Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Last night we took Charlotte to a Visalia Rawhide game.

We arrived at the game in the middle of the 2nd inning. The Rawhide were already up 5-0 over the Lancaster JetHawks. We found our seats in the stands behind home plate. Soon after, the Rawhide mascot, Tipper the Steer, went out on the field with some kids for a contest. Charlotte was smitten.

"Where'd the cow go?" she asked when they left the field, and started heading out of our row of seats to go look for him.

Adam stood and held her up to show her where Tipper had gone, and then went to get Charlotte a hot dog.

After Charlotte ate about half of her hot dog, she asked to go to the bathroom which was on the other side of the ballpark. On our way there, I kept my eyes open for gluten-free fare. I stopped at each food vendor, said I had some food allergies and asked if I could see the ingredients for selected menu items. The Barbecue Pork sounded excellent, but one of the ingredients was liquid smoke. I'd remember reading that artificial smoke flavor in BBQ sauces was a suspect ingredient, so I decided to pass (research when I got home revealed that most brands of liquid smoke are in fact gluten free ... oh well.) The zesty ground beef with beans, chips and salsa sounded promising, but the taco seasoning they use to make the beef zesty turned out to have wheat flour as the third ingredient. Finally, the bratwurst stand checked out. I told them I'd be placing an order as soon as I got back from our bathroom trip.

That turned out to be longer than I anticipated! On the way to the bathroom we passed the gift shop where Tipper was posing for photo opportunities and signing autographs. Charlotte wanted to stay and watch him and wave to him, but resisted when I suggested we go give him a hug like some other kids were doing.

We finally made it to the bathroom. Instead of heading back to the bratwurst stand and our seats, though, Charlotte wanted to try out the plywood photo cutouts of Tipper and a baseball player swinging a bat. The one of Tipper was right at her height, but the face of the baseball player was a little too tall for her.

After getting our fill of posing, we ordered a frozen lemonade to share and headed to the bratwurst stand. I ordered a sausage with sauerkraut, mustard, grilled peppers and onions, hold the bun. I had to wait while they made it to order. After a few minutes, Charlotte got tired of waiting with me, and walked back to Adam all by herself.

When I got back, Adam went to get himself a hot dog. By the time we all finished eating, it was time for the 7th inning stretch. Charlotte looked around with a big smile on her face during the singing of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

Charlotte got up to dance in the walkway in front of our seats. Then a crowd of people came by and she followed them. I got up and followed close behind her. I decided to lead her to the grassy family area so she could get her wiggles out for the rest of the game.

There was a little girl there wearing a brand-new Rawhide T-shirt from the gift shop. It was a little big on her. Charlotte went up to the girl and said, "Why you wearing a pajama shirt?" Then Charlotte asked her name, (which I think was Cammie). They played chase and Cammie offered Charlotte half of the sack of jelly beans she had.

Before I knew it, the game was over. The Rawhide defeated the JetHawks 8 to 6. I barely watched any of the game, but it was an enjoyable family outing nonetheless.