Take Me Out to the Ballgame - 2011

Right in front of our seats - home plate!

A week ago, last Saturday, Felipe and I had the pleasure of using the Yankees tickets from his work. That is, the Yankees tickets right behind home plate, row 1, food and drinks included.....awesome!

So when the tickets are not claimed for use with clients they sometimes give them up for employees to use - they don't want the seats to go empty, and Felipe had the fortune of getting last Saturday's tickets, along with another of his coworkers and another guest. I suppose the tickets were maybe available because no one wants to take a client to a baseball game in the 110 degree searing heat...but we managed to survive it!

The tickets were not only the best location ever, but they were part of the Legend's Suite, which included all food and non-alcoholic beverages. So first we had a bit of brunch in their fine dining restaurant that had all sorts of display cooking and foods of all types. Super delicious!

Felipe enjoying brunch before the game.


Another view of one of their food selection displays.


As you leave the Legends restaurant and bar you are greeted with a wall of treats for the taking - cracker jacks, peanuts, gummi bears and more...yes please!


The view from our seats. No zoom.


Take me out to the ball game - buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks!

We had a pretty good view of any batter up, and any of the opposing teams players warming up for at bat. The Yankees were playing against the Oakland A's, so here's a shot of Hideki Matsui warming up before he goes to bat.



Matsui at bat. Can you imagine being the umpire or the catcher, with all that gear on in the sun, in 110 degree heat? jeez...


Derek Jeter warming up for at bat.


Derek Jeter at bat. Check out that pitcher - no wonder those baseballs fly at 97 mph!


Felipe and his coworker Fahd.


Felipe and I. You can't see her, but the woman sitting right next to me was something like seven months pregnant...I don't know how she could handle the heat either! At least beverages were free, so we were able to stay hydrated with as much bottled water or sodas as we wanted or needed.


From Left to right: Bench Coach Tony Pena, GM Joe Girardi, unknown, Outfielder Brett Gardner.


Derek Jeter again.




Robinson Cano warming up for at bat.

We really enjoyed the game, it would be difficult not to enjoy it with the seats we had. In the end the Yankees lost to the A's, unlike the night before where they killed them. I think the heat really affected the way the game went. I can't imagine how difficult it is to hold on to the baseball and pitch it well when every inch of your skin is sweating. I'm not sure that Felipe and I will ever have another chance to enjoy seats like that either, so we stayed for every minute of it, and loved it.

After getting home we took a much need super cold shower and parked on the couch to watch a replay of the game - we had to see if we were ever visible on television :) Plus we were wiped out from the heat. Well after quite some time of watching we got this shot of us sitting in the first row, right behind Derek Jeter between pitches. You can see Felipe with the striped baseball cap and me with the panama hat. So fun!

Mom Time!

Cheers - a cool glass of white wine at the Central Park Boathouse

So right after we got back from Grand Cayman we had a really nice week long visit with my mom. I wish it had been longer! (especially since I was tired from the previous week). She arrived Saturday while we were still in Grand Cayman and we got home on Sunday, it was nice to have her here when we arrived.

We spent most of the time just hanging out, at home or out for drinks or dinner. We always try to stop at the Boathouse for a drink after work while my mom is in town. It's hard not to enjoy the relaxing atmosphere, with the light reflecting onto the ceiling off of the water.


Felipe and I

I took the Tuesday off of work, because it was my birthday and I wanted to spend it with her and not at my desk! Mom and I had a nice day walking around window shopping and then decided to head home so we could change and freshen up for dinner. It was super hot that day (although nothing compared to what was to come...but more on that in another post). We ended up meeting Felipe after work and went to Le Relais de Venise (L'Entrecote) - a super yummy french restaurant that has only one menu item - Steak and Frites, with their amazing special secret sauce. We all thoroughly enjoyed the meal (it was as good as it was in Paris).


I swear - it was a different black dress ;)

On Friday night we did our big event for the week - we went to a Cyclones Minor League Baseball game at Coney Island. We did this last year, and super enjoyed it, so we came back again! Since we all went directly from work (except for mom!) we stopped at Nathan's for a bit to eat before the game. Delightfully yummy, awfully messy and not super healthy, but a must go.


Mom and Felipe enjoyed their hot dogs, while I had chicken fingers - if only I liked hot dogs...





Then we rushed off to the game (I think we missed the first inning - but that's what happens when the game starts at 6:30 and the train takes an hour and fifteen minutes to get there). Loved our seats! We were definitely within the foul ball fly away zone behind home plate - and Felipe almost caught one too. Maybe he'll get it next time.






After the game they had the fireworks again, but this time instead of watching them from the boardwalk we watched them from inside the stadium. It's no Fourth of July fireworks display, but it is enjoyable after a good game (the Cyclones won 10-4).



The bright ball of light on the right hand side is the moon! It was a crazy beautiful full moon that night. The photo below is as it was as taken - no photoshop.



All in all we had a terrific time with mom here in town. As I mentioned before I just wish I hadn't been so tired from the weeks leading up to her visit, or that we'd had more time, but we'll take what we can get! Next year we'll have to have her come out for her usual ten days instead of seven...that extra weekend time makes such a difference! Thanks mom for a wonderful time!

Doesn't Seem to be a Shadow in the City

Photo taken at from the Central Park Boathouse.

It's undeniable, the heat that my friends and family across the United States experienced last week and earlier this week has finally skulked it's way over to the east coast. Yesterday with a record high of 104 degrees, all I could think while walking outside was that Lovin' Spoonful song - Summer in the City - Hot town, summer in the city, back of my neck getting dirty and gritty...



Hope you can all stay cool out there!

Rosie - Crestwood's Favorite Crossing Guard

Photo by KYLE McDANIEL (State Journal archives)

A great figure from my childhood has passed away - Rosie the crossing guard at Crestwood Elementary died of cancer on Saturday. This amazing woman was the crossing guard at Crestwood for 47 years! How many of us she protected and cared for, she always had a smile for us. I can't imagine anyone that would be more fondly remembered than her.

From the State Journal article about her:

Decked in a blaze orange vest with a stop sign in one hand and a cheery demeanor, Hiestand crossed nearly 10,000 children during her career, according to Madison police crossing guard supervisor Patti Knoche.

In 8,500 days of work over five decades, she likely missed fewer than 12 for illness. She never had a driver's license and walked twice each day up the hill on Old Sauk Road.

Everytime I ever drove by Crestwood, I would always look for Rosie and if she was there would honk and wave. A couple of times that I had been back to Madison for a visit I would stop and say hi. Last November when I was home visiting I made sure to pull over and say hi when I saw her, and take a photo with her. I had the opportunity to thank her for how well she took care of me when I was in elementary school, and how much she meant to me and countless others.


Thank you Rosie for being such a wonderful caretaker of so many kids over the last half century. You will surely be missed by many former students, parents and teachers among countless others.

Grand Cayman - Saturday

Looks like a foggy day on the beach, but in reality it was just that the lens kept fogging up when we walk outside in the mornings.

Saturday was kind of low key in the morning. Sean and Claire hosted a breakfast at their hotel, and we all amazingly crawled out of bed and met over bacon and eggs. It was nice to


A "foggy" photo of Josh and Virginia on the beach.


An old ship docked by Georgetown.

After Breakfast Felipe and I went to visit the Georgetown area with Josh and Virginia. We took a bus there and then walked around. I will be straight up honest when I say that Georgetown was a bit of a disappointment. I mostly expected to find something similar to Paraty - with older colonial buildings and little shops and restaurants. Unfortunately it was some restaurants, not many worth note - including a Hard Rock Cafe and a Margaritaville. Alongside those were several luxury jewelry shops and perfume stores - mostly good for their air conditioning.

We were able to find a restaurant on the beach, and stopped to get something cold to drink - most everyone ordered shakes and I had a strawberry smoothie. we spent a bit more time bumming around Georgetown kind of passing time until we were to meet up with a bunch of others for lunch.

Lunch was a decidedly more enjoyable experience than Georgetown. We walked for what seemed like a while (probably wasn't, but the heat was pretty tiring) and ended up at Seymour's Jerk Centre (love it!).

Here's a nice little video about Seymour's - apparently a very famous jerk joint!



Felipe looking very ready to eat some super yummy food.


I got the Jerk Chicken, while Felipe had the Jerk Pork. They had this amazingly delicious jerk sauce to put on the food...so good I actually used the two pieces of white bread that came with the chicken to sop it up. Super delicious!


Here's the group of us, sitting at one of the two picnic tables next to the jerk shack.


Walking away full!




Could there be a more beautiful day to go to the beach?


I mean, come on! Look at this view!

After we had had a serious fill of delicious jerk food we all headed back to our respective hotels to get ready for some beach time! Everyone reconvened at the Beach Suites beach and spent some very enjoyable time floating in the water where we were joined by some of Sean and Claire's family as well. The natural progression went to another game of Ultimate Frisbee




Kevin takes another hard dive into the sand, but catches the disc and gains a goal!




The cheering squad - Justin, Claire, Jackie and I all cheering from the side.


Half time cool off in the water. Idyllic.

We walked back to the hotel to get ready for dinner, and were graced with a beautiful sunset.



Picture taken with a timer, not the best shot, but still a beautiful background.






I'd like to thank this anonymous swimmer for completing the shot.


I had never seen so many beautiful colors over the water. Was just the perfect way to spend our last night on the island.