Spring Training with Grandpa Keith

March 16-20, 2012

Just a few days after our other grandparents left, my dad (AKA Grandpa Keith) flew into town. We had a great time with him! His visit was filled with all sorts of Mariners Spring Training.

On Saturday, we all attended a baseball game at Camelback Ranch (the Glendale Sports Complex). It was Mariners vs. White Sox. And it was on St. Patrick's Day! So many people were dressed in festive t-shirts, necklaces, and drinking festive green-colored drinks. It was actually a lot of fun to be a part of a St. Patrick's Day celebration.

The weather was mostly cloudy during the game. Which was great. It felt hot whenever the sun peaked through the clouds. After sitting through a hot game the week before, we came much better prepared this time around. We brought a cooler full of chilled water bottles and juice boxes. We also brought Subway. It was delicious.


We learned the first time around. Susie brought a book to read to combat her boredom.
Grandpa Keith bought Tyler this baseball. At first I was a little sticker-shocked by the price (pretty sure it was $35). We took it to practice and covered it in signatures, and it seemed like a better deal.
Amyah, of course, did not want my dad to pick her up. This was her happiest looking moment in his arms (captured on camera, that is).
We headed over to the Peoria Sports Complex the following Monday to watch practice and try to score some autographs. We had a great time! The players were all so nice and willing to give autographs to the kids. If you ever go to Spring Training practice, bring kids! There is a special section roped off for kids to stand. There was a constant flow of players offering autographs to kids standing in that section. Our kids probably ended up with about 30 autographs! Of course, most of them were from unknown players who will probably never make the actual team roster. However, we ended up with a few good autographs:

Brendan Ryan
Casper Wells
Brandon League
Chance Ruffin
Mike Wilson
Munenori Kawasaki

Felix Hernandez at pitching practice.
The kids-only zone.
Near the end of our visit, Amyah was getting quite rowdy. She kept sneaking under the ropes and standing where the players passed through. It was difficult to get her out, because I wasn't supposed to be in the kids-only zone or the players-zone! One player even picked her up and handed her too me! She was making a big fuss when Munenori Kawasaki came by. While he was signing autographs for the kids, Amyah's crying got his attention. He started smiling at her, rubbing her head, speaking in Japanese, and even handed her one of his practice balls! All the other kids in the kids-only zone were totally jealous. A couple players later, Casper Wells came through. We handed him Amyah's ball to sign, and she started screaming. He chuckled and told the crowd (Amyah had attention from basically everyone hovering around the area by this point), "I'm used to it! I've got three little sisters at home!"

Munenori Kawasaki is smiling at Amyah in this picture. :)

Amyah was very happy with her new ball as we were leaving practice.
Spring Training was a blast! Especially practice! The kids loved getting all those autographs! I highly recommend taking your kids!