Redhawks Camping Adventure

We left bright and early Saturday morning for Fargo. Okay, so it wasn't as bright and early as Scott wanted it to be, but it was the best I could do. What is it about men and trips? Why is it that they spend ZERO time helping to get everything organized to go, or ZERO time trying to help you make a list of everything you might need? There are also many things that I have to do before I can leave the house if we are going to be gone overnight. I have to make sure the cats have food and water, make sure nothing is turned on, make sure the bedroom doors I don't want cats in are shut, sink is empty of dirty dishes, etc. So, Scott and the kids were sitting outside in the car waiting for me while I frantically ran around the house making sure everything was done that had to be done.

We arrived in Fargo around lunchtime and ate lunch at the food court in the mall and then did a little bit of shopping for school clothes. I absolutely HATE shopping with Scott AND the kids. I get nervous because I think I'm taking too long and they start getting antsy and difficult to deal with. (All 3 of them!) They really weren't all that bad, but there was a point when I just wanted to throw my hands up in the air and be done with it.

Gage desperately needed a haircut, and Emma needed a trim as well, so we made an appointment at Mastercuts in the mall, which bought me some much needed "alone time" while shopping.

Here is Gage's hair before we left. I have been trying to get him to let me, or even a beauty operator, cut his hair for quite some time. It was totally driving me nuts and got to the point where I made him put a hat on before we walked out the door to go anywhere!

Here's the after shot! MUCH better! He like the spikey little 'do the lady gave him as well. We are all alot happier when Gage's hair doesn't need to be combed!

Gymboree is by far my favorite store in the West Acres Mall in Fargo. They had tons of stuff, most of which was on sale. I got about 7 different outfits for Emma and a shirt for Gage for $150. I thought I did very well. I could have done some major damage in that store! They have the cutest little girl clothes. I still need to find her a couple pairs of jeans. I just quickly browsed through Kids Gap and The Children's Place before we headed out. We then headed to Scheel's to find some shoes. We found a nice pair of tennis shoes for each of the kids that both they, and I, like for $19.99 each. The Scheels store in Fargo is the biggest Scheels around. They even have a ferris wheel inside the store! I bribed, or more like threatened, the kids with the ferris wheel. I told them they could ride if they both behaved. We bought the tokens ahead of time and I told them I would just give them to some other kids if they acted up. They did very well. While I was standing in line with them at the ferris wheel, Scott quickly headed over to the men's shoe department to browse. While I was standing there waiting for the kids' ride to be done, Pastor Jim and Pris Hinson came up to me to say "Hi"! We had tried arranging a time we could get together with them so we could see Samantha and Matthew, but they were attending a wedding and Sam and Matt were staying home with G'pa and G'ma Barker. (For those of you who don't know, Samantha and Matthew Barker are the children of our very dear friends, Jason and Julie, who both passed away after battling cancer within 2 years of each other. Pastor Jim and his wife Priscilla were named legal guardians of Sam and Matt). They live in Detroit Lakes, MN, which is about an hour east of Fargo. It was nice seeing them, but we sure missed seeing the kids. Samantha is going to be in 8th grade this fall, which seems unreal! She wasn't even born yet when we first met them! They said she has grown quite tall? Matthew is doing well also. We're hoping that they will come to Bismarck at the end of August for a Youth hunting clinic that Scott is coordinating.

After chatting with them in Scheels for awhile, we left and when we got into the car I noticed it was 2:45! The baseball clinic was to start at 3pm! YIKES! We didn't even know where the stadium was located! However, with Scott's wonderful driving and my excellent navigational skills (they mailed us directions with the tickets) we made it just in time! Seriously, just in time! Scott dropped Gage and I off at the front of the stadium and we took off running. We made it up into the stadium in time for me to hear them tell the kids not to walk on the infield and then they were to all go down to the field. Whew! That was close! When Scott and Emma made it into the stadium, Emma went with me while Scott went down onto the field to take pictures. It was quite hot. I'm not sure what the temp was, but it was definitely in the 90's. We paid $3 extra per ticket to get reserved seats. That ended up being a dumb thing to do, because Gage and Emma sat with Gage's friend, Cameron, in the general admission bleachers, which were seriously just across a set of hand rails from us. The kids kept climbing back and forth during the game. I'm not sure the man controlling the area cared much for that, but since he was about 150 years old, he didn't give us any grief.

The Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks were "versing" the Joliet Jackhammers from Illinois. LOL! I would like to see their mascot!

Gage and Cameron on the field for the baseball clinic with the Fargo Redhawk players.

Gage taking a little bit of batting practice.

Mom and Emma sweating our butts off in the stands. This little guy beside us really liked Emma. We could hardly understand a word he was saying, but did make out that his name was Austin (Odin). I think he was making Emma uncomfortable because he was kind of right in your face and you couldn't really understand what he was saying. Emma kept kind of turning away from him, and was quite obvious she wasn't interested. However, Odin was completely oblivious to it all, so I just sat and talked and talked and talked and talked to him. I don't know who his parents were, or where they were, but they were probably thankful to have a little bit of peace and quiet! Glad we could be of assistance! :-)

Gage and the rest of the Scouts huddled around learning some good things about baseball (or at least I hope they were!)

Emma, Cameron and Gage with Cameron's Dad, Todd (right behind Emma), sitting in the general admission seats enjoying the game. Cameron is a really nice kid. Even though he got a few souvenirs (that Gage and Emma did not get to have) he didn't rub it in their faces and shared with them as well. Todd is a very quiet guy. I told Scott I bet his wife couldn't even start up a fight with him if she wanted to! You can't really even tell if he's having fun because he's so mellow and he doesn't do a whole lot of talking. He is very nice, nonetheless.

Alot of the kids were standing down in front of the general admission seats trying to catch foul balls and begging for the players to throw them balls. They had several balls that made it into that section. On the ground, behind the bleachers was a little playground and sandbox with a big inflatable to jump in. The kids spent a little bit of time down there as well. (Note to self: Don't ever let the kids play in a sandbox when it is 90 degrees outside! Emma and I had quite a time in the bathrooms trying to get all of that sand out of her sweaty underwear and off of her sticky bottom! In the meantime, we are hiding in a one-man stall and I am about to pass out from the heat!) When Gage was back there at one point, he came running into the stands to show us he got a foul ball! He said it just rolled right to him and he was thrilled to death! (So were Scott and I because it got us out of buying a Redhawks baseball for $5!) He got it signed by Hawkeye, the male Redhawk mascot. Emma got Scarlett to sign a piece of paper for her.

Here's Gage and his baseball! He is so proud of it!

Scott and I had Gage's baseball glove on during the entire game just in case we had a foul ball come our direction. These baseball games are a dangerous place to be if you aren't paying attention! We saw one guy get beaned in the middle of his back by a foul ball when he stood up and turned around to walk up the bleachers. That HAD to hurt! Then, along the 3rd base line, there were a bunch of guys sitting at picnic tables down beside the bleachers. One foul ball hit a guy right on the front of his shoulder. Just a few inches and he would have caught it right in his face! That would have smarted a bit I'm sure!

I asked Scott to get a picture of Emma and the Redhawk. This isn't quite what I meant, but it IS a picture of Emma and the Redhawk!

After the game everyone cleared out of the stadium and the people camping got their things from their vehicles and were allowed back into the stadium. There were some people we saw that have definitely done this kind of thing before. They had wagons and carts loaded up with all of their camping gear. Not us, however! The kids were completely loaded with their camp chairs, sleeping bags and pillows, and Scott and I carried the rest. I was never more glad to finally get to our spot!

We had our tent set up in no time. The air mattress was a breeze to inflate with the air pump Scott got. Scott had suggested we take both of our tents (both are 4-man tents), but I assured him we didn't need both of them. Yeah, that was a mistake! After he got the air mattress inflated, there was just a narrow space along the side and at the front by the door for the kids to sleep in. I'll know better next time!

They showed the movie "Sandlot" in centerfield. Gage and Emma have never seen that movie, so it was alot of fun for them to watch. Emma was a bit scared of the dog, but then when he licked the kid's face, she was much less nervous. I'm sure I will hear "OH SHIT!" come out of the kids' mouth after watching that movie. You never realize how many bad words are said until you watch it with your kids! It started to cool off a bit, so I was glad that I packed some warmer clothes. Gage's hot-blooded little body didn't seem to need them though. I was so sticky from the heat during the game that I just felt awful. It was quite a jaunt to the bathrooms in the dark, so I didn't want to make more than one trip to go potty before time for bed. It was about 12:30 am when we all got into our tents. I was so hot in the tent I couldn't get comfortable for quite awhile. I asked Scott "What time is it" once more during the night and it was 4:30 am. I thought to myself, "Oh please just let this night go faster so we can be done and go home!" I didn't sleep very well with the loud trains coming through at all hours of the night, along with all of the traffic. We had a good time though.

We got up just before 7 this morning, when they started playing the "wake-up music" over the sound system. It's so wonderful waking up to a blaring "Electric Avenue" and "Eye of the Tiger"! I felt like I was in Iowa playing "Sing It" with Jari Jo and Kysa on the PS2! They provided donuts and orange juice or coffee for breakfast and everyone needed to be out of the stadium by 9:30. We left plenty before that, but not before we had a big ordeal with Gage. His loose tooth fell out when he bit into the donut. He was very excited and brought it to me and asked me to hold it for him so he wouldn't lose it. I asked him to wait just a second because I was trying to take the tent down while Scott hauled a load of stuff to the car and in that little bit of time, he dropped it in the outfield. We looked and looked but couldn't find it. That was just like looking for a needle in a haystack with that plush, thick grass! He was quite upset. I was very sad myself, since I've been keeping all of his baby teeth for him. I told him the tooth fairy was just going to take it away anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. Well it was to him (and me too, but I knew we were never going to find it). He finally forgot about it and slept most of the way home from Fargo. Emma was quite proud of herself because she didn't sleep for one single second on the trip home! UGH!

Now, while I'm thinking of it, I need to make sure the tooth fairy shows up since I convinced Gage you don't need to have the actual tooth for her to come!