Babies and Baseball.

Ahhhhh.... summer. I love everything about it.


This past weekend we had a good ole-fashioned-spur-of-the-moment road trip to Tampa. Dave and I were practically giddy when we packed our bags and jumped into the car on Saturday morning. In between singing songs on the radio, we kept asking each other, "When was the last time we took a road trip?"
This used to be a common occurrence for us. The two years we were dating we drove anywhere we could get to on a tank of gas. It's such a great stress reliever to get out of town... and you don't have to go through the hassle of the airport, plus you don't have to worry about "making good time" because there's no agenda. You're just off exploring a new city!

Well we've been to Tampa before so this time we weren't so concerned with doing any of the cheesy sight seeing things... but we had 2 things to accomplish. To see the baby.... and to go to a Tampa Bay Rays game.
We took 301 and drove through Gainseville, and actually got to stop at the Orange Shop - which I have been dying to go to!! We pass it all the time and it's never open. Well this time it was! We stopped in and talked to the 2 little ladies that run the place... and apparently it's only open from November through June. No wonder! We always pass it in the fall when we are heading to a Gator Game. They were so sweet (no pun intended) we bought some orange blossom honey.



Once we got to St. Pete we got to meet Joseph Edward - the newest member to the McAndrew family. He's just as cute as could be and SO TINY!! He's 6 lbs which is about 13 lbs less than what Arnold weighs. (Sorry Arnie! But you are quite the fatty.) It so weird to think that me and this kid are on the same branch of the family tree, considering we're 29 years apart. I'm going to really have to squelch any "Aunt Kristen" talk.


Then we were off to the baseball game. It was "country night" and they apparently gave out free trucker hats, but we were too late getting there to snag one. That's OK because I ended up shelling out a few bucks to get a nice one.

The Rays won and we were happpy campers - feeling like we really got our money's worth. Well after the game all of a sudden they wheeled a stage out onto the outfield and BAM! Trace Adkins came out and gave an hour long concert - FOR FREE! That was very cool, considering the people in cheap seats now had concert tickets that they'd gotten for 9 bucks. Our tickets had cost 22 - but still quite a deal!

Well we had so much fun... we woke up on Sunday and decided to go to the second game! (Crazy - I know, but that's how we roll.) It meant we wouldn't be home until about 9pm... and we'd have to leave from the ballpark, but it was well worth it because it turned out to be a fantastic game!! They went into 10th inning tied 3-3 with the Chicago White Sox and they got a home run to win the game. The energy was so electric!! People were screaming and jumping up and down!

Including my husband... who high fived everyone in the row behind us and in front of us.

Ahh baseball.


Sweaty, tired, we got into the car and started the 3 hour drive home. I think that might have been the only moment where I went, "oh boy, this is going to suck." But we stopped at the Millhopper Cafe in Gainesville for some din din and it broke up the trip so we didn't feel quite as wiped out when we pulled into the driveway.


So... did we accomplish what we set out to do?


See the baby.... Check.
See a game.... Double Check.
Added bonus..... had ALOT of fun and didn't think about work/house repairs once.

Mission accomplished.