July 2014 - All-Star FanFest

As part of the All-Star week activities, Keith and I went to All-Star FanFest on Saturday, July 12th. Keith had actually gone the day before with his brother and dad but he wanted to go again with me.  I can't quite remember how I got tickets but I know I didn't pay for them.  I must have gotten them through work.

We were walking through the Convention Center common areas that morning and I slowed down because I saw someone at the coffee area. Keith kept walking and then noticed I was several steps back and I told him to come here. He came back over and I pointed at the guy known as Bert Blyleven finishing up his coffee purchase.  We all three hit up perfectly as he started to walk the same way as us and he said, "Good morning."  We told him we were here to see him (truly, I was there to see him) as I pointed to my Blyleven jersey and he liked that.  We all walked the same way for a little bit and I told him we'd see him later.  

It was almost time to get in line to see Bert as he was going to be there for 20 minutes or so to meet and talk to.  We got in line and he showed up a little bit early and when he got on the stage, he noticed both Keith and I in the line, pointed at us and said, "Hey, you made it." and smiled.  

We also went and watched Bert speak in a pretend locker room setting, him answering questions from the host and fielding questions from the audience. He talked about one of his favorite all-time baseball experiences which was the homecoming at the dome in 1987 from Detroit.  He said he gets goosebumps just telling the story.  I feel lucky enough to have been there that night.  

Keith and I walked around the area stopping at many different things along the way and taking pictures.  I thought Keith might be bored as he was just there the day before and he said he hadn't seen a lot of the same things the day before so it was somewhat new to him.  We stayed just over a couple of hours and we were out of there by noon.  I really enjoy these experiences with Keith and I like being the sports auntie.  

 

June 2014 - Twins Game

I bought tickets earlier in the month for Keith and I to go to a Twins game for his birthday.  We went on June 30th against the Royals, the team that would lose in game 7 of the World Series later that season.

Joe Mauer is one of Keith's favorite players and when I asked him before I got the tickets where he would like to sit at the game.  He said anywhere with a good view of Joe Mauer.  Ok, so that's where we sat then.

We watched batting practice for the Royals and just before the Twins came out, Keith got autographs from three players.  

 

 

Keith may like Mauer but I'll take Trevor Plouffe.  Yes please. 

  

#bestauntieever

   

The Twins lost 6-1 but I know he had one of the best baseball experiences ever. Me too.  

June 2014 - Rochester

The weekend after the MS150, I met my sister's family in Rochester for a baseball tournament weekend for my nephew Keith.  The day we got there was his 11th birthday, on Friday the 13th.  M went on a motorcycle trip to Wisconsin instead.

I had never been to Rochester before.  I don't know if I was necessarily missing anything but it was kinda fun to explore the city a bit.  

We went to my nephew's game on Friday night, his birthday and the weather was beautiful and perfect.  After the game, I went to my ex-something's house.  He's lived there for more than a handful of years.  I had seen him at my dad's benefit in September 2012 but before that, I hadn't seen him since hmmm....I'm not sure but I think summer of 2006. We hung out at his house, talking for hours. 

Colton 

He has a good eye.

He catches.

He scores runs.

He pitches and strikes out batters.  The pitcher on his team was giving up runs like crazy and they threw Keith in there to try and get them out of the inning.  He struck out 3 batters in a row.  

Saturday's weather was a little different.  Breezy, cloudy and chilly.  I didn't really bring the clothes for that.  Keith pitched again and did well.  We had a break in between morning and afternoon games and went to lunch.  Saturday's afternoon game was postponed until Sunday due to weather, mostly scary lightning and rain.

The most perfect bunt. 

He pitches like a pro.

Keith's team congratulating his pitching performance

The birthday card I made Keith.  It had Twins tickets in it for him and I to go to a game later in the month.

 

The family went swimming in the afternoon after lunch.  We went out to dinner to Newt's in the evening and went back to the hotel to play games.  I retired to my room around 10 pm and left in the morning before Keith's game.  On my way home, a bald eagle flew parallel with my car right when I got on Hwy 52.  

State Fair- Kid Style

After a fun time at the Vikings preseason game the very night before, we woke up bright and early and went to the State Fair on Friday, August 30th.  It had been so hot this week so I was reluctant to take Keith but after hearing it wouldn't be as warm, I decided to go for it.

Keith didn't know I had plans for the fair until 11 pm the night before after getting back to my house and I asked him if I wanted to go to the fair in the morning.  His jaw dropped open, he sat there for a second or two and said, "Yeaaaaahhhh..."  He assured me he could get up in the 7 am hour and that we'd be able to be out the door by early 8 am hour.

On our way to the fair, the sun was shining on the east side of the cities but driving west, there was this ominous, dark sky.  The radio said it wasn't rain but a cool front coming in.

Once around the fair, the lines were so long for parking, we decided to go to M's work and park in their lot and walk the several blocks over to the fair after carefully crossing the train tracks next to M's work.  After getting out of the car, the cool front definitely came in and it felt great.  It was low 70's with a breeze.

Once inside the fair, I left it up to Keith to decide where what we would do.  It was close to 9 am at this point and he wondered if Fox 9's meteorologist Keith Marler was at the fair.  I don't know if he likes him because they share the same name or because he likes weather but we headed to the Fox 9 area to see if he was there.  I told him there was a good chance he was and when we got there, he got to see Keith Marler in action on the air.

Keith Marler directly in the middle of the picture

After that, our first stop was food.  Keith's first choice?  Bacon ice cream.  He had it last year and apparently liked it enough to get it again.

My first stop was something I wanted to get the first time I was at the fair, a week earlier, but I was just too full. (I forgot to write in my last post about the fair that I also had the lobster mac 'n cheese while I was there. I was so full that I had two bites and brought the rest home to enjoy later.  It was good but it was $9.) It was a BBQ pulled pork taco with coleslaw on top of a corn pancake and wrapped in a flour tortilla. YUM.

We went over by the Twins area where there was batting practice being held for the kids.  Each kid would rotate around the outfield until it was their turn to hit.  The pitcher I recognized immediately. He's a worker/usher at the Twins game and his section is 117, one I've sat at multiple times.  He's super fun and crowd-interactive so it was easy to remember who he was.

Keith had a few homers over the wall and the pitcher said, "you hit it, you get it". 

We browsed through the International Bazaar and I bought a bag/purse.  I had to stop at the stand outside of the bazaar where I bought some coconut macaroons from Salty Tart.

We went to Heritage Square.  Keith had never been there before and I thought I would show it to him before they tear it down and have other plans for it like they intend to do for next year.  

We watched a guy made a wooden bowl and while I thought it was pretty fascinating, I'm not sure how exciting Keith thought it was.

We walked through the train cars and looked at old race cars before heading into the Minnesota Newspaper Museum.  I remember going here with my family when we were younger and getting a State Fair newspaper. Keith got a paper hat made for him.  This building is getting torn down after this year but they haven't yet found another place at the fair to accommodate the museum for next year.

Keith wanted to eat again so he had funnel cake fries.  They were covered in powdered sugar and chocolate sauce to dip them in.  I asked if I could have one and he said yes as I thought there was no way he would eat all of them.  He did. 

We shopped around Heritage Square where I bought some delicious peaches and some jewelry.  

We went to the Midway next.  If you get there before 1 pm, they have an early bird special and the games and rides are discounted 1 ticket.  

Can you see Keith up on top on the balcony?

Keith wasn't afraid to go on rides by himself.  His first ride was the tornado and he was able to sit with other kids his age.

He wasn't afraid to go into the haunted house either.  He got in his little cart and he wheeled off into the building, coming out just 2 minutes later, not scared.

It was so hard to get pictures of him on this next ride because it was going so fast.  The girl he sat next to was getting sick and covering her mouth and I just hoped she wouldn't puke on Keith!

After that ride, Keith wanted to go to into the freak show area where they have the spider woman, bearded lady, sword swallower, that kind of thing.  I let him go in on his own and I sat at the benches in front waiting for him to come out.  It took 45 minutes!  (His mom was ok with him going in there and he had been in there the year before.)

With only a few tickets left, Keith played a game and won a stuffed tiger for his brother Colton.

The sun was starting to come out and we were getting close to being done for the day. We stopped inside the dairy barn where Keith got a blueberry malt and we watched one of the princesses get carved in butter in the big rotating cooler.

I got some watermelon that didn't taste the best and that was the end of our day at the fair.  We spent 5 hours there and on our way back to the car, I said that I forgot to take a picture of us while we were at the fair.  Keith said that it was ok and we can take a picture of ourselves while we were on the train tracks. Yeah, I decided against that.

We were going to surprise Keith's mom at work and show up to see her.  Once we got to her work, we didn't see her car.  I called her and she said she was out running errands for work.  Oops, that didn't work too well.

I drove Keith home and he was wiped.  I caught him falling asleep in the car a couple of times before we got to his house.

I know he had an awesome time the last couple of days with his auntie Dana and I enjoyed every minute with him as well.