Friday Night A's Game

Bobble head night had appeared again on the calender. This was the last bobble head of the season and most likely the only game the four of us would attend this year. Dave and Olivia had gone to pick up the other bobble head earlier in the season but they didn't stay for that game. Knowing this would be a lot of work I can admit I wasn't exactly thrilled to be going but Dave really wanted us to go so I sucked it up and packed the bags with warm clothes, dinner, and snacks for everyone. It sounds like it should be a simple few tasks but when you're home alone with two kids running and screaming it is a little difficult to concentrate and make sure you remember to pack everything for everyone. Dave was still at work and going to be meeting us on the BART.

Once I gathered all the necessities and packed them into backpacks for each of us to carry we were on the road. The drive to the station was decent. Getting out of the truck, packing the stroller and stuffing Ava into it, and walking to the building with Liv pushing the stroller went smoothly. It was hotter than ever and I was sweating like a fat pig but that's really irrelevant. I was starting to feel like I could do this, I'm a strong independent woman, I don't need anyone to hold my hand and help me with my kids. We are alone together everyday 5 days a week. I cart them around everywhere. Why this journey seemed different I don't know. Most likely because I wouldn't have my vehicle to come back to for supplies if needed. Instead I was having to bring everything with me that we could possibly need for the next 5 hours.

So we walked up to the building sweating and what do we see... a freaking out of order sign on the elevator. How am I going to get Ava in a stroller up stairs? After some deliberation of how I really hate Dave at this point, I remove Ava from the stroller, make the girls hold hands and walk up the stairs while I carried the stroller. I was worried they would get to the top step and let go of each other and start running in different directions but they listened and stayed together. Phew. We made it. We also managed to figure out how to fit 2 people and a stroller through the ticket thing that opens and closes really fast. I was feeling really good about myself at this point. Then I noticed that the other elevator that takes you down to the trains is also out of order. Holy God. Could this really be happening? Dave hate-meter steadily on the rise. Why again are we going through all of this?

And then Dave appeared... with good timing I might add. He carried the stroller down the huge flight of stairs while I walked with the girls down and the train arrived one minute later. The ride out there was fun. The girls both love the train. We met Dave's friend at the Coliseum station and headed to the game.

As we all entered the ticket gates the attendant stopped Dave and said he needed a ticket for Ava. So Roman, Olivia, and I headed in, retrieved our bobble heads, and waited for Dave. Dave was given a ticket at work so he had only bought ones for Olivia and I. While we waited one of the attendants started talking to me about the A's and the promotions and then he asked me why we were standing there waiting. I explained how my husband needed a ticket for our 2 year old and he was back in line. The man, a retired sheriff of 30 years, asked what he looked like and what his name was because he had free tickets for him. A few seconds later there was the rest of my family with huge smiles on their faces toting their precious little bobble heads.

Here we are sitting in the field level seats. See the smiles on our faces.
That's because our seats are somewhere up in the nose bleed section.
But they don't know that. We found these seats in a prime location.

Then the attendant of that section walked over behind our seats and asked who had the tickets. I thought to myself- if I have to pack these kids back up, climb all those stairs, I think this will be the last day I ever come here again. But instead I pointed to Dave as the ticket holder even though they were blatantly sticking out of my pocket. The man asked Dave if these were his seats, Dave responded with a quick...I believe so... and we had arrived. Finally.

The A's ended up losing of course but the girls got to see Swiper and we all had our pictures taken and posted on the A's fan site. It was a do-able outing but I'm sure next year will be easier when the girls are a little older.