Hooray It's Opening Day {Link Up}

I love me some Christmas and the last day of school and my kids' birthdays...but today yesterday ranked right up near the top, too.  MLB Opening Day.  Or unofficially in my mind, the start of "summer".  There's just something about baseball.  The sounds.  The smells.  The warm summer nights.  I just really love it all.  And this year, there's even more to love after the Royals took the crown and won the World Series just five months ago.  Except for the higher ticket prices...that I don't love!

Anyway, today I am happy to be co-hosting an Opening Day link-up with some of my best blogger friends!  As I mentioned before, the boys actually cooperated for a photo.  For two photos.  For three photos.  I couldn't even believe it.  Life is getting easier, my friends!  Well, maybe not life, but photos. ;)

Also, for the first time ever, we signed up Brantley to be a member of Sluggerrr's Blue Crew.  $25 for a zippered pullover, a flat bill cap, a sports necklace, a lanyard, two game vouchers, and the chance to run the bases after games.  Not a bad deal!  Brantley was so excited...and so proud...when his Royal blue goodies arrived in the mail.  And I can't get over how cute (and old) he looks in his apparel!

And just for fun, I thought it'd be fun to take a trip through memory lane.  The quality of the photos isn't great because I took them from Facebook, but you get the idea. ;)

2008 - Our first game


2009

No pictures from 2010.  Apparently it was a busy summer with a wedding and all.

2011

No pictures from 2012.  That was the year we had our first baby.  However, fun fact: we did watch the All Star game, which was played in Kansas City that year, from our hospital room!

2013...Brantley's first game

2014...pregnant/pre-Holden

 2014...post-Holden; his first game

2015

I now insist on a family photo in this location each year.  It annoys Craig to no end, but I love looking at how things change through the years!

Don't forget to link up with us and share a photo in support of your favorite team!  I can't wait to see who you're all cheering for this season.....brownie points if it's the Royals!  Also, tag your photos on Instagram using the hashtag #hoorayitsopeningday.

And finally (even though they played on Opening Night last night) - GO ROYALS!

Jen @ And Hattie Makes Three

Elizabeth @ Chasin' Mason

Liz @ Ellie and Addie

Crystal @ Hall Around Texas

Leah @ Leah with Love

Desiree @ Macke Monologues

Sara @ Running from the Law

Sarah @ Seeing All Sides

Vanessa @ Sunflower State of Mind

Meghan @ The Adventure Starts Here

An InLinkz Link-up

A Guest Post Featuring My Very Own Hubby

For years now, the hubs has always suggested that I let him write a blog post.  Though I had never been opposed to his idea, his suggestions were usually more sarcastic than serious and he had yet to follow through with his request.  (Though there was that one time he surprised me with the sweetest Mother's Day post.)

And then the Royal's won the World Series and I thought if ever there was a perfect time to capture Craig's feelings in writing, it was then.  I loved the idea that Brantley and Holden could look back on the post and read exactly what their daddy was thinking when one of his top three teams took the ultimate prize.  So I mentioned the idea to Craig and he was wishy-washy for a couple of weeks.  But then on Saturday, after an afternoon run, he walked into the house and calmly said, "I got it. I know what I'm going to say in my blog post."  48 hours later, here it is.

I hope you enjoy my very first guest post from my very favorite person himself!

...

Seven or eight years ago a friend and I were discussing what we’d rather experience in our lifetime, a Chiefs Super Bowl or a Royals World Series. For him, it was a no-brainer. The Chiefs were a pretty consistent team and had a rabid fan base. He could only imagine how crazy KC would be if the Chiefs won a championship. I felt very differently. My argument was that the NFL is setup to allow every team an opportunity to produce a winner. A couple good drafts and you can easily go from 5-11 to 12-4. One good quarterback and you’re suddenly in the playoffs. It doesn’t take much. There really isn’t any team in the NFL that should feel completely out of it going into a new season. And it doesn’t require much to produce support for that team. A team can thrive in tiny Green Bay, Wisconsin for God’s sake. Small or big markets, everyone has a chance.

Baseball is very different. During our conversation the Royals were in their twenty-something consecutive losing season. Reaching a World Series, let alone winning a World Series, seemed preposterous. And for this reason I stated that I would much rather see a Royals championship. It would take such an effort and take so long that the fruits of the labor would be slow and so rewarding. We needed ownership to start spending money. We needed a General Manager who could develop talent in the minor leagues, create a system in Latin America, and make free agent acquisitions that could produce right away. We needed a Manager who could hire a coaching staff that would develop players in both the Big Leagues and in the farm system. This would take years if not decades. But if we did all of these things I felt that we would eventually start to win games. We’d produce a winning record, maybe make the playoffs, and who knows….crazier things have happened. And to do all of this in one of baseball’s smallest markets? Forget about it. This town would erupt. It’s easy to be a baseball fan in New York or St. Louis where consistent winners exist year in and year out. It was tough to cheer for the Royals all of those years. And it feels so rewarding for never jumping off the band wagon.

I find myself thinking about the 2015 Royals a lot. Like a lot. In work meetings. Driving down the road. Playing with the kids. This team still blows my mind. All of those crazy 8^th inning comebacks. The lockdown pitching of Wade Davis. The stolen bases – ‘that’s what speed do’. So many different thoughts and plays and games to sort through. But, here are the things that stay present in my mind weeks after Game 5:

Game 4 against Houston in the ALDS. We’re down 6-2 in the 8^th inning. Lose this game and the season is over. This was a day game. I recall sitting at the kitchen table, working while watching the game, and thinking to myself, ‘well, it was a good season. Never thought we’d go to 2 straight World Series so I can’t be mad but I certainly hate the late season trades to get Cuetto and Zobrist. Wasn’t worth it.’ And then, Royals devil magic struck. The singles, the Houston errors, the home run. Crazy. Crazy game.

Game 1 of World Series – Gold glover Eric Hosmer…incredible defensive first basemen. Somehow misses a little hopper to first and the Mets go up a run heading into the ninth. I felt, lose Game 1 at home and it’s going to be tough to win the whole thing. And then Royals devil magic struck again in the form of Alex Gordon. The same Alex Gordon who was hitting 8^th in the lineup and hadn’t produced much the entire post-season. He bombs an incredible game tying homer to center field.. I could just feel the relief on Hosmer’s face. I think to the image of him jumping over the dugout rail and running to Gordon for a hug. Seriously bailed him out. And then, in true Royals form, Hosmer came through with the game winning sacrifice fly. Redemption. Great game.

That Hosmer run in Game 5. Win this game and we’re World Series champions. We were going up against the Mets' ace in Harvey. He was incredible. We couldn’t buy a run and his stuff was untouchable. Mets up 2-0 going into the ninth inning. Harvey comes back out. Leadoff double with Hosmer up to bat. He hits a double to drive in a run. Down 2-1. Hosmer eventually ends up on third with one out. Please, we just need one hit. Salvy’s got this. Come on Salvy. No….Salvy hits a little hopper to third base. I remember feeling so devastated seeing the Met’s third basemen throw the ball to first. And then….what in the heck? I literally stood up out of my chair as Hosmer ran home. What in the heck was he doing? I yelled “NO!”…. And then Royals devil magic struck again. The throw home was errant and the game was tied. We ended up blowing it open in extra innings. I laid in bed that night and could not stop thinking about Hosmer’s run home. What guts. I’ve watched it on you tube no less than 20 times.

And then finally, the parade. I find myself thinking of the parade most of all. To me, this is the lasting image that I will always think of. Players, coaches, managers, come and go. But the 800,000 people that showed up in downtown Kansas City on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon are lifers. 800,000 people. For a parade. These people grew up Royals fans. Or perhaps will grow up Royals fans. Or perhaps just became hooked on baseball the past couple years. Whatever their stories, they aren’t going anywhere. They represent Royals Nation and represented well.  To experience this with my boys is something I’ll always treasure. 

Oh…and one more image….how about that Johnny Gomes speech.  I’ve read this was totally unrehearsed. I love the players reactions in the background. I’ve watched this a dozen times and pick out a new favorite background reaction each time.

Who knows what the future might hold. It might be 30 more years before we win a World Series. No matter, we’ll be cheering along the way.

...

Thanks again to my husband for agreeing to my crazy antics and for putting into words your thoughts about the craziness that was the Royals' postseason play.

A Royal Celebration

Tuesday, November 3, 2015.  A day that will go down in Kansas City history.  Epic.  Incredible. Unbelievable.  These words don't even begin to describe the feeling around this amazing city of oours on this beautiful, warm, sunny fall day.

Just two days prior and for the first time in 30 years, the Kansas City Royals won the World Series. Tuesday was the day of the town celebration - a parade followed by a rally in front of Union Station. It was a big deal huge deal.  Just to prove the enormity of it, every major school district in the metro area (Kansas and Missouri sides) decided to cancel school.  A Royal Blue snow day, if you will.

Now I'm sure there were some non-sports fans rolling their eyes over that decision, but as both a mom and a teacher, I totally get it.  I wouldn't have missed the opportunity to take my boys (albeit only 1 and 3 years old) downtown for the "once in a lifetime" celebration.  And as a teacher, I wouldn't have had any hard feelings towards parents who pulled their kids out of school for the day. Heck, I already had a sub to cover my classes because...hello...it's a job and...hello...this was a huge deal!  But lucky for everyone, school was cancelled and my sub wasn't needed. I heard a quote on the radio on Monday afternoon that spoke to me.  This quote perfectly justifies the districts' decisions to cancel school.

Anyway, Craig's office was also closed (not technically but no one went in) so we made plans to head downtown as a family.  We left our house at 8:45 with two umbrella strollers, a diaper bag full of snacks/lunch, and the Baby Bjorn and pulled into a "parking spot" about an hour later (a drive that should have taken 30 minutes).  We had planned on parking at Kemper Arena and taking a free shuttle downtown, but we spotted some random parking spots (that weren't actually spots) as soon as we exited I-35, so we quickly pulled into one of those spots and decided to walk towards the parade route.  Again, to prove the enormity of this event, a couple of hours later people were actually abandoning their cars on the freeway just to make the parade!

We walked for about 20 minutes.  It was fun following the line of royal blue!

We stopped for a porta-potty break in front of Union Station, at which point it was fun just to take it all in!

We were still a good two blocks from the parade route so we decided to keep walking and attempt to stake out a parade spot.  This was our only regret of the day--walking through the crowd in front of Union Station.  Union Station is where the 2pm after-parade celebratory rally was to be held and people were already in place for that.  We had to force our way (with two umbrella strollers) through a crowd that can only be described as mass chaos.  It took us a good 20 minutes to walk a length of one block.  Most people were very, very nice, but it was still a little scary at times with two young children!

We eventually made it through the chaos and felt as if we could breathe again.  We found a parade spot at the corner of Grand and Pershing, but we were a good 20 rows-from-the-street deep!  (I stole this from Facebook...we were somewhere in this mess!)

 

It was around 10:45 by that point and the parade was to start at noon, so we had nothing to do but wait.  

And wait.

And wait.

In an area of about six square feet!

The boys had lunch, took turns sitting on Daddy's shoulders, and were in and out of their strollers.  Brantley even fell asleep in his stroller for awhile. (Thanks, Vanessa, for letting us borrow yours!)

 

There were people everywhere.  Literally e v e r y w h e r e.

This picture kind of shows how much space we had.

Because we were near the end of the route, it was 1pm before we saw the first of the parade.  And since we were 20 rows back, it was really hard to see the players.  But it was still super exciting.

We didn't stick around for the after-parade rally.  Our kids were beyond tired so we headed back towards our car.  But not before a few additional photos to document the special day.

 

All in all, I'm extremely glad we went.  I know I would have regretted the decision otherwise.  At times, it was a bit stressful with a 1- and 3-year old, but also so, so worth it.  Like I said, it's been 30 years.  Who knows how long it will be before the city experiences something like this again.  And it was truly a magical day.

A few other random facts to be proud of:

This celebration marks the biggest event in Kansas City's history.

It drew over 800,000 fans.  800,000 people, no riots, no fires, and only three arrests.  Amazing.

The game 1 pitcher was the third Royal to lose a parent in a span of 11 weeks.  His father died the day of game 1, yet he pitched and helped the Royals win both games 1 and 5 of the series!

It's been a great day, week, month, and year to be a Royal!

My Favorite Royals Tees

I'm still trying to recover from late night Royal's games and the insaneness that was the parade on Tuesday.  In case you hadn't heard, the celebration drew around 800,000 Kansas City fans.  More on that to come, but today I'm stealing Vanessa's idea (thanks, friend!) and sharing some of my favorite local KC tees.  Turns out, having a winning team inspires some pretty cute clothing designs.

(These would make some...ahem...great Christmas gifts.)

1. Farmdog Studios | I "Heart" KC ($28)

2. KC Proud. | Ballpark Henley ($45)

3. Made in KC | World Champs

4. Bunker Made | Bunker Made KCMO Vintage Tee  ($36)

5. Shop Ampersand Etsy Shop | Gold Foil Baseball Tee ($40)

6. Oddities Prints | Believe KC ($20)

7. Bunker Made | World Champs Reglan ($36)

8. Hello Big Idea | KC Crowned ($35)

9. Charlie Hustle | Crown Town ($32)

10. Ocean and Sea | The Heart  ($32)

11. Freelance | The Crown ($32)

12. Hometown Loyal Etsy Shop | KC Skyline ($26)

Halloween Recap is Coming....But First, This

I really, really wanted to get my Halloween post up for today.  I knew that's what the rest of Blogland would do and I hate to be the odd one out.  But when you spend nap time on Sunday drinking bloodys with neighbors and then stay up way too late watching the Royals WIN THE WORLD SERIES, there's no time for that nonsense.  Instead, I'm going to relish in the fact that the Royals are the 2015 World Series champs.  (Did I really just type that??)

In true Royals fashion, they made their eighth postseason comeback, tied the game in the top of the ninth, and scored five runs in the twelfth to win it all.  Take the crown, they did.  I don't have many words except that it feels extra good to be a Kansas Citian on this Monday morning.

Now, if you please excuse me, I'll  be in and out of napping while also working on sub plans so I can celebrate and attend the parade tomorrow.  Go Royals!