Let's go Blue Jays

This morning we all got up, got showered and changed and were out of the house by 9:30am.

Our lovely yellow rose flowering

Today we went to Toronto for a baseball game. It was a cloudy but a warm start with high humidity. On the way it rained and the closer we got to Toronto, the more it rained and the darker the clouds got. We tried our normal car park but the price was double what it normally was, so we made for another one that was a much better price.

We walked towards the waterfront looking for somewhere to have breakfast/brunch and decided on a place we have been to before. We sat looking at the harbour watching the boats come and go. Everyone except Smallest had Waffles which were amazingly yummy.

Smallest had eggs, bacon and homefries. While we were eating it rained very very heavily. We wondered whether the Rogers Centre would have the roof open. Originally we were worried we would be too hot and exposed to the sun but because of the unpredictability of the weather (30% chance of storms have been forecast for the whole week) the roof was actually closed and it was nice and cool in there.

After brunch we walked along the harbour. It was Waterfront Festival and lots of tall ships were there. The rain had stopped and we walked slowly towards the Rogers Centre.

This trip was Moo's choice. We asked her if she wanted to go to the Market or the Baseball and she chose the baseball. Huffle told us it was a bit like cricket, which worried us a bit as we find cricket boring. Today was Junior Baseball which meant there was much more going on for the kids. Entertainers, music, free ice cream, at the end they get to run around the bases (forgive me if I get my baseball terms wrong, I am a Rounders player!). We walked around the stadium and in for ice-cream with a wooden spoon. I can't eat off a wooden spoon, I can hardly touch them, they make me go all funny in a bad way! It sets my teeth on edge. I used my lid to scoop it out.

The boys played a game of throwing a ball and they won a prize. Small got some binoculars and Smallest got a tee-shirt (he was very pleased though it was a little big). We also found some silly photo boards and the boys got tattoos.

We got to look at the pitch from a lower vantage point before we made our way to our seats in the top of the stadium.

It was very high but we could see perfectly (not faces but the big screen helped us out). We sat in a row. Huffle at one end telling us what was happening and answering our questions, the kids in between us and me and Moo at the end. I relayed any information to Moo. It was brilliant. Much better than cricket. Much more exciting. I think we understood what was going on. It seemed a very social gathering. Lots of comings and goings, lots of beer being drunk but not drunken bums all over the place. My favourite player of the day was Kawasaki. I liked the fact he bowed when he caught a ball and that whenever anything was going on, he seemed to be in the thick of it. My favourite Baltimore player was Taylor Teagarden for his eccentric name.

Moo loved it and would go again anytime. The kids loved it too and they behaved wonderfully (partly helped by the bag of sweets we brought with us). They loved the Mexican waves which happened a lot and the hooting and clapping. We won (see its my team now!). On the outside of the stadium they were giving away 'Spitz' cracked pepper sunflower seeds. We had them before and hated them. We didn't realise you had to shell them. I picked some up, then Huffle and then Moo picked up some twice. We had loads. Moo tried them in the stadium and didn't like them. Then I saw someone shelling them and we tried them. Nice. Moo couldn't be bothered to shell them but Smallest loved it. It looked like a load of mice were sitting where he had been, there were shells everywhere.

As we were coming out, Small got hit on the back of the head when someone fell on him and then he got hit by someone's elbow accidentally too. He was in tears but we stopped to look out the window for a while till it calmed a bit. We didn't seem as high up as we thought but I think the pitch is below ground. Coming down the Ramps on the way out, it was very noisy, lots of people, mainly shouting. Once outside we realised it had rained again and we had missed it. It was a beautiful day and we walked to the pizza place, grabbed a few slices and headed for the front. We ate whilst watching the boats again and sunning ourselves. We were inadvertently sitting in a queue (though we were the first there) for a shuttle boat and people sat very close and asked us if it was the queue until we ran away and went to get an ice-cream (whoops another one, well the first one was a freebie!). The smallest ice cream they did was a two scooper, not huge but very very yummy. Gelato! We walked back to the harbour and slowly walked along the waterfront. We listened to people singing, the boys went in the stocks and we took silly photos. It was a great day and we were very lucky with the weather.

We had a good drive home (the boys played on their DS'). A bit of TV once home and then bed. Moo did some jigsaw and we all played table tennis.

 

 

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