A Date with Giants

Several weekends ago, on a rare Monday off (Labor Day, to be precise), we shrugged off our laziness and hesitation and finally made it out to AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. 

I'd been to the park multiple times, but for both Mimi and Sumie it would be their first.  As we packed the car to head out to the stadium, though, Sumie received a call from work.  Could she come in?  Of course she could.  That's the life of a doctor.  She missed the first 6 innings, but made it back for the last three which, as it turned out, were the best part of the game anyway.

So it was just Mimi and me who met my mom at the park and made our way up ramp after ramp to the nosebleed seats along the third base line.

 Despite the elevation, we still had a great view of the game. 

By the middle of the first inning, I realized I really should've brought a hat along for Mimi. Forgetting one wasn't all that bad, though. It gave me an opportunity to get Mimi her first Giants cap, which she - amazingly- wore through the next 5 inning of play without a complaint or squirm.  She just sat happily on Grandma's lap. 

Eventually, though, Grandma got a bit bored, so she took Mimi and Mimi's cousins Carson and Ryan (their parents Rob and Carol had come to join us, making for a pretty significant cheering section) down to the Coke bottle slide and the trolley. Here's Mimi and Carson on the trolley.

And here's Mimi hamming it up for the camera.  That's my girl.

Eventually, Grandpa was able to make it out, and by the 7th inning even Sumie made it to the park, having found FREE parking!  The Giants ended up pulling through in the 9th inning with a 9-8 win. It was a great outing for Mimi's first ball game.  She even learned to say "baseball" and point down at the field. Despite her growing love of the game, it still wasn't enough to get her to stop squirming for a picture with her parents.  Mimi has her priorities.

We had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back.  Unfortunately, a day out at the ball park isn't exactly cheap.  Between the $30.00 tickets, $10.00 beers, $11.00 chicken fingers with fries, and $137.00 in sunscreen to keep my body from being burnt to a crisp, it's an expensive outing.  I'll have to spend my time between trips to the park with quieter, cheaper pursuits.  Thankfully I came across a vintage "Simon" game from 1978 the other day.  $1.00 and still in the box. You just can't pass that up...even if you have a terrible memory, like me. 

Cutest Picture Ever and Dolores Park

Yes, coming up is perhaps the cutest photo ever.  And Mimi isn't even in it.

It all started with Mimi impersonating her Mama and me when it comes the bedroom routine.  Each night we bundle Mimi in her pajamas, read her a book, and then put her to bed with her mofu (blankets).  Well, she's decided that her friends Baby, Nyan-Nyan, Wan-Wan, and Bear need to take naps as well.  At first is was just a matter of laying them down.  Then they needed blankets.  Now, they need the whole routine.

First off, Mimi put baby to bed, complete with personal mofu, on the rolling cart from our bedroom.  We use this for our pajamas.  Mimi uses it for trundling her friends around.  I can't help but think Mimi will someday work in a NICU when she has baby in the cart. 

Before long, Mimi decided to head back to her room and fill up the cart with the rest of her friends.  They each got a mofu, just like baby.  

 And here it is, the cutest picture we've taken of Mimi's childhood to date (at least to me).  To complete the bedtime routine for her friends, she made sure each one had her own book to read before bedtime.  Mimi was so proud.  When we tried to eventually move the rack back out of the living room, she wouldn't let us.  "No!  Sleeping!"  I guess Mama knows best. 

We recently were able to sneak out to Dolores Park again on a warm and relatively sunny Sunday.  It's quite a view, isn't it?  

They'd just finished the playground and Mimi couldn't wait to tackle all the new equipment.  

She tried out the bongos...

...and used the steel rings to climb the hill-slide rubber mountain all by herself (she still needed her Papa to help her down).  

But the biggest step forward of all came when Mimi took to the big girl swings by herself for the very first time. 

Sumie and I, though always proud (if sometimes flustered) of our little Mimi, were very proud that day.  At least until she nearly took a header trying to jump off.