All Dressed Up & Nowhere to Go

You probably don't care, but I still need to vent:) As I alluded, last weekend was basically a comedy of errors-ugh! I find other blogs with long posts rather entertaining, so hopefully this won't bore you as I'm able to laugh about it a week later...

On Fri., we were excited to visit Cheney Stadium & watch the Rainiers in action 'cuz it was a fundraiser spotlighting little leage baseball teams & uh, maybe they'd win (sorry M's!) We thought it might be less expensive & tastier to eat burgers first across the freeway @ Mighty Mike's-obviously in high demand 'cuz Chris beat us there (no surprise with my timeliness:)) & stood in line for a mere 45 min. when we'd only given ourselves a half hour prior to the first pitch...Smarty me left my car running for 20 of those min. & my car must've overheated with a/c & stereo on 'cuz it wouldn't start when we were finally ready to venture over to the game. Of course, we didn't have time to really charge up the battery after a jumpstart 'cuz we were in a hurry to let our handsomely adorned boys in their uniforms run the bases with Rhubarb. Well, the fun didn't stop there 'cuz the parking lot was full & that meant we got to park in nearby high school lot & TREK (in my Coach slip-ons that weren't intended for baseball game, but I decided to wear anyway for some odd reason?!) to the stadium resulting in 2 ginormous blisters for me-whoo hoo! Did I mention I got to haul my bag o' grease AND Dane 'cuz his little legs would've taken twice as long:) Unfortunately I wasn't aware of the rule that you couldn't take outside food into the stands-I thought just drinks were prohibited like @ Safeco Field so we'd polished off our shakes en route. I inhaled my now cold burger & a few fries before it occurred to me that my hand was stamped & no one was really watching @ the gate...Since I wasn't about to part with my bag o' peanuts prematurely I simply tucked remainder under my arm & in I went to very last row @ top. Suffice it to say, we've been spoiled by my dad's seats:)As you can see, Dane was glad that his mom was a rebel:)

Too bad the kids who wore their uniforms had a chance to be on the field BEFORE the game-oops! Not to fear-we still had the 4th inning jaunt with a reindeer, right? Um, no! When I realized that the 4th inning was nearing, I ran & grabbed the boys from concessions line & headed over to the first baseline while Chris waited to pay for their hot dogs/drinks (we were @ least experienced enough @ sporting events to save boys' food until game to occupy 'em:)) only to find out that somehow that was already full-how in the world were we to know that?? We thought surely we could just slip 'em in there, but too bad the seemingly neverending line came onto the field by the rightfield marker & only ran down to first base & then back out again. So it was lame for two reasons 'cuz Parker boys were left out through no fault of our own (believe it or not-we were actually there in plenty o' time) & it wasn't even literally around the bases as we thought. But apparently Cole still felt pretty tough sporting his uniform & learning from the semi-pros? It seriously would've made their day to just have a pic. with Rhubarb but he wasn't available to even stop for two adoring fans until middle of 8th inning out on the concourse (another one of dumb rules that we don't know as Cheney regulars). Are you kidding me? So this was the best we could do:The few highlights were the Rainiers were victorious, my fav Jeremy Reed was @ least 2 for 3 & every Fri. night (as far as I know, but I'm obviously NOT the expert:)) has cool post-game fireworks (amazing concept to a 5 & 3 y.o. since it wasn't 4th o' July or NYEve)!

Let this be a lesson to you if you have an interest in taking your fam to Tacoma's minor league team! Chris' parting comment was that the least Nick Lachey could do was invest in improvements to the ballpark itself:) Guess that's part o' the charm, eh?

That brings us to Sat. I hadn't exercised since the half, so let Chris go to YMCA prior to Cole's game & then decided I'd just run to meet 'em there. I figured it was about 5 mi. Well, those est. have never been my forte...So it ended up being only 3 & I felt like I was flying compared to previous distance:) In fact, I beat 'em to the ballfield only to be encouraged by my over-achiever husband to run home as well. Never mind that I swear it was 20 degrees warmer (mere mid-90's) by then & I wasn't properly hydrated, he wanted me to pick up my pace for extra incentive?! So I took off & barely survived. I will certainly not do that again @ least for duration of pregnancy! But I made it; it just took a while to catch my breath & cool off:) We sent Chris ahead to get some work done & got ready ourselves for a fun b-day party only to be rearended en route-ugh!

The guy was really nice & admitted fault even though I had just gotten off my own cell phone. I vividly remembered slowing down due to neverending construction in Puyallup, so I knew that @ least I wasn't liable; however, he made me hit car in front of me & damaged entire frame of Audi-My car automatically stopped as safety precaution following the impact, but I was worried that I wouldn't be able to start it again after last night's adventure. Meanwhile everyone else on the road was honking & yelling @ me for not getting my car outta the middle. We were lucky not to have hit the large concrete median 'cuz that would've been bad news for Cole! As it was, he was rubbing his neck & we couldn't open his door:( Dane was hysterical primarily 'cuz he had dropped his chips all over the floor but he had bitten his tongue as well-N doubt the experience was scary for 'em! They definitely take me seriously now when I tell 'em I can reach this or that or do something for 'em when I'm in the driver's seat 'cuz it doesn't take much for an accident to happen-just ask Jerry Cartwright! Overall we were fine physically as was the other driver for the record.

I can just think of better things to do on the hottest day of the year thus far than hang out @ gas station waiting for ride c/o Chris (who had to leave tons of work to accommodate us-sorry babe!) & blessed tow truck 'cuz my muffler was dragging on the ground by now, the right rear wheel well had sharp edges that were likely to puncture the tire if I persisted driving & the battery level was dropping (I'm sure there's a technical term, but you get the point:) Did I mention that I actually had my cell phone in hand, but it's forever running outta battery itself. I called my insurance co. & his, but realized that I'd still have to pay up front & be reimbursed for towing charge. The first two towing co. that I called had an hour wait until avail, so thankfully the third co. was a bit speedier (as I found out on biker's cell phone he was kind enough to let me borrow briefly:). Don't let that co. fool ya 'cuz he charged me from the time he rec'd the call & we were already on second hour by time I climbed aboard to direct him to collision shop 'cuz I didn't want to d/o sad Audi in my driveway.

I did have foresight to take everything outta my car, which adds up as you other mothers know. After that I bought ice cream sandwiches for the boys to pass time, but didn't compensate for being 2 hours late to fun party! In a nutshell, the Audi was considered a total loss by appraiser on Mon. a.m. & we were reimbursed on Weds. by his co.=pretty efficient! Now let search begin for SUV to fit our growing fam in style! The saving grace of the day was it was also Chad's b-day & he let us celebrate with him @ movie theater! Nice to unwind & watch comedy with my man; thanks to Grandma & Grandpa for watching Cole, Dane & even Cru on short notice!