Take Us Out…

This past weekend Mom was on a Girl’s Weekend with Nanny, Aunt Katie, and Aunt Erica. They were at some hippy retreat in upstate New York doing boring things like: relaxing, enjoying each other’s company, and talking. We decided, instead, to go to a baseball game because, well, its baseball and Fenway is the Church of Baseball.

Isaac had been to two prior games and Ethan had been to one game, but the tickets we had for this game were perfect for kids—first row right field just behind the visitor’s bullpen. Oh and it happened to be Red Sox Yankees, so, it was extra special.

We got there about a half hour early and while we all wore masks to our seats, given where they were, we were social distanced from everyone else and the boys, for the first time in more than a year, went maskless in a public space with other people. The game, the atmosphere, and being maskless were great (PS: I called the pediatrician before going and she gave us two thumbs up). Here they were joyous and grateful:

During the game we developed a banter with the bullpen catcher/coach Radley Haddad. He was a really good guy and was very kind. During one inning he managed to hold on to a ball and give it to Ethan. It was his second game AND his second game-used ball. I guess it pays to be a cute kid. People always talk about the Yankee approach and it is true—they really do insist on professionalism all throughout the organization. Good for Radley Haddad and good for the Yankees. He made someone’s night:

It also happened to be the latest we ever stayed up with Ethan. When we finally pulled in it was around 1:20 AM. I scooped up my youngest and brought him into the bedroom. Because Mom was out of town and it was too hard to get multiple kids that were asleep into bed, we all crashed in Dad’s bed. The next morning they were laid out well into midmorning. Here is a pic around 10 AM. Both were snoring.

In all it was a great trip and a great game. I have been to probably around 400-500 games in my life and this was my favorite. Even over some playoff games and an All Star game in 1988.