Spring Training! Go Rockies!

We had such a great time in Arizona for Rockies Spring Training! We are very lucky at how easy Zander travels right now and we are enjoying every minute of it! Luckily Grandma and Grandpa drove down so Zander got LOTS more stuff than he would have if we had to take it all on the plane...

We arrived on Tuesday night and Grandma and Grandpa picked us up at the airport...we visited a bit and headed to bed. Grandma and Grandpa offered to take Zander when he got up on Wednesday and although I wasn't sure they knew what they were getting into, I jumped all over it! Bryan and I slept in a bit, we all had breakfast and headed to the ballpark! Bryan has been like a little kid at Christmas, he was so excited to see the new Spring Training facility in Phoenix! The facilities are amazing, not the same as Tucson (we miss how close we could stay and how close you could get to the players for autographs) but amazing none the less! After checking out the fields we headed back to the hotel to enjoy the pool for a bit before heading out to the game at night.

On Wednesday night we headed to Zander's first baseball game! The day was beautiful but it definitely got cool when the sun went down! We played Seattle at Rockies' Salt River Fields. We arrived early so dad could enjoy batting practice, he was rewarded with a ball hit by Tulo which we later got autographed by Tulo!! We enjoyed the game with Manissa, Vincie, the Ortegas, and Grandma and Grandpa!

On Thursday, we enjoyed a day game! The Rockies played the Dodgers at Dodgers' Spring Training facility. Grandma, Grandpa, Manissa and Vincie, Madonna, Arya, and Tina all enjoyed the sun on the lawn in the outfield.

On Thursday night, Grandma and Grandpa watched Zander while Mom and Dad headed to the casino! We picked up Vincie and Manissa and headed to the Salt River Casino. The gambling was fairly uneventful, we won a little for Zander's college fund and most importantly didn't lose any but the best part was taking Vincie and Manissa back to their hotel. There was a light that I was waiting at that was forever red...seriously we waited through 3 cycles and I decided I was going for it. Manissa stated "I hope the po po aren't watching!" well....they were! He pulled me over and came to the window and I explained what happened. I asked what you do when the light doesn't change and he said, "I guess you just go and hope a police officer isn't watching." I was let off with a warning and a chat with a very nice police officer!

On Friday, Mom, Bryan and I dropped dad off to golf and we explored downtown Scotsdale. It was a great little town and we found lots to look at and a little to buy....we also found a perfect Tavern to enjoy the sunshine and a few beers.

That night the four of us went to another Rockies game at Salt River, we played the Rangers. We had seats that night about 10 rows back on the 1st base side, hoping we would have the opportunity at some autographs. We were not succesful in autographs but loved the seats! It really is a beautiful facility, the only downfall is access to the players and practice.

On Saturday, Grandma and Grandpa were leaving to head back to Denver. Bryan and I rented a car and relaxed at the pool for the morning. I have a friend from High School in Phoenix and we met her for lunch. We have figured that it has been over 10 years since seeing eachother and it was awesome to catch up! Teri is expecting in June and we realized that we are both the "old" parents we swore we would never be!

That evening we went to our fourth baseball game in four days! We went to one of the older fields in Phoenix, and watched the Rockies play the Oakland A's. The best part of the evening was that on the way out, we finally in succeeded in what we had been trying to do all week. Bryan has been working to fill his baseball case the past few years at Spring Training and we had been unsuccessful all week, but in the 6th inning the starters were pulled and we knew they would be leaving shortly so we waited outside. We were rewarded for our patience with Tulo, Cargo, Giambi, and Fowler's autograph! SUCCESS! We had all the baseballs we had with us signed and we could go home loving Spring Training!

One of the other highlights of the trip was seeing some of Zander's first genuine smiles! What a great trip!