Minnesota Twins Sponsored by Grandma & Grandpa C.

As much as I like surprising my boys with the different activities we do in the Cities, I decided that today I’d just tell the boys where we were going. This way when I asked them to put their Twins shirts on they wouldn’t be asking me obvious questions like, “Are we going to a Twins game?”

They were both really excited and I made sure to let them know that today’s activities were sponsored by their Grandma & Grandpa C. So, we rushed around getting packed up to go. Around here we go prepared to sit around for a while. We’ve done this before on family days when the Twins were at the Dome. We’d leave at 9am so that we’d get in line early enough to get the jersey of the day. Sundays are family day at the Twins! Today they were giving away a Danny Valencia jersey.

Buddy already has a Justin Morneau and Gomez (no longer a Twins player) and now a Valencia jersey. He also has 2 wooden bats: Morneau & Mauer. This is Doodle’s first score from going to Family Day!

We got to Target Field and hopped right in line. I thought they’d be huge since we were about half an hour later than usual, but we got a sweet spot. As soon as we got through the gates, I asked the lady handing out the jerseys where to go for the player signing and the ramp was right next to us! I’m SO glad I asked. We saw other people running so like a lemming I told the boys to bust a move. We ran up several ramps and we were about the 5th family back!! Can you guess how stoked I was? The players only sign for 20 minutes. The line wrapped around about 3 ramps!

I told Doodle that we were going to have to wait an hour, but they’d be able to have their jerseys signed. The players doing the signing were Brian Dinkelman and Rene Tosoni. They’re rookie players so who knows what these jerseys will be worth some day. *grin*

I gave the boys my phone to play for a bit because they left their DSs in the van and the tennis ball to play catch! Sheesh, after all that planning! Thankfully, in the midst of their boredom, the Twins & Blue Bunny handed out free Birthday Cake flavored ice cream to the kids. It was very apropos since we were celebrating both boys birthdays. 10 days after  Doodle’s birthday and 10 days before Buddy’s!

The players came. We saw, they signed, I snapped photos! Almost forgot to add that Tosoni couldn’t hear Doodle and signed his my son’s name wrong! Then he thought Buddy said his name was Nick! Not even close. Pretend Buddy’s name is Dave. That’s how close the player was with Nick! LOL Eh, it’s all good.

Then we headed for our seats. Let’s just say, even I could’ve gotten a bloody nose we were so high up! Buddy said he was freaked out so I thought I’d take a co-worker’s suggestion and run with it. I told the boys we could go lower, but we’d have to stand for the game. There were groans, but they agreed. We got down to the first level and they were NOT impressed.

Our only other option was to go back up to the nosebleeds. We wandered around (because Buddy wasn’t satisfied with where we were standing). I figured we’d head over to right outfield because maybe a hit would head that way and there was nothing to hinder the ball from coming straight for them. That was what Buddy was concerned about from our first standing location.

Where we ended up standing was perfect. We were out in the wide open. We had a pretty decent view of the field except Center Field. And for pretty much all of the game the bleacher seats in front of us were empty. If someone came to sit in them, the boys would move. Buddy and I stood most of the time. I was in the thinnest flip-flops and my feet were DEAD by the time the game was done.All in all it was a great game. The innings went quickly and in the bottom of the 7th inning we ended up with 5 runs. Cuddyer hit a homer and gave us 3 of those runs! It was so close to having a shut out again for Liriano. Such a shame he gave up a run, but he did an amazing job!As we headed for home, I asked if there was somewhere the players came out to give autographs. I was told by 2 different Twins employees that they didn’t do that anymore…since leaving the Dome. Rolling my eyes. Ok for real? What’s up with that? Closing the players off to the kids? That’s kind of crappy. It should still be part of the ballpark experience in my humble opinion. Kids look up to these players and for the players to be cut off from their fans is a real shame. I could share more of my opinion, but I’m sure you can guess the rest of my thoughts.

It was a great day all around and I want to thank mom and dad for giving this wonderful gift to the boys (and me!)

Do you ever take your kids to professional baseball games? Do they have the same kind of events like our family day? If so, what awesome stuff do you go home with?