We drove to Massachusettes, parked at the Wellington Station to catch the T to Kenmore Square...but...station (and a few others on the Orange line) were closed. So we had to wait around for a shuttle bus to Haymarket and catch the Green line train there. It was the first time the kids had been on public transportation (other than a trolley in Maine), so even that was fun to them.
And being at Fenway, even though it wasn't for a "real" Boston Red Sox game was still great. $5 for the Upper Bleacher seats, a beautiful sunny day, and baseball. Can't go wrong. It was a double-header, and when we went down to get a first batch of snacks I wanted to also pick up beer. But the beer stand was closed until 2nd game began. Didn't you know that the first game went into extra innings! Oh well, $6 sodas come in a special "souvenir" cup we could take home. And not only was the beer shut down, but they weren't cooking food, just getting rid of old stuff. I was able to talk the lady into putting in a whole cheese pizza for us, then I stood in another line for an overpriced Italian Sausage, some peanuts and the big sodas. No fries or Fenway franks left. The $5 tickets make up for overpriced park food, right?
In between games, the kids had a blast in the bounce house...not a usual site on game day, but the Red Sox organization tried to bring in some of the "fun" stuff that happens in the hometown minor league affiliate parks. They also had little contests and such in between innings, the frisbee dogs were a crowd pleaser. We'd didn't stand in line for autographs or photos with players, but we did sign Connor up for the Hood Kid Nation -- he was thrilled with his new metal lunch box, baseball cap, temp tattoes, stickets, magnet, and more. Mommy was happy, as the Kid Nation kit also had a $1 off coupon for Hood ice cream! The kids also really enjoyed the big fans that misted water. Fun way to cool down on a warm day.
The original seats were literally right under this message board. Lots of seats were open though, and we ended moving down closer to the field 3 or 4 times. Eventually, we were lots closer to the bull pen area. While singing Sweet Caroline, Sydney said she even saw us on the big Jumbotron message board. She thought that was cool. Connor really liked the concession guys in the yellow shirts. I gave in and bought the kids frozen lemonade. A nice lady gave us cotton candy she had bought and her kids didn't want -- wasn't even opened. She must have had a soft spot for a family in the nosebleed seats with 3 kids. Zach said his favorite thing was the bounce house and watching baseball. Verdict: minor league games at major league park is a SCORE in our book. Already planning on coming back next summer.
To pass any downtime, I had tossed in a few new mini-composition books and a pack of mechanical pencils from my school supply stash, so they each had a way to keep score, doodle or draw. Connor did a great job capturing his view of the field (from our seats), the area behind home plate with the media boxes and flags, and then the empty bleachers. Check out his artistic renderings vs. some of my photos: 
Baseball-wise, the caliber of play was better for the Paw Sox (AAA) game. At the end of the game, I thought the pitcher in the bull pen looked familiar. Even though his number (#31) was not listed on the roster, I recognized the flat brim of his cap and the long socks -- Chris Smith was called in to close out the game. Now that Todd has had a taste of Fenway, he totally wants Green Monster seats to a "real" Red Sox game. I told him to start saving his pennies. But the truth is -- I would flip for these tickets as well. What a fun date night that would be. Some girls want a romantic dinner at a fancy restaurant for date night, but NO, not me. Give me hot dogs, $7.25 drafts, and a great ball game and I am set. Is that bad to admit out loud?
I'll edit this post when I've uploaded my photos from the trip to flickr so you can take a peek into our day. You can also see some super photos from sittingstill.net (thanks to Red Sox Dad for displaying some of these great photos and including the link for me to explore!).
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