Memorial Day at the Park (or, "The Best Day EVER")

The Best Day Ever....or, not. You be the judge. First of all, we met up with the Shumways at Jason's Deli before the game. Kate forgets that she's potty-trained and wets her pants...yes, she's five and no, she's never had an accident before. Of course, we don't have a change of underwear or clothes for her. We start to drive up to the Rangers field in Arlington and I decide that baby Lauren is definitely going to need a sun-hat because I can see the sun and the temperature climbing. I ask Brian to stop at the mall so I can run in and grab something. We happen to stop by the WORST mall ever (Grapevine Mills) and I attempt to rummage through the disorganization to find a hat and if I'm lucky, a change of clothes for Kate. 40 minutes later I finally found something that would work...thats how disorganized everything in the stores were. Plus, it might have been a busy shopping day (hello!) so I waited in a long line for a portion of that time. We hit the road again and get lost on the way to the game....I have a husband who NEVER gets lost...he could find his way home in a tornado. But, we're lost...another 40 minutes gone.

By the time we got to the field, its the 6th inning and people are starting to leave since the Yankees are killing us 8-0!! We find a parking spot and walk the mile to the ball field. We get there and realize our seats are in the shade...no sun-hat needed! It is 95 degrees outside and extremely humid though so we are all sweating our body weights....no kidding. Kate is screaming for water and Lauren is hungry and scared every time the announcers come on...oh, every 5 seconds. By this time, its the 8th inning and we're down 10-0. I leave to find a place to nurse Lauren- preferably somewhere private since I'm not putting a nursing shawl over my sweaty, hot self. I find someone who is helpful enough to get me a chair, which I take to the ladies' bathroom in a handicapped stall and I commence nursing. Hot, sweaty mom and baby...no A/C in a bathroom at the Rangers Stadium. You can imagine...I wanted to cry at this point. But, it gets better. As I was finishing up, the person next to me FLOODS their toilet. The smell, oh, the smell. I lift my feet up and balance them against the door so I'm not soaking myself in a stranger's excrement and continue to nurse. Why tears didn't flow at this point, I don't know...maybe its because I had sweated any extra moisture out already . Or, because it just became funny at this point. Who knows. I finish up, peel myself out of there and jump over the puddle to safety. I sit down at a picnic table in the shade and then 2 minutes later the game ends. People are shuffling out so I'm not heading back to my seat against the flow of traffic. The shortest game in MLB history, of course.

Brian leaves us at the entrance of the park to get the car so we don't have to sweat it out on the walk back only to discover that the roads are all blocked off and he has to park even further away to walk back to us and let us know we're walking after all. While he's away, Kate decides she needs to use the restroom. We try to get back in the park and are told we cannot come back in, so we have to have an escort take us to the bathroom, for security reasons. Kate finishes, I lift her up to wash her hands and she's screaming, "Mom, you're hurting me" because her thigh is against the counter. She then has a meltdown in front of our escort and everyone else left at the park while yelling, "Mom, you hurt me, you scratched me, that really hurt" etc. etc. I march all three of the kids back outside. Luckily, Brian hitches a ride on a valet's golf cart, picks us up, and we get a free ride back to our car (best part of the day).

Head home. Its now 4:45 (started the day at 11:30 AM) and we're just chatting in the car and lo and behold, we get lost again! What should have taken us 45 minutes to get home takes us 1 1/2 hours. We finally get home at 6 PM and let me tell you, home never looked so good.