Cardinals Took on the A's, We Took on the Heat

So after we tackled the Magic House, the zoo, a Scottish bar to watch the World Cup game in (that was JUST Chad to be clear), and two different hotel check ins, we hit the Cardinal game with Michael. I was a little skeptical we'd make it through even 4 innings...just because of how the zoo went earlier that day and how stinkin' hot it was.

I was pleasantly surprised though. This was the first game we had gone to this season, and the first time we sat in Michael's season ticket seats. It was remarkably cooler in his seats than I thought it would be. The game was actually enjoyable! And that's saying a lot considering how hot it was earlier that day and we had two small Cardinal fans wooling us.

It's getting really fun to take Landon to do fun things. He was soaking it all in. After we found our seats, he stood for a good solid five minutes just staring at the field and all the sites around. He asked all kinds of questions. The funniest question: (with grave concern in his voice) "Uncle Michael, WHY are Uncle Stallion and Uncle Scotty Cubby fans?" Michael told him something about "a bad life choice," which Landon just nodded his head and soaked in as well. It's just a matter of time before that phrase resurfaces.

This game was Grant's first Cardinal game. We took Landon a little earlier, but not much. It was during our pre-blog era, so I'm going to do a small revisit...

It was April, and we got tickets to the Coca-Cola Roof Top Deck...where you get "free" food and drinks and can meander around during the game a little. I was most concerned about Landon being a little too cool (because it WAS April) and about the sun. Turns out, neither one of those were problems. However, pretty early in the game, not sure what inning it was exactly, Albert hit a homerun and they launched the fireworks right over our heads in centerfield. Landon went H.Y.S.T.E.R.I.C.A.L and could not be soothed. We finally ended up having to go down and sit in first-aid so the kid would eat. He was NOT happy. I'm actually surprised he didn't hate baseball and the Cardinals from the word go over that little outing, but I guess he was too young to scar too badly.

So with Grant, I had a whole host of things to be nervous about. He had a FANTASTIC time though. Was all smiles through the entire game...with the exception of the fourth through seventh innings which he snoozed through.

While at the game we sat near a slightly crazed Cardinal fan who found it necessary to bang on the metal on the top of the scoreboard that we were sitting behind. Landon wasn't sure what to think about that at first, but then he joined in. The crazed fan found this even more amusing. We also were seated near a good friend of ours from college. Total coincidence and nice surprise!

Grandpa Larry had given Landon a twenty before we left to get something at the game. On the way out, we stopped and bought the boys a new shirt that says, "Start Them Young, Raise Them Right." We knew Grandpa would be proud of the purchase.

So we made the trek back to the Hilton at the end of the game. Chaos ensued in our hotel room while Chad and I were attempting to feed Grant his cereal (a chore with a capital C), Landon ran around the room like a mad man and then screamed that he had to go poopy but couldn't get up on the toilet. I sent Michael in to help him mount the potty, even though he wasn't sure he was up for the challenge. When Landon screamed the next time it was to announce he needed "his tushy wiped." Grant was still crying and flailing every limb on his body around while Chad attempted to hold him and keep him from grabbing and dumping the bowl of cereal. I handed over the cereal to Michael and went to tend to Landon. When I returned, Michael was on his way out the door, saying "good night" and something about being with us made him appreciate being single. What the?! :) Well, a quiet hotel room with a huge chance of a solid uninterrupted eight hours of sleep did sound very appealing. I'll give him that.

The next morning we got up and did some house hunting with Michael. Chad made the first appointment while I got the boys up and ready and packed all our junk. Then we met for lunch and my boys headed for Hord while Michael and I made our own episode of House Hunters and saw several condos/apartments in one afternoon. Highlights included some really cool set ups for living arrangements....old schools, a monastery, and another extremely old cool building with great odd shaped windows all remodeled into apartments...really high ceilings, just unique places to live. Very fun. A lowlight, and probably what I'll remember the most and longest about apartment hunting with Michael, was looking at this place still inhabited by some crazy animal lovers. They had this dog that wanted to KILL us. It was in a crate, but was barking and snarling like he hadn't eaten for days. I was scared to even walk by the crate. Don't remember much about that apartment other than my heart beating out of my chest and the owner standing there yelling "Foxy" and kicking the crate about a dozen times. Um...yikes. Regardless of which place Michael picks, we are so excited to have him closer and to be able to go hang out a weekend in the St. L. with him.