Scout Night at the Cove and L turns 9!

Every year the local baseball team has a Boy scout and Girl scout night where you are able to get a ticket to the game, watch fireworks, run the bases, camp in the outfield, watch a movie on the big screen, and have donuts in the morning. We have gone the last 3 years now (2014, 2013) and always have a blast! This year just so happened to be the night before L's birthday, so he woke up on the field 9 years old. What a special treat!!! So that morning of the game, we gave him an early gift, his new hat and neckerchief slide for becoming a Webelo.

 The Remax Balloon showed up during the game!

My 2 very similar guys!

 Running the bases

We woke up on the field, headed home to clean up, then got on with the day. Toys R' Us was having a free Lego build, it was suppose to be the Jurassic Park gate, but our store never got the shipment. Instead they had build your own Lego kit. We headed out to the car and found this cool car outside for photos!

 L picked the Golden Corral for his special meal because "the kids in class raved about it and said they have a chocolate fountain"! We also headed to the mall to get his free loot, and participate in a free healthy kids summer program!  Back at home we all took a nap, then he got to open his gifts from us. A Pokemon shirt, small Lego set, a set of Harry Potter themed books, and D gave him a Ducktails video game.

And we ended the night with his requested double chocolate cake, and vanilla ice cream.

A day with the South Bend Cubs

Once again, both kids earned a free ticket to the local baseball home game. There is a special school day, where everyone from our school gets to go. So we started out our day with a little game of catch.

How did she get so grown-up?

The kids were super excited to play on the playground, and in the splash pad. The weather was nice and warm and sunny, but not so hot that we couldn't enjoy being outside. They were both back to being dry by the time we headed back to the seats.

Over this past year, the team has become an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They are now the South Bend Cubs, no longer the Silverhawks. This was a sad sight as we walked around the stadium!

Happy family ready for the game to begin!

I tweeted this picture at them during the game and it ended up on the big screen. D now says we are famous!

Very happy to meet the new mascot!

During the last inning, the kids wanted to head over to the other side of the stadium and hang out of the grass. L was so hoping to catch a foul ball, but sadly never did. We had an absolute blast and can't wait to go back!

Scout night at the Cove

If you recall, last year we had a cold rainy night for this fun event. Well this year it was a scorcher! I had to work doing a wedding set up right before we took off for the field, so I was already sweaty and tired by the time we arrived. I had our tent (which I had to patch earlier in the day in places), sleeping bags, a few pillows, and water bottles ready to go in the trunk when I picked Adam up and headed out. We decided to just pay the $5 parking to make it that much easier this year when we had to haul everything in. Good thing too, because the game dragged on into the 12th inning and didn't finish until almost midnight!

We spotted Swoop as soon as we walked in the gates.

And the friendly Sweet Frog frog took a picture with us as well.

L was very excited to walk in the parade before the game began showing he was a proud cub scout. We splurged on hot dogs, corn dogs, pop, chips, dippin' dots, and light saber-ish glow sticks.

The sunset was amazing to watch.

The Hawks were down, so in the 10th inning D and Adam turned their hats inside out for rally hats!  The Silver Hawks did end up losing this game, but they did a great job. After the game were fireworks, and then the kids got to run the bases. Everyone was ushered from the stadium, we then were allowed to bring in the camping gear to set up in the outfield. We are not allowed to stake the tents down seeing as it is astro-turf of sorts. Then we were able to watch the new Lego movie on the big screen while we ate the popcorn the stadium supplies. I remembered last year that the one glass of water was just not enough and was very thankful I brought our cups.

We didn't get to sleep until some time after 2am, and were back up at 7am. We packed up our gear, and carried it up to the top of the stadium where we were greeted with donuts and orange juice. On the road home by 8am! When we got home and unloaded all the gear, Adam and I passed out while the kids laid on the floor next to us watching a movie.

Cub Scout Night at the Cove 2013

Cub Scout Camp at The Cove

When L was in kindergarten, he saw that the Cub Scouts get to camp out on the field of a local baseball team. That was it, he was determined to join in First grade! So here we are a year after joining, and I am excited to post about him actually getting to do the camp out this past summer.

For little more than the normal price of admission, on the Cub Scout day we get special perks. The boys get to parade on the field before the game, sit with their pack during the game, and watch fireworks after the game. Then the entire stadium empties out, and the people with the wrist bands are allowed back in with camping gear. We are allowed to set up tents on the turf but can not stake them down. After setting up tents, we were given popcorn and water while we watched Wreck It Ralph on the big screen! In the morning, we were given doughnuts and orange juice.

What an amazing experience and we look forward to doing it again next summer!

Sadly the night we were going it was cold and rainy, but we toughed it out!

Last ball game of the season.

At the beginning of September we noticed that it was the last home game of the season for the South Bend SilverHawks.  We had tried to go once a month throughout the entire season, but missed the month of August.  They have amazing deals where they have dollar Mondays.  Adam noticed that the last game was also going to have fireworks.  He felt bad that we missed fireworks on the 4th of July due to car trouble coming home, so he jumped right on it.  Lo and behold, he got us tickets directly behind home plate, first row!  We got there and found out even better news, they were doing $1 pop, hot dogs, popcorn, candy!  So we loaded up on junk and set out to watch the game.  L loved it because we were right next to the tunnel where everyone comes out to the field.  He got to see the Cardinal Fitness bird, broccoli, carrot, and pea, and he got to see the kids that went out and raced on the field.  They did a pretty good job of sitting there throughout the entire game, and even entertained the people sitting in our section.  Then came the fireworks.  It was a great show!  After all that fun, they let the kids come out on the field and run the bases.  L and D were so thrilled, L actually ran around them twice!  They were given a Chipotle kids meal coupon when they came in.  What a fantastic family night, for very little money.  We can't wait for next baseball season!

 A shot from our seats

 Happy family!

L was hot and tired, but so happy he was on the field

That is one excited girl!

Take me out.....

to the ball game!  The family and I have gone twice now this summer to our local baseball games.  It isn't anything awesome like going to Chicago and seeing the Cubs play, but much more affordable.  The stadium here has special Dollar Days on Monday home games. 
Tickets-$1
Hot Dogs-$1
Pepsi-$1
The kids under 5 are free, and that means only $2 for 2 adult bleacher seats.  We can go to the game, get 6 hot dogs, 3 bottles of pop, a big tub of popcorn, and a 26oz. beer all for $20!  You just can't beat that!  The first time we went, it was cold and rainy.  I think we stayed until the 5th inning.  The kids just loved it.  D actually cried the whole way home because we were leaving the game.  When we got home, there were 2 packages of baseball cards for the kids.  They were so excited about the cards and their tickets, they got their treasure boxes out to put them in for safe keeping.  Of course that lasted about a day until they started to fight over whose was whose.  Good old mom color coded the tops of the cards, that way we always know what cards belongs to whom.

We went again just this last Monday.  The weather was perfect to take in a ball game.  The sun was up, but not too sunny.  The weather was warm, but not scorching like it has been.  And a cool breeze was blowing in.  It was great too because some of our friends from the mom's group were able to go and sit near us.  One of the dads even caught one of the foul balls!  On our way to our seats, we even got to meet Cinderella.  Not sure why she was at the ball game, but whatever.  The kids were thrilled!  This time the weather was so nice we actually stayed until the end of the game.  And our team won!  Everyone was yelling and screaming with excitement, so we had the kids scream as loud as they could.  When else would we let them? 

It looks like we will be heading back again next month, only next time we will be hopefully bringing all of Adam's brothers with us.  That will be a blast!

The South Bend Silverhawks!