The Hawkins Rerun: Go Cubs Go

We entered the ballpark right when it opened...11:20 am CST.

We went to find where our seats were and wandered down to the field to watch a pitcher pitching in left field. We were talking about the field...kind of taking it all in...when over walks Travis Wood, handing Jake a ball. Then, Wood motioned to the guy that had been catching and was tossed another ball that he handed to Joe. And Travis Wood walked off...on his way...just as quietly as he had come while Josh and I stood there in awe. (We'd told the boys at the Cubs game in Cincy that it's RARE to walk away from a ballgame with a ball at the MLB level. And here they BOTH were given one! "What do mom and dad know?"...right?!!!)

At 4:35 pm the first pitch finally was thrown. By the 2nd inning, Joe was ready to go to the hotel. (He took a nap during the rain delay...when the rest of us wished we could have napped!) But the game moved along quickly. And Josh took Joe for a walk around the ballpark.
By the bottom of the 5th we convinced the boys to make it to the 7th inning stretch. (By now 2 home runs had scored. So, that helped the excitement!)
They enjoyed singing the 7th inning stretch (both actually sang it this time).
Then, Jake wanted to stay until the end and we convinced Joe to stick it out for the "Go Cubs Go" song. So, we took another lap around the various levels of the ballpark (which had many empty seats by now). And we timed it to get back to our seats with 1 more out to end the game.

Here, the W flag is going up as we sing "Go Cubs Go".

We left the ballpark after 9 hours of being there! But all were happy...singing, skipping, and moving along! :)

So, Saturday morning, we headed to Lincoln Park Zoo and then walked over to the beach area. I didn't think the boys would get in b/c it's so cold. But I was wrong. The boys absolutely LOVED the lake...especially the waves. They had HUGE grins on their faces and squeals of delight. Even though the water was FREEZING cold, they weren't phased.