Bus Rides, Bingo, & the Brewers!

On Wednesday we took a break from all of the kids' games, summer school, lessons, etc. to ride a bus to the Brewer game.  Every year my brother Brian organizes a charter bus in his town, and this year he opened the seats up for family members first, as a tribute to one of the Brewers' most avid fans...Dad!  Guess who got to sit in the very back with her cousin Garrison?

 We played "car bingo" along the way, looking for things associated with Dan and Tammie's 25th Anniversary, which was also on that day.  Can you guys find Dan's favorite store Farm and Fleet?

 Brian did a great job of organizing the whole thing.  Our bus was the first to arrive at Miller Park, so we parked right next to a shaded grassy spot for tailgating.  He even had a raffle give-away for Brewer, Badger and Packer #1 hands on the bus!

 Mom brought along a friend, Shirley.  Their husbands played baseball in Belmont for many years together!

 Brian, Mark, Crystal's friend John, and our cousin Dan M. start the grills.  I thought 10 a.m. was too early for grilling out, but it was a hot day and we were all hungry by the time the food was ready.

 John & Crystal brought along some movie candy, so they were pretty popular people at the tailgate:) Wynne hung out with her godmother Aunt Tammie (Uncle Dan is over her left shoulder).

We girls had our picture taken with a statue of Robin Yount, #19.  Robin was a shortstop when I was a kid; the last time the Brewers were in the World Series!

Miller Park is an impressive venue.  We had about an hour to explore the Kid Zone before the game.  Bernie Brewer goes down a much larger slide in the ballpark during a real game, and luckily for us he did it FOUR times on Wednesday's outing with the Toronto Bluejays!  

Paige ran to first base with the help of 1st Baseman Corey Hart!

 Wynne would run down and forget to touch the base, so the timer kept rolling.  Some kids made the distance in under 3 seconds!

Ally is not used to pitching a baseball.  Unlike softball, it's overhand...and of course, the ball is a lot smaller!  She still went over 40mph.

 Shae tried her hand at pitching, as well.

Mark promised Cy if he threw it over 50 mph, he would buy him something at the over-priced concession stand.  Cy tried really hard....three times!.....but the fastest he could pitch it was 47 mph.  A good effort by a hungry boy!!

 Then it was on to the Klement Sausage races!  It doesn't matter who won, but I will tell you that the Short Legs had a tougher time sending her guy down the track ;)

Garrison told me to take a picture of him calling the runner at home "safe"!  The kids were given these cool roll-out "Go Brewers" signs and the nifty "eye blacks".

Even though it was soaring into the 90s, our seats were excellent, just 14 rows up from first base and in the shade most of the game.  Thanks Brian!!

 The Miller Park staff let you bring your own food and water bottles into the game, as long as they in unopened containers/packages.  That was our saving grace, as the game went just over 3 hours!  It was really fun, though, just hanging out at a major league game with cousins, grandma, aunts, and uncles....and the  Brewers won, 8-3!