A Perfect Concert

Each year, M and I discuss who would be the perfect artists to play at the best outdoor venue around, the Minnesota Zoo Amphitheater.  The lineup for the zoo comes out in late April/early May and we find the best artist we like on the list and we buy tickets to the show.  We go to at least one concert a year out there. We've had impressive lists of who we think would be the best out there for the venue and for our liking but we've never been right according to the real lineup.

The list came out this past spring and again, we didn't have any artists in the lineup that we had really desired to see.  We decided we would go and see Eric Hutchinson in June.

A couple weeks after the zoo concert schedule came out, we struck gold with what we thought would be the all-time best artist at the zoo and it was confirmed that John Butler Trio added a date to the schedule.

We got our tickets months ago and scored center section, 3rd row.  We patiently waited for August.

Sunday, August 4th came and it was time to see JBT.  Once arriving at the concert, our tickets were technically 3rd row but 1st and 2nd row only went on the sides and not in the middle so it was as though we were in the front row.  Add the perfect, cool summer night's weather and it was the making of a beautiful night.

We had seen JBT once before at the Fitzgerald Theater and that ranks up there very high, if not the best place to see an indoor concert, particularly JBT. 

The concert was fantastic and everything about the night was just perfect.  

 

Twins Game

I brought Keith to a Twins game on Tuesday, July 29th.  After Vikings training camp from the weekend, I think I am now the sports Auntie.  I'm definitely ok with that.

We went to the event through my work and a charity organization called CornerHouse.  Before the game, we went to Epic for a dinner, live and silent auctions benefiting CornerHouse.  We ate picnic-type food and browsed the silent auctions before heading across the street to the game.

Once we arrived, we were walking around the stadium and a Twins employee approached Keith and asked him if he would like to be part of the Great Clips Grounds Crew at the end of the 5th inning, where he would replace one of the bases.  He said yes, I signed the waiver and we headed to the gift shop where Keith bought a Twins key chain with his name on it before heading to our seats.

Before the game, they debuted the logo for the 2014 All-Star Game.

I brought Keith to where he needed to be for the grounds crew and he and two other kids were taken down to the field.  It felt weird just letting him go and I was all alone for a couple of innings.  He ended up picking second base to pick up and replace so I tried to get as close as I could to record him.  While he was out on the field, shortstop Pedro Florimon threw him a ball. Lucky kid.  

When we got back to our seats, Keith said it would be funny if Florimon hit a foul ball and he caught it. Shortly after that, Florimon hit a foul ball that landed 12 seats away from us and we laughed.  With both his success at Vikings training camp and the Twins game and in the words of Keith, "It was a good sports week."  

Vikings Training Camp

M and I went to Vikings training camp on Saturday, July 27th.  This time we took a very special guest...my nephew Keith.  He's pretty much always been into baseball but within the last year has gotten into football, which of course excites his auntie Dana.

We picked up Keith at 8 am and headed down to Mankato for training camp.  Camp just started the day before so practice would be limited with just a little over an hour in the morning and almost 3 hours in the afternoon.  It was actually kind of chilly out in the morning and the high wasn't even going to get to 73 degrees.  I'm not sure we've ever experienced weather like that at training camp as it's usually burning hot.

We waited in line as we arrived before camp opened and stopped at all the areas that we normally bypass, the kids area.

Morning practice was at Blakeslee Stadium and we watched some of the players walk their way to the field.

Keith enjoyed watching practice and kept talking about and wondering where Adrian Peterson is on the field, while I was seeing my first glimpse of Greg Jennings and Cordarelle Patterson.

After morning practice, we headed to the gym/locker area to see if Keith could snag a few autographs.  I bought him a football that had white panels on it for autographs. He was pretty successful.  

We went to lunch at Pizza Ranch, where we saw Toby Gerhart.  We said hi to him as we were walking in but didn't want to bother him for a picture or autograph for Keith.

We went to the mall and went shopping for Vikings stuff for Keith and then went to the store at camp.  I bought him a small Adrian Peterson plaque.  M found an Adrian mask.

Afternoon practice was at the other fields and it was way busier than the morning practice.  It was hard to find a seat so walked around a lot looking for the best vantage points.  We didn't see anything too impressive from anyone other than two 75+ yard field goals from Blair Walsh. 

We headed back over to the area where Keith got his autographs in the morning.  Again, he was successful.  He got Toby Gerhart's autograph and when Toby was signing his ball, Keith asked him, "How was Pizza Ranch?", which Toby laughed and said it was his first time there and it was alright. :)

We walked to the back of the building so see if Keith could get some more autographs.  Joe Webb was on Kare 11 news.  

Keith got several more autographs in the back and ended up with 13 autographs on his football and 1 card signed by Cordarrelle Patterson.  Autographs on his ball ranged from players that are trying to make the team like Adam Theilen, Bobby Felder and Desmond Bishop to guys already on the team like Jarius Wright, Charlie Johnson, Cordarrelle Patterson, Kyle Rudolph, Brandon Fusco and Toby Gerhart.  

We left Mankato around 6:30 pm and headed to Jordan, MN to the Yellow Barn.  We picked up some candy and dropped Keith off after 8 pm.  He had an incredible day and so did I.  It was so fun to live through the eyes of a kid for a day.