FanFest!

Saturday afternoon the kids and I headed over to Arlington to meet the Texas Rangers!

Okay.  Not really.  But we hoped to meet at least one, and maybe get an autograph.  The organization hosted the Texas Rangers FanFest. 

We're fans.  We fest.  Hence, our attendance.

The kids did not mind the jaunty little walk we had to take from the car to the Convention Center.  They were looking forward to all the fun, and had just eaten lunch, therefore they were quite energized.

After paying for our tickets and getting our hands stamped (Eliana was extremely dubious regarding this strange procedure.  She did not readily hold out her hand for the guy to shoot the back of it with a clicky weapon looking thing.)  Fortunately for her she braved the unknown...there were balloon animals awaiting.

It was like they were destined for us.  Michaela got an orange dog (orange!) and Eliana received a blue butterfly.  Do you see her sweater?  It had butterflies on it!  Fate.  Christian also had a balloon creation.  He got a snake.  It was interesting.  I have to be honest, once he held it up to me and said,"Does this look like something else?"  As I gazed into the snake's close-set eyes and long tongue...I quickly said,"No!  It looks like a snake!  See?  Here are his eyes and his mouth with a tongue!"  Whew.  Thank goodness he's not a couple of years older.  That could have been disastrous.  Or really funny.  Not sure.

I got stuck carrying the "snake" attached to my shoulder bag (this is a misnomer...my shoulder bag is actually a wallet with a strap; a bag would have come in handy though, as I was carrying everything but the Rangers' kitchen sink by the time we had been there for thirty minutes).  Christian decided that he wanted to try his hand at pitching.  It's a lot harder than the pros make it look. 

He gets an "A" for effort though. 

One thing he is good at is running very speedily.  He gave "Stealing Home" a go.

They time the kids as they run from point "a" to point "b".

I think my children are brave.

Running down a lane in front of a large crowd, while being timed, doesn't sound fun to me. 

But they loved it.

We walked over to the area where there were interviews and autographs.  We were able to hear David Murphy speak for a little bit (I love him!).

And we watched Mitch Moreland sign some autographs (he has a fantastic accent).  If I were a little more bold I would have shouted,"Hi, Mitch!" so he would have looked at me while I snapped away.  But...I might have been overstepping some boundaries had I done that, so I just quietly took my pictures.

We meandered back over to the activity area of the Convention Center and the kids stood in line in order to participate in a home run derby.  I didn't think this through before getting in the very long line; each kid got around ten balls (and believe me, some got more than that!).  It took a LOOOONNNNGGGG time to get through the line.

While we waited, a former pitcher (Guzman) tossed the wiffle ball to the kids.  He stopped and some other person took over just before Christian and Michaela had their turn, but while we were in line some of the larger-than-life Ranger characters strolled by.  Sam Houston?

And the Rangers' Captain.  He was headed straight for Eliana, who was sitting on a fake wall.  I couldn't really step back to get the right shot.  I was afraid his nose would knock her right over. 

Please excuse my crazy pictures...I'm adjusting to a new camera.  (It's good.  I'm just not quite used to it yet.)

Would you believe that after standing in line for more than a half hour (I really don't know how long it was; it was a long time.) the Captain stepped on the field in front of Christian and Michaela?!  They thought it was hilarious.  I was groaning just a little. 

Finally, the kids got to bat. 

Christian hit a few and Michaela hit a few.

She's a switch hitter, don'tcha know?  Tricky girl.

They missed Guzman on the field, but caught him in a photo opp.  He seemed like such a nice person.  He stopped his pitching at one point because this one kid was a bit clueless and just swung around in a circle at every ball.  Guzman came over to the little guy and helped him hold the bat the correct way and pointed him in the right direction.  He pitched again, and...circle.  Too funny.

Eliana took a turn trying to hit the ball.  It was pretty funny.  She went right over the top of it again and again.  The girl who was working the activity did not seem amused at all.  She must have been tired of watching little kids miss all the live-long day.  I thought it was hilarious, though.  I finally said,"Try to hit the ball," and she did it! 

The kids also had their caricatures done.  Christian was very interested in this guy and his pictures.  He really enjoyed watching him do the drawings after his own was finished. 

It reminded me of a picture someone drew of me when I was in middle school.  Chick Larsen.  I adopted his caricature of me and used it when I signed letters, for at least a year. 

We just kept going back and forth between the two areas to see what we could see.  Can you see Michaela?  It's like Where's Waldo.

They had a mock locker room set up, as well as the trophies from the series that they won (Division Winners, and League Champions) (I don't know if they were the actual trophies or replicas).  Michaela was up for pictures.  The other two were...losing interest.

Ian Kinsler.  He's got the flow. 

More witnessing of autographs.  We had lottery numbers to be in this line, but alas, they were not chosen.

I enjoyed watching the players interact with the fans, even if from afar.  Josh Hamilton seems like a super nice person, too. 

Josh, if you ever read this (likely!), we want you to stay in Texas!  Okay?  Great!

It was a fun day, aside from the head trauma. 

This is a lovely stadium.  I like it here.

A lot.