Saturday at the ballpark

A couple months ago, I heard at work that the Portland Beavers (our triple A baseball team) was looking for volunteers to help out as they were hosting the triple A all star game. Along with it came tickets to the family fun fest (Saturday), the home run derby (Monday) and the all star game (Wednesday). We're always looking for fun (and free) things to do in the summer, so I signed up.

The family fun fest was on Saturday and we weren't really sure about what to expect, so we planned to hit the event and then the Saturday's Market. Fresh kettle korn and an elephant ear can save any day. After grabbing the Max (the light rail), we arrived at the stadium. The event was being sponsored by the Portland Police department, so we were greeted by several different divisions of the force. The kids really liked the animal police force lead by the horses and dogs.

Additionally, Connor was able to get into partial riot gear. Where are those hippie protesters when you need them?Once we entered the park, we were directed down to the field. Across the outfield were large inflatable activities, a climbing tower and a few other activities. Along the infield were carnival type games. The kids had a ball running from event to event. The crowds were pretty light, so there weren't many things that required a wait....

Connor and Mallory scoring some goals
Courtney on the climbing tower

Court sliding home on one of the inflatable obstacle courses.

Mallory finishing another obstacle course in style.

Connor showing his old man how to hit the strike zone.

Me, looking like and old man.

Mallory knocking over the milk bottles.Court had so much energy, she tore right out of her shorts!!!

Along with the games, the Beavers arraigned for some past Portlanders to come do a round table discussion and sign some autographs. The headliners were Dale Murphy (old Atlanta Brave great and mission president of Boston when we were there for our internship), Johnny Pesky (Red Sox great) and Scott Brosius (NY Yankee and '98 World series MVP). Interestingly enough, the park was filled with the Red Sox faithful with sparse Yankee fan attendance, which was nice. Pesky and Murphy received the loudest applause and mentions of the Yankees was received with tolerant moaning. As I listened to the round table discussion, Julie happened to notice a line starting to form for the autographs. Thankfully she alerted me to the line and saved us a good hour or two. That's me back by the 317 mark, about 25 ft back in the line. The line ended up extending to center field and then back into the infield. Yikes.

It was a nice sunny day, so sitting on the warning track was no problem.

Johnny Pesky was great. He still works for the Sox and as such....

had a little jewelry to show. The 2007 World Series ring!

Dale Murphy was great with the crowd and the kids. Always nice to have great role models like him.

This is a weird mask that is outside of the stadium, we're not sure why or what it had to do with baseball, but it makes a good prop for pictures.

It was a long, hot day. So, the kids cooled off with an ice cool soda as we waited for the Max to take us back to the car. The kids all had a great time and the girls slept in this morning until 8:30 (a rush to get to 9AM church), so we must have worn them out. I consider that a success.