Baseball Schwag and the Discerning Five-Year Old

Last weekend we took the boys to the World Series Replica trophy day at the AT&T Park. I ran into a friend who asked me if we were going to any more Giants games this year? Reasonable enough question. I responded that we were... we have tickets in September for the back to school lunch bag giveaway game, and Jonathan is trying to get tickets for July's Buster Posey bobblehead day.

I didn't have a clue about who my San Francisco Giants were playing, or what the dates were of the actual games. But boy did we have those giveaways down. I wondered, when did baseball become about schwag?

For our first 10 years of marriage we could care less about the giveaway. We arrived fashionably on time for games, and we were never among the first 10,000 who got a Barry Bonds bobblehead. We didn't mind.

Now the boys are amassing quite a collection of San Francisco Giants schwag. Helmets from Little League day, a Pandoval bobblehead, Cepeda bobblehead and now a replica trophy... What gives?

Maybe it is nostalgia. The giveaways are for kids, and boy do Jonathan and I remember getting and saving the free stuff as a kid (of course for me it was computer show schwag in the early 80s). The boys did appreciate their trophies, and managed to sit through eight innings before we ducked out. Schwag makes it a little more fun ... hopefully it is a gateway to baseball appreciation too.

Not So Whale of a Tale - Monterey Bay

Now sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip... it started a couple Fridays ago in Monterey aboard a tiny ship.

As part of our kindergarten spring break trip to Monterey we decided to take a whale watching trip. We didn't expect to see whales, we are between seasons, and it was the last day of the Winter season discount ... before the ticket price goes up for the Spring/Summer rush. It wasn't completely hopeless, there was a small chance that we would see some Orcas or Humpbacks. We did see a lot sea life, but no whales.

Before embarking on our adventure at bay, everyone in the family took dramamine  ... I remember the whale watching trip when I was 15 when I literally turned green on the ship. And it took all my will power not to feed the fish my breakfast. This wasn't going to happen this time, and for good measure we gave the kids the miracle sea sickness drug as well. Nobody got sick! Yeah! And we got a bonus nap during the boring part of the trip where the captain and boat naturalist looked around desperately for whales.

As I said we did sea lots of sea life, and this made the trip worthwhile. We saw sea otters, sea lions, an enthusiastic pack of dolphins and tons of birds. Everyone had a wonderful three hour trip. And the surprise bonus is that our whale watching company, Monterey Bay Whale Watch Center, gives you a rain check for another day if you don't see whales. So, we'll be back sometime this summer when hundreds of whales are expected.

Monterey Bay Aquarium Revisited

This was our third trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium with the boys. The last visit was about a year ago. What a huge difference a year of growing up has made. The boys had a blast! At four and half and nearly six the draw of the aquarium was the fish, and not the play area.

In previous visits I timed a visit upstairs, knowing that they would be sucked into the play area and toddler zone. Now they are too tall for the toddler zone, and the slide or the tunnel in the play area doesn't seem as exciting. Don't get me wrong, we did stop there, but they played for minutes, instead of hours.

Meanwhile Caleb's new discovery was the control room. We must have watched the video loop at least three times.

The other big surprise was that the boys could now tour the aquarium together. In the past, my youngest would linger at every exhibit, while my oldest would rush through more interested in pushing every button made available to little hands.  This time there was genuine interest in everything. They asked questions, they grabbed my arm and pulled me toward something that they saw that was really exciting. They were giddy with joy.

If you've never been to the aquarium, it is immense, beautiful and worth a visit. It centers around the Ocean Edge Wing 1/3rd of a million gallon tank with a giant kelp forest and the 1.3 million gallon tank in the Outer Bay Wing where you can view sharks ... this most impressed Caleb who is quite the Shark fan. It also has beautiful exhibits of sea anemones, and jelly fish. Quite popular the sea otter exhibit is fun to watch.

My favorite are the hands on exhibits. You can touch a sting ray, or play in the tide pools.

We live 90 minutes from the aquarium, and for a long time have been meaning to buy a family membership. If you plan to go only twice a year, the membership is a great deal. The boys had so much fun, we finally got the family membership and we'll be going back again soon.

Spring has Sprung ... Now Time for a Break

Next week is Kindergarten Spring Break. I'd like to say we have a wonderful, amazing adventure planned, but alas we are still unsure what we're going to do. Should we head to Pismo Beach near San Luis Obispo and rent a beach house for a few days? Should we stay closer to home and head to Santa Cruz, Monterey or Carmel? Should we try the mountains and head to Lake Tahoe? Decisions, decisions...

The other consideration is we have t-ball and pre-hockey on Saturday. Xander is starting to really enjoy t-ball, and Caleb has a new session of ice skating and he is graduating from hockey tots to pre-hockey. New class, new teacher and we'd hate to miss it.

This makes the argument for taking a shorter roadtrip and coming home on Saturday for the fun activities. Meanwhile, the weather is getting warmer and there is no more rain on the horizon. Spring has sprung ... now time for a break.

Making the most of bad weather: Puddle splashing and other ways to get muddy

"Too wet to go out. And too cold to play ball. So we sat in the house. We did nothing at all. So all we could do was to Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit! And we did not like it. Not one little bit."

Not us! Weeks of rain. How do we handle two active boys when it is raining outside? We go out in the rain. We don't sit, sit, sit, sit...

In inclement weather I'm a fan of going outside. Splashing in mud puddles. Getting muddy and wet. That is what they made raincoats, rain pants and rain boots for. Going out in inclement weather, you actually avoid the crowds -- everyone else is inside. And if you've ever hiked in the rain, it is downright fun.

We enjoy the wet weather, embrace it. Especially with our boys... there is no reason to sit, sit, sit, sit unless the weather is dangerous (which rarely ever happens here in California).

So what do we do when it is rainy? We go on hikes, we go to the beach, we seek out mud puddles in our area (seriously a mud puddle safari), and generally have a great time.

And once you get really wet, nothing tastes better than a cocoa and a bath after a fun rainy day excursion...

When I was a kid I'd sometimes go cabin camping with our youth group during rainy season. We'd go out for hikes on rainy days, and occasionally slide down hills in the mud ... we had a blast.

And "you'll catch your death of cold," well that is a myth. People tend to get sick during the winter months because they are shut indoors -- going outside even when it is raining can be good for your health. (By the way if you are already sick, you probably shouldn't go mud puddle splashing!)

So when the sun is not shining and it seems like it is too wet to play, I say go out in that cold, cold wet weather and enjoy that inclement day.