Velma]

I miss going to the minor league games in the city we used to live in, where they had a beer vendor with a portable keg strapped to his back filled with local microbrew. Good times.

My children are also experts at Visitor Meltdown. They are truly exceptional when the once-a-year visitors show up. I swear they save the good stuff for those people, and then we have no way to redeem our family pride.

[Miranda]

Re: Meter Maids
I go to school down there and, yeah, it's the one completely non-dysfunctional arm of the Detroit government. I can't believe how much money I have to shell out just to go to my g.d. classes.

I love the pictures, btw. :)

[dutch]

The internet was very impressed with Melissa's house, despite all her groveling about it there. The internet found the Summers' abode open and charming. The internet even enjoyed peeing in the new toilet, and may have admired the new cathedral-like ceiling. The internet would also like to clarify for the rest of the internet that the stainmaster grout seems to be doing its job reasonably well despite Melissa's effort to show the internet that it was worthy of her wrath. Max's room is particularly cute and well-decorated, the internet thinks. The internet didn't even notice whether the walls were yello even though the internet knew there was a hullabaloo on the internet awhile back about that choice of color. As for the behavior of the children, the internet still finds the children adorable even when refusing to eat plain bowtie pasta. The internet's daughter agreed.

[Melissa Summers]

The Internet will have to come back to my house so that I might give a full spectrum tour of the grout problems.

I would also like the Internet to review Max's room because it's yellow. Only it's not Plochman's Yellow as Max requested, which according to a segment of the Internet makes me a lying, evil bitch. Frankly, Max can't tell the difference.

Oh Flogging Baby, I miss you.

[srah]

If you haven't been before, I recommend driving down to Toledo to check out a Mud Hens game. Minor league baseball is... um... in a completely different league from major league baseball.

I did not think this comment through very well before I started typing.

[Lena]

So, what did you do with that $1 you saved?

[far and away the farthest]

When you and the internets are reeeealy best friends one of your children will belch loudly and the internets will say in unison "Shaarup!"

Or is that when you are best friends with slumlords and gangsters? I'll get back to you on that one.