Cooperstown Vacation 2010

Monday, June 7th

Day 1

We woke up, or should I say Eric and the kids woke up (I didn't ever go to sleep) at 3:30. We loaded 9 HUGE bags, 3 car seats, 6 tired kiddos and were off to the airport! Thanks to miss Emily who happily woke up at 4 am to shuttle us! The airport actually went very smooth! I think the boys were so excited that they didn't know what to do! We took off and Mays was terrified right when the plane started moving. He wouldn't let go of the seat handles. Every time I tried to hold his hand he grabbed the handle harder. I told him I would hold him and he wouldn't even let go for that! After about 10 minutes he was ok! Murphy and McGwire were both in Heaven looking out the windows! I am horrible and this is the only picture I got on 6 hours of flight! We had an 1 1/2 layover in Phoenix and then a 4 hr 40 min flight to Baltimore. By the Baltimore flight everyone was exhausted and took a good nap. Except for Mick... who was too scared to close his eyes! It was a VERY bumby ride and they kept reminding us that the pilot wanted everyone in their seatbelts because he felt it was unsafe to be up and around!
This is the kiddos waiting for Eric and Mick to gather all the luggage at the Baltimore airport. I never realized what a freakshow we were until we carted around our 6 kiddos through airports. I cannot count how many times people would say, "are these all yours?" Or how many times I would see people start counting kids! I guess I shouldn't say freakshow because I know that's not what we are but HOLY COW!!! I guess the few times people would actually stop and say, "you have a beautiful family" made it worth it right? NOT!

We got our rental car, which was a 12 passenger van (woot woot)! My kids want to keep it! I have to admit... if it were easier to drive I would be all for it! The amount of room is amazing! Eric hates it! I will have to take a picture with the kids before I am done. So far, it's one of the highlights of their trip. Every time we leave to go they get stoked to go get in the van.

We made it back to the hotel around 8 pm at which time we grabbed something to eat and were sleeping by 10 (which is 8 Utah time). All in All it went so smooth! I do have to apologize for any phone calls that I wasn't able to take or texts unable to answer. I didn't realize how much focus and concentration was needed to make sure I didn't loose a child along the way! I was soooooooooooooo tired when my head hit that pillow. The Friday and Saturday night previous to us leaving I stayed up both nights (or days) until 6 am getting laundry and packing the bags. After pulling the all-nighter on Sunday I realized I had had 4 1/2 hours of sleep in 3 days! Lucky to still be functioning!

Tuesday, June 8th
Day 2

Slept in until 10 am! Yup, that is correct... 12 entire hours of sleep and wow, did that feel awesome! We lounged around and took the kids down to the pool around 12. It was a gorgeous day (about 80) and we played at the pool until about 2 pm. We got back, showered and headed down to the Inner Harbor. When we arrived we quickly realized we should have been down there all day. It was so awesome down there with so many different things to do! We went and purchased our tickets for the ballgame. Really quickly let me explain... the reason we actually flew into Baltimore is because Eric has a former player, Kam Mickolio, that is a pitcher for the Orioles. So when we booked our trip back in January we were totally stoked that they had the Yankee series while we were in town. This meant we would get to see Kam and get free tickets. Well, unfortunately Kam was sent down about a month ago and hasn't made it back up yet so.... we had to buy tickets. This stinks for us because pretty much any major league game we go to now we can get tickets. Luckily on Tuesday nights they have a special were you can buy upper deck tickets for only $8. So the story continues....
So we bought the tickets to the game and waited... patiently... for the gates to open. This is a pic of the kids and the Babe Ruth statue. Once again, we are getting the eyes, questions, comments, on how many kids we have! I think now it's because the 3 littles look like they are all within a year apart! Everyone thought our little Yankee fans were pretty cute!

Another view... waiting for the gates to open! Gates open at 5 pm (2 hrs before game time) and of course we have to be there for BP.

Look at these cute fans! Just watching the Orioles take BP!

This is Eric and Murphy after we had walked into the park. He gets so annoyed with me taking pictures all the time... Eric that is! But really... how cute is this?

So this is the kids in left field watching the Yankees take BP. Jaba and CC were both out in left field within feet of the kids the entire time! Mays kept yelling at CC! It was so cute. Maddux did get a ball hit by Swisher and Mays... the lucky one ended up getting a ball hit by A-Rod! People are insane! There was one guy dive for a ball... after he missed the ball and his face hit a seat and the cement... REALLY? His face had blood all over... NASTY! It was intense. We were getting ready to leave and head WAY UPPPPP to our $8 seats when this awesome Orioles lady that showed people where their seats were started talking with us! She told us she was going to give us seats (the $60 seats) but not to say anything! So we were in left field, RIGHT next to the bullpen, 18 rows up! It was phenomenal!

And for Mick and Eric, they were soooooo stoked that they were next to the bullpen! This is Hughes getting warmed up for his start!

This was big Sabathia during batting practice. He is one big man!

And these were my cute fans! The Yankees dominated from inning 1 and we decided since it was 10 pm we would beat the traffic and head to the car! My kids were devastated! They wanted to stay for the ENTIRE game!

Quickly... the conversation between Murphy and an Orioles fan behind us:

Murphy was turned around waving his Yankees hand....

Fan: Are you a little ballplayer?

Murphy: I'm a pitcher

Fan: You're a pitcher?

Murphy: Ya, I throw hard

Fan: What?

Murphy: I said (very loud) I THROW GAS!

It was seriously hilarious! Everyone around us was laughing! So not only does he hit bombs he apparently throws gas! So fun! The boys were simply amazed at the atmosphere and the game. Our nice lady friend told us to buy the cheapest tickets for tomorrow nights game and come see her in the same section tomorrow night! I adore nice people!

So here we are, in bed and all kids sleeping. You ask how I can blog and be on vacation? Well, we have such a LARGE, GINORMOUS, CRAZILY BIG family (as people around us think) that we have 2 different rooms. They didn't have a suite or rooms that were adjoined by a door so Eric is down the hall in a room with Mick, Maddux and Mays and I am here with Macee, Gwy and Murphy! Eric would die if he knew I was up blogging... HEHE!!!

So, we are down 2 days on the vacation and no big problems as of yet. Amazingly smooth! We are planning on getting up in the morning and heading down to Inner Harbor again. They have a childrens museum, pirate shows, ESPN Zone, Sports Museum and several other fun things to do! We plan on being there until after another ball game tomorrow night! Ta Ta for Now!