It takes about 2 1/2-3 hours to get to St. Louis from my home. We left early enough so that we could be there when the gates opened, and to have time to roam around the new Busch Stadium. Once we parked and walked over to the stadium, we saw the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile parked on the side street. What a blast from the past! When I was a child it once came to my town, but this model is wayyy cooler than the old one I saw back in the day. Looked pretty much state of the art.
They were asking people to sign up to win a backyard barbeque for Labor Day. The Weinermobile could come to your house and feed a group of like 25 of your closest friends if you win. So we signed up. I noticed the young man who was with the Weinermobile had a sack full of Weiner Whistles. I remembered them and asked if the kids could have one. He said he only could give them to people who could sing the Oscar Mayer song. The kids looked at me and I belted it out, "Oh, I'd love to be an Oscar Mayer Weiner..." They looked totally amazed that good old g-ma knew it! Of course the kid wouldn't give me two - I had to sing the Oscar Mayer Bologna song for another. "My bologna has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R..." Once again the grandkids looked at me as though I were a Goddess. Mission accomplished and weiner-whistles in hand, we walked the rest of the way to the stadium.
We were still early, so we waited in line. My son and his girlfriend were meeting us there, so they found us in line and we all waited about 10 minutes for the gates to open.
Once we got inside, we headed for the kid/family area. We were given a free red popsicle, courtesy of North Star. The kids posed with their mascot, the penquin.
From there we went into the family center. I signed up both the grandkids for the Kids Crew, a Cardinal club that gave them a truly cool bunch of stuff. They got a backpack, ball cap, bobblehead doll, baseball cards and other items. I would definitely recommend anyone to get it for their kids - it was more than worth the $20 fee. They also have coupons to get back into another game at half price.
After the family center, which the grandson enjoyed but the granddaughter not so much, it was her turn. We headed for the Build-A-Bear shop on the other side of the stadium. It's a mini-version of the full-sized shops you see in malls, but it was just as much fun. She decided she wanted to get a Fredbird, the official St. Louis Cardinal mascot.
Once Fredbird was ready, we made our way to our seats, way up in the rafters. It's all good, though - I love the rafters. They have shade and you can see the entire field.
The tickets we purchased included a hot dog and soda (worth $9.00) and after getting those, we sat down for the game.
My favorite part of the day was watching my grandson put it all together. He's played baseball for three years now and he is a pretty good hitter, but not much of a fielder. I watched him and his mom talk about why a player was doing this or that, and listen as she explained the double play. He was so into it, he didn't want to get up even to go potty.
The next week at his own baseball game, I watched the effect of this game. He FINALLY got it. He threw to the right bases, he paid more attention, he really did an excellent job in the field. So not only was this a fun day, he truly learned something. I love it when that happens.
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