A Man, His girls, and His Favorite Game...

Monday I get a call from Steve.

Steve - “Hey Sarah..I got us my work’s seats for the ICubs game tonight!”

Me – “Whoah..tonight? Quick notice! I have no one to watch the girls.”

Steve – “Oh they have seats too. They will LOVE it. I can’t wait to take my girls to the game.”

Click…

Now, I was VERY excited about going to the ICubs game. I love going to baseball games. The smells, the people, the click of the bat hitting the ball, and most importantly the food. HA! And to make it even more exciting for me, I was going to get a childhood dream come true. You see, growing up in a family with 3 sports fanatic brothers and 1 father from Chicago, I was a pretty big Cubs fan. More than that, I was a HUGE Ryne Sandberg fan. I thought he was so cute! I named my stuffed animals after him. So when I found out Ryne Sandberg was going to be the manager of the ICubs this year, I basically wanted Steve to run out and buy season passes. So I was excited about going. But…I knew it would be a miracle if we could make it past the 1st inning with the girls.

Steve, on the other hand, had way different expectations. Now, if any of you know Steve, he is a Man’s man! He loves hunting, football, hockey, golf, Nascar, and well…just about anything a boy could love. Does Steve get to do any of these things having 3 girls? Well..not so much. Our outings usually include trips to Princess Ice Shows or showings of Annie at the theater. Poor guy…doesn’t get to do “guy” things with the family all too much. But for him, Monday was going to be a different outing. We were going to do a “guy” thing and the whole fam was going to have the time of their lives. He could finally make his little princesses into sports fans and maybe even tomboys. (Well…I wouldn’t go that far if I have anything to do with it.)

So we start out. We get to the stadium. First stop (even before we get to our seats).

Reese and Finley-“OH! I see Cotton Candy. Can we get it Daddy! Right NOW!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE?”

Daddy (who is still in pure heaven) – “Sure my little princesses”. Then he gets conned in from our two little con artists to get 3 drinks, a container of popcorn, a hotdog, and cotton candy. We juggle all the food, all the girls, and all the drinks very very carefully to our awesome front row, right behind home plate seats.

Reese and Finley inhale the cotton candy---it’s gone and the game hasn’t even started. I notice my childhood “boyfriend” Ryne—and can’t stop taking pictures. PATHETIC I know…. Steve is holding his drink, Harper, and trying to eat his hotdog all while Harper is trying to grab his drink and hotdog as well. I don’t care…I’m too busy taking pictures of my childhood dream boy.

The girls are slightly entertained when Cubbies the bear comes over to wave at them. And then they start in again… “Can I have more snack”, “This is boring.” Ahh…this is getting fun!!

The game started.

Finley-“I have to go potty.” Grrr…I’m just watching my man in his managing action. Ok..I grab her and Harper, who was starting to get fussy and go. We get back to our seats in the start of the bottom of the 1st.

Reese – “I have to go potty…” Steve then takes her. It is just the beginning of the 2nd. And let me tell you, it was a quick 1st inning.

Popcorn is gone. Pop is gone. Pretzel is gone. And the girls..well they are basically gone. “I want more snack. This is boring!”

Me – “Girls sit down. “ Then I proceed to try to teach them the game. First of all this is funny because like I KNOW anything about this game anyway…come on! Second of all, they weren’t even listening to a word I said. All they could see was the guy behind us eating a great big ice cream cone and that is what they wanted.

Harper starts crying…and I mean REALLY crying. She then proceeds to throw up her dinner on me---sweet potatoes and peaches on a white shirt. Let me tell you…that spit up is very….attractive..:)

And then it happens…our moment of fame. Our moment in the spotlight.

Reese and Finley are throwing fits because they can’t have more snack and are bored. Harper is screaming her lungs out…and we are on the Jumbo-Tron. For about a full minute the cameras were in our face. Steve and I stopped our scolding of the girls, turned to the camera and smiled and waved. Me with my puky shirt, Steve with a flustered face, Reese with a scowl, Finley with an upset tummy, and Harper screaming her lungs out. What a “put together” family were we. That moment of fame was just telling the world, “Hello Des Moines! Don’t you want to be a family just like us? Wasn’t it a SMART idea to take 3 little princesses to a baseball game?”
3rd Inning – It was time to go. We couldn’t do it anymore. As we were packing up to leave, Steve turns to me and says, “Well…maybe we SHOULD try for that boy…”

Oh poor Steve…..he just doesn’t have a chance with these three princesses.