Sunday morning dawned hot and humid, causing Duane and I to say "no way" to a zoo trip, and making Duane extra glad he had opted to sleep in. I was steadily working my way though a box of tissues and bottle of cough syrup, when my cell phone rang, then Duane's. Caller ID said it was our brother-in-law. After a few minutes of phone tag (in which I was convinced something had happened to my dad or stepmom) Duane got a hold of Stacey. Turns out that Stacey was also sick, but he happened to have two club level tickets to a Cincinnati Reds game that afternoon - all food included - where they were retiring Pete Rose's number. Stacey thought that since Ryan has recently discovered baseball, he might enjoy going.
You have to imagine the next 40 minutes on fast forward. Duane rushed out to pick Ryan up from his sleepover. When he got home, I helped Ryan find appropriate game clothes, Duane packed some snacks and drinks for the drive, and my stepsister drove the tickets over to our house - as well as some extra money for Ryan to buy a souvenir at his first major league ballgame. As Ryan walked out the door I heard him say, "You mean we're going all the way to Cincinnati?!?"
I wish I could have been a part of the day, because it sounds like they had a fantastic time, but on the other hand, it's so nice that Duane and Ryan had a special day all to themselves. They ate lots of ballpark food (Ryan had a soft pretzel, a cinnamon soft pretzel, nachos AND ice cream), watched the game, checked out the Great American Ballpark and more. According to Duane, Ryan must have said "thank you" no less than 15 times and wants to go back with the whole family.
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| Ryan took this shot of the ballpark |
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| Ryan wearing his brand new Reds cap, holding his first game certificate |
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