Cooperstown Vacation 2010 #2

Day 3 - Wed., June 9th

We started the morning off by waking up and going down to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. It was a little rainy. Knowing we would be there all day, we made a pricey umbrella purchase (which has totally paid off) and away we went.

My boys were more interested in holding the umbrellas than the sites. It was gorgeous down there.
We walked around the Harbor for an hour looking at boats, ships, submarines. Everyone thought it was fabulous!

And then... off to get in line at 4:30 to get into the ball game for BP at 5. We entered the gates and found that BP had been cancelled! Major bummer.... But I do have a fabulous story...

Sabathia started the game. Mick's FAVORITE Yankee starter. We were once again, right next to the bullpen. The nice lady from the night before told us that if we sat in a certain place on the fence (there was about a 2 foot opening) we might get a ball from the bullpen catcher. Well...

The Yankee bullpen catcher was a stud. Eric actually looked him up on the internet and plans on sending him an email. He brought the first ball over after looking at the fam for awhile he says, "How many kids do you have?" Of course, Eric said, "5 boys and 1 girl". "Wow, that's alot." (his response). So he gives us the first ball.

He continues to bring over 1 by one every other inning or so. Chamberlain warms up and pitches the 8th inning. Mick loves Jaba.

Here comes Rivera out to the bullpen. Mick and Eric are dying! Easily, their favorite Yankee pitcher! As he walks to the bullpen from the dugout Mick is just so excited to be able to get a few close pics. He starts his stretching....

The bullpen catcher walks over and hands Mick another ball. Mick immediately goes to put it in his pocket. "Stop, Stop," says the catcher... "Look at that ball." Mick turns it over and you will never guess who has signed.... MARIANO RIVERA!!! Mick looks over and Mariano gives him a little nod. Are you flipping kidding me? The guy doesn't sign!!! I honestly don't know who was happier... Eric or Mick! Definitely the highlight of the trip in Baltimore. I thought we were going to get jumped on the way out! It was crazy... people asked to take pictures of the ball.. pictures with Mick... it was seriously AMAZING!!!

So that is why Mariano gets such a tribute on this blog post! He made this vacation (up to this point).

Pic of me and the boys. Sad that BP was cancelled.

The kiddos by Cal Ripkens #! One of Mick's favorite all-time short-stops. So that night, we go home, and go to bed! Knowing we shall leave early the next day!

Day 4 - Thur, June 10th

Our drive from Baltimore to Palmyra said 300 miles. So in my head, I do 300/80... okay... this should take us about 4 hrs. Boy was I wrong! The highways and roads are nothing like Utah. The only similarity is that there is construction EVERYWHERE! So, it did end up taking us almost 7 hrs from start to finish. We weren't in a hurry and made several potty breaks and just scenic stops. One of the favorite being in Williamsport where they hold the Little League World Series. This is a picture of the park that is played on. When we were gong through Pennsylvania we drove through an Amish community. Horse and buggies.... everything. We passed one buggy that had 4 women. Mick asked,
"Mom, what day is it here? Like... why and what are they dressed up for?" We laughed!

That night, we met up with the Hansens. My kids were so excited to be hanging out with someone besides their own family. So we had dinner and went to bed. Not much time to do anything that day due to the length of the road trip!

Day 5, Friday June 11th

This day was a pretty awesome day for our family! We will fast forward a bit due to the pictures not wanting to move. This is a picture (above) from the printing press in Palmyra. We did a tour there and I cannot express how phenomenal it was. It was amazing to me the process that went through printing the first Book of Mormom. Taking each letter and arranging it in this... whatever its called... the ink, the printing, the hanging, the binding... It took 7 months from start to finish to print 1 book (60 pages at the time) of the Book of Mormom. My pictures in the press, didn't turn out but Mick and Broc were able to fold one of the pages and seriously... it is so hard to explain... the only thing that comes to my mind is absolutely amazing. We had earlier checked out of the hotel and walked through the Sacred Grove with our kiddos. We were so worried that they would be loud but McGwire kept saying he wanted to go and find Jesus. It was so cute. The kids were awesome. I loved this picture of Eric, Mays and Gwy walking into the Sacred Grove.

Picture of Eric and the kiddos. We then walked through Joseph Smith's homes and around the farm. This is a picture of the kitchen in his larger home.

Eric and Murphy walking through the barn.

One of the bedrooms. All the old stuff was so cool!

Joseph Smiths home where he grew up. Amazing that his mom and dad, along with 5 brothers, and 2 sisters lived in this home.

Mick E and Murphy walking around the farm. I sooooo want to blow this photo up, do a little black and white... isn't it precious?

Okay.... so now the greatest photos. Eric and I knew that we wouldn't be able to spend the time we wanted walking through the grove with the kids so we told Mick the night before that if he woke up and the kids had woke up to call us. We set our alarms for 5:30 and walked over to the sacred grove... just the 2 of us.

It was about 1/2 a mile and it was beautiful. The sun was just coming up... which makes the pictures that much more amazing.

I can't express how beautiful it was. I kept getting nervous because it was so quiet... every little rustle of the leaves made me nervous.

We spent over an hour just walking through the grove. We saw a red fox... I was nervous... Eric just laughed.

It was beautiful, amazing, spiritual!!! Cannot explain! Definitely a highlight of our trip. I have to get the rest of the pics of the camera and hope to update soon. After the sites, we drove to Cooperstown and checked into our home. It was only a 2 hr drive... thank goodness... the older boys were so excited they couldn't stand it! Mick is having the time of his life and we are just taking it all in. The boys are currently 4-0! They are playing awesome. They have played teams from Texas, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. After 2 days of play we are ranked 6th of 104 teams! Pretty cool! At the end of the day we hit the beds with our eyes closed. Making memories to last a lifetime.....

Goodnight and Sweet Dreams!