Night Out With the Lake Monsters

At the end of last school year, my six-year-old daughter Ruby won some sort of award for being awesome and the prize included tickets to a Vermont Lake Monsters baseball game.  Not only did we get free tickets for the family, but she was going to be able to go out onto the field and be recognized with other awesome kids, which was pretty exciting for a Kindergartener.  The date chosen for this event was in June, and we packed up Ruby and her three-year-old brother Edward and headed over to Centennial Field for the pre-game ceremony.

Of course, being in the month of June in the year 2013, it was pouring rain.  Poor Ruby went out onto the field and stood in a line of soaking wet children, all looking excited but water-logged, and was recognized by the half a dozen people actually crazy enough to be at the game, while in the background the workers covered the field with a giant tarp.  The game was cancelled and we left, proud but miserable, with more free tickets to a make-up game in August.

Well, my friends, August is here, and I am happy to report that we attended the game this past Tuesday night in dry and sunny weather.  Everyone was excited, not only because of the game, but also because it was “Bring Your Dog to the Game” night, so the stadium was filled with rapturous barking as over fifty dogs strained at their leashes, trying to chase or catch the dozens of balls being thrown, tantalizingly out of reach.  Edward loves dogs, so this was fantastic news for him.  He could barely contain his euphoria, although I think a lot of that had to do with the thrilling fact that we got to ride in a school bus on the way over from the parking lot.

Now, of course the most important part of the game is the snacks, so we hadn’t even gotten to our seats yet before I was suddenly holding cotton candy and popcorn.  Luckily we had known to eat dinner ahead of time or we would have gone broke trying to buy dinner as well.  If you are going to take your kids to see the LakeMonsters, I highly recommend taking them on a “Kids Eat Free” night, or on one of the three famed “25 cent hot dog” nights.  But a word of caution, last summer we went to one of the latter, and I may have accidentally eaten up to six hot dogs.  Hey, it only cost me a buck fifty!

As a parent, one of the most fun things to do is to explain the game to my kids.  I love passing along my meager knowledge to them, because they are always very impressed, if also slightly confused.  I told them what bunting was, and the difference between hits and runs.  I explained foul balls, and walking, and umpires.  I’m sure it was all fascinating to them.  But what they really liked was when Champ, the team mascot, came out and danced around.  Not only did he dance around, but when we went over to see him, he messed up my hair and then tried to eat my head.  Oh, the kids loved that, let me tell you.

After some drinks and a couple of snow cones we had made it to the sixth inning, which was when the sky started getting dark and Edward decided that he had had enough of behaving like a reasonable child.  To be fair, it was way past his bedtime, although I would have thought that all that sugar and caffeine would have helped with that problem.  Oh well.

We left before the seventh inning started, riding back to our car on the school bus and then driving home and putting the children to bed.  They screamed and kicked and yelled the whole time, until their heads hit their pillows at which point they immediately went into hibernation and ceased all functioning.  Someone later asked me who won, and I said “Anybody who didn’t go to the game with a three-year-old, because they got to stay for the whole thing.”  But actually, I loved taking him to the game.  I loved being there with both of my children.  It was a great summer memory, and even though we only saw two-thirds of it, in the end I think we all won.

[typography font=”Satisfy” size=”24″ size_format=”px”]Written By Adam Hall[/typography]

I am a stay-at-home Dad who also happens to be a professional opera singer. When I am not on the road singing for various opera companies, I am at home taking care of my kids and driving my wife crazy.  Raised in Vermont, we are now bringing up our children, Ruby and Edward, here.  If you want to hear more about music, parenting, and everything in between, check out my blog at www.tenordad.com