Spring Training!!!!!

Teage and I have had a dream of taking the kiddos (well, the boys specifically) to Spring Training down in Arizona for a few years now. What an awesome opportunity to see some Mariner games, players up close, and all in the sunshine! And let me tell you, it was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! Once we got past the craziness that was our flight down, the whole experience far exceeded our expectations! :)

Teage's old boss, Dean, and his wife, were so sweet and let us stay at their house just outside of Pheonix while we were there. They had an extra room, and three adorable dogs that the kids just loved. We would stay with them at night, and then go to games during the day, and have a ton of fun in between!

Our first full day in sunny Arizona was EPIC!!!! The boys got SEVEN autographs from Mariner players, including the amazing Felix Hernandez!!!!!!! They also were able to get Lucas Luetge, Tom Wilhelmsen, Danny Farquardt, Logan B and more! It was beautiful outside, 85 degrees all day long, and the highlight of the day: Teage actually caught a homerun ball on the fly!!! CAUGHT IT! We were sitting in the outfield and he got up to go play catch with the boys, when we heard the crack from a home run by DJ Peterson, look up, and Teage just sticks his glove out there and catches it! It was awesome!!! He lifts his hands into the air, gets pats on the back from all of the guys around him, and is just grinning up a storm! I loved watching the whole thing! That night we swam and ate pizza, and had an overall amazing day!

 Lucas Luetge signing a ball for our Lucas.....he thought that was pretty awesome to have the same name!

 Teage's home run ball!!!!!! He was so proud of himself, and so was I! :)

 All of their signed balls from the day! We never imagined it would have been so many!!!

Second day of paradise was waking up to this smiling little face:

 Eating some fresh oranges and grapefruit from the trees right outside our friend's home,

 And swimming for the bulk of the day! Tutu and Dale were able to drive over from Texas and meet us (woohoo!!!), and thankfully, they were staying in a hotel with an amazing outdoor pool!!!! We took advantage of that pretty much every single day we were there! :)

That night we tried to go to the Mariner/Dodger game at the Dodger spring training stadium, and it was a bit of a nightmare. This was the only night game we tried, and unfortunately, it didn't turn out fabulously. The Dodger fans were super rowdy and drinking a ton, just not a great environment for the kiddos. We still had fun watching the bullpen warm up though!

Some funnies from that day:

While passing the Cardinals Stadium on the freeway, Emery looks over and shouts: "HEY MOM! It is angry birds!!!"

The three kids were playing paper, rock, scissors.....they all "show" and Lucas says "Emery, what do you have?" Emery- "A lion!!!"

Dylan- "Mom, do you have any finger nail clipper?" Me- "Yes!" Dylan- "Good, because I have a long nail on my thumb on my foot!!"