A Visit to Braves Country

Technically we live in Braves Country, because the SOUTHEAST, but now when you go to a game at Turner Field you are entering the heart and soul of Braves Country. It's kind of a big deal. We were welcomed to Braves Country numerous times upon arriving and my boys were immediately given "We're here to Chop" stickers and showered with quite a few compliments from strangers. =)

We knew a trip to a Braves game was a defnite this summer. For sure. My big boy loves the Braves. He has also mentioned, regularly, going to a game since mama and daddy went without him a few weeks ago. So the decision was made.

And then another decision was made that baby boy would have to go with us. I just couldn't stand the thought of leaving him behind and worrying about baby-sitting arrangements and him missing out. So we took a risk and the whole family went...

The results are in and fun was had by all!!

After stopping for supper at Chick-Fil-A we arrived and realized we had to sit on the opposite side of the field from where we'd planned. The opposite side from the shade.... in the sun. The bright, blazing, massive, hot sun. Bummer. Austin did not like that one bit. He started crying as soon as we sat down. I think he was overwhelmed with the National Anthem too...and the mini fireworks they shoot off and all the clapping and hollering afterward. My big boy on the other hand sang loud and proud and loved every second of our National Anthem and the game.

I ended up taking Austin into the air conditioning (the only benefit to our seats) and hanging out with him for a while. We passed John Schurholtz in the hall, made eye contact, and smiled. Squeal!

It ended up working out perfect and we joined up with Terrell and Garrison half an inning later before taking the boys to do some fun stuff.

They absolutely loved "running the bases". We did this mulitple times and they might have stayed there all night if they could've.

After that we went over to make pictures in the big Coke seats before going back to run the bases some more. Doing the fun, interactive stuff at the beginning worked out great.

 

After all our fun we decided to try changing seats and moving to the shade. The nice usher didn't ask to see our tickets and it wasn't very crowded so we were able to enjoy a back row seat in the shade with a breeze the rest of the night. And the boys did really good!

I packed lots of snacks... cereal, yogurt melts, animal crackers, a granola bar, freeze dried fruit, and bottled water... and the snacks did the trick. Especially for Austin who has a super short attention span.

They clapped, cheered, did the Chop, and even participated in The Wave while we were there. Hearing Go Baves! from Austin brought back memories from Garrison's first ever game. We were WAY more comfortable this time around though!

After leaving our seats one last time for ice cream to get us through we were able to stay until the 7th inning stretch so we could sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game. It was so precious. Garrison sang his heart out and even though Austin was pretty exhausted and spent by that point he loved it too. As we were gathering all our things to leave an elderly couple sitting behind us made a point to tell us how good our boys were. That just about made my night. It was so sweet!

Once we got back to the car we changed the boys into pj's and hit the road. Shockingly neither one of them fell asleep on the way home, but I think it took them less than 30 seconds to fall asleep once their heads hit the pillow. They both slept late this morning and woke up talking about the game.

We are so thankful for the good experience and fun time we had for Austin's first game. God blessed us with safety, air conditioning, shade, fun, and a Braves win! We will definitely be making this a summer tradition. =)