5th Anniversary Trip

I love traveling...we both do. It's become a "tradition" (well....this is only the 2nd year of doing this, so maybe it doesn't count as a tradition yet...) to travel to Tempe, AZ, around the time of our anniversary to watch an Angel pre-season baseball game. We're sorta like groupies. Last year this time I was 12 weeks preggo with our little William and traveling went great! We made it Phoenix in 6-7 hours. This year...yeah...this year things went a little differently.
Our anniversary weekend started out GREAT! My awesome hubby surprised me with an outing to get a Swedish massage. THAT was the most wonderful thing in the world! I highly recommend it. That was Thursday. Friday we threw some clothes in a bag, I carefully and thoughtfully packed William's things (clothes, food, diapers, wipes, etc.) into the car and John fastened the car seat in. We left at the perfect time - nap time! We figured we would get to Cabazon, CA, by the time he woke up from his nap....we'd do a little shopping at the outlet mall there, grab a bit to eat, and by that time he'd be ready for another nap. Not so. We made it to Rancho Cuchamunga (about an hour in) before we had to stop. At least there was an Old Spaghetti Factory, so we were both ok with the unplanned stop.
After lunch we crossed our fingers that he'd go back to sleep so we could make it to Cabazon. I think he did, because the ride there was blissful. We did a little outlet shopping, and William was the model child. On the way out we grabbed a date shake at Hadley's. Since we spent several hours shopping, we finally made it to our hotel in Blythe, CA (on the Colorado River) by 9-10pm. When we got to the hotel William was more than ready to get out of his car seat. He wasn't crying....he actually didn't cry much at all in the car...he was just tired of not being able to move around very much. He's also used to being in the truck and being able to look out the windows. In John's car he can't see much at all! In the hotel he was all giggles and laughs! It was SO much fun with him there!! John set up the pack-n-play, and before long he was sawing logs.
The next morning we got up bright and early because we wanted to be there when the stadium doors opened, at 10:30. (We had an additional 4 hours to go, game time 1:05.) By the time we got William cleaned up, fed, and the car all packed up, we were a "tad" behind schedule....then we realized that Arizona doesn't observe daylight savings!! SO....needless to say, we were already an additional hour behind. We were ok with that revelation...we wouldn't be there for the opening of the doors but at least we'd get there in time to get our hats signed. Yeah right. We hit some major traffic on the way there - at one point it took us 45 minutes to go 8 miles. We finally got to the park during the 3rd inning. Sheesh! We travel over 7 hours to watch a game and we show up late. Oh well....half the fun is the anticipation and the travel, right?
Once we got there and found our seats William decided that sitting was NOT what he wanted to do. (He had screamed a solid 45 minutes on the way there, so he didn't get much of a nap...therefore was quite cranky.) We both took turns walking with him around the stadium, which made him quite happy. Ok...I'm not kidding here...I was standing in the walkway, behind the seats, William was in full Angel garb and this complete stranger comes up to us, cell phone in hand and asks if he can "have his picture taken with the cutest baby on earth"! I didn't know what to say! Then he proceeds to put his arm around William and take a picture with his cell phone! William, who loves getting his picture take, smiles a huge smile. The guy thanks William and walks away! I was in shock! I know he's cute (cutest baby I've ever seen!) but really!?! People the entire time were constantly telling us how cute he was. :-)
After the game we were able to get Dino Ebel's signature on William's hat. His was the only autograph we got, since we were so late getting to the game, but that's ok....we still had fun!
I won't go on about our trip home, just that it took us an additional day to get back. We were able to meet up with Bill and Pat Dennistoun at a pizza place, which was fun. They're ushers at Angel Stadium, so we'll be seeing them lots this upcoming year.
Oh....once we were on our way home I asked John what the final score was...he said, "I think it was a tie...6-6...I think..." Man, how priorities have changed!
All in all we had a great time. We couldn't have asked for a better baby...We're SO thankful for him!!