NYC 2018: Part Two (And Game 10!)

So last time we talked, we recapped Part 1 of our NYC trip, which means today we're recapping Part 2! And yes, an entire week occurred between the two because the nesting phase has kicked in which means I'm organizing ALL.THE.THINGS.

What's funny is my dad texted me after reading part one to tell me that he's eager to hear what happened in part two. Silly man. :)

Like I mentioned last time, I made a full blown itinerary for this trip, and after the first day and a half, we were completely zonked. These Texans are just not used to the amount of walking New York requires. We tend to sit on our rearends and drive. 

That being said, Saturday morning was a (much needed) slow morning. It also happened to be the morning of my 30th birthday! I didn't have breakfast planned since I didn't know what we would feel like doing, but as it turns out, while mom and I were at Frozen, the men went and got supplies. So when I woke up Saturday morning, I woke up to breakfast in bed and a big bouquet of birthday flowers!

And by breakfast in bed I mean a garden omelet and fresh watermelon :)

We all ate, relaxed, got ready, and then donned our Yankees gear and headed out to the stadium for Game TEN!

By this point, you all know what this means, but juuuuust in case we have a newcomer...

My dad and I decided back in 2015 that we would go to 10 out of state stadium games as part of my bucket list before I turned thirty. And on my thirtieth birthday, we hit all ten! And we factually checked the birth certificate and actually had a couple hours to spare! (An afternoon game and the time change were in our favor!)

Hi there Yankee Stadium. 

And as you can see from the bottom of the picture, we attended with half of New York City. Seriously, I was FLOORED at how many people were in attendance at this game. It was unlike anything I'd seen before. 

Mom and I got to walk in the stadium behind none other than Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth. We considered ourselves some pretty lucky women!

We finally made it in to the stadium a little after the game started. I'm telling you - SO many people. 

I know this isn't the old Yankee stadium, but something about being here made me all nostalgic for history. And I don't do history. 

Across the outfield they had a line-up of all the retired Yankees numbers. We quizzed my dad and he was able to name the players for the majority of them without any help! It's like he grew up a baseball fan or something...

Now - here's the part of the story where I'm kicking myself. Behind all those retired numbers was a historical monument to all the greats (such as Mantle and Ruth). What I didn't know is that the monument closes 45 minutes before the game starts. So unfortunately we weren't able to see this, and I know my dad would have loved it, so I'm still kicking myself for it. ULTIMATE TOUR GUIDE FAIL. 

But we still managed to eat hot dogs and have a good time nonetheless!

Even Susie's smile looks kinda genuine! She was a good sport that afternoon :)

7th inning selfie -- I can't believe it was our LAST game of this lil journey!

Game 10 - Tampa Bay Rays vs New York Yankees - June 16, 2018

We didn't stay for the whole game since we 1) had to get home and get changed for our next event, and 2) knew if we left the stadium with the same amount of people we entered the stadium with, it would have taken us three hours. 

So we took one last look at Yank Stadium, high-fived at a completed challenge, and headed back to the apartment. Only after stopping at the store for some gelato. You know, to have at the freezer in the apartment... just in case.

So, if any evening of this trip had to be a "fail," I would definitely say it was Saturday night. And I'm allowed to say that since I planned everything :) 

After freshening up, we went to Southern Hospitality for dinner. I thought, hey - birthday girl could use some fried chicken for dinner, and my mom/sister and I went there back in 2013 when we visited NYC. Here's the deal: it has definitely gone down hill since we were there 5 years ago. I get that it's 'JT's restaurant' and everything, but you cannot claim to be a southern restaurant and serve fried chicken that is painfully dry. I mean none of our meals were that good, honestly. So, I hate to say it, but if you are headed to NY anytime soon, I would not recommend you eat at Southern Hospitality. Too many other yummy options to choose from!

All smiles! ...before they brought out the food :)

After dinner, we headed to see Aladdin. We had high hopes for this show because, well, it was Disney after all, but also because Jeff and I actually saw Aladdin in Australia and LOVED it.

See? All smiles ... before we went in...

Y'all. It was NOT good. We considered leaving at intermission. 

Granted, we are a tough bunch of critics. My whole family is musical and I grew up in a dance studio. But even Jeff (who is not so much on the musically inclined) was less than impressed. (PS - you should see how cut throat we get when we watch DWTS on Monday nights.) The acting was bad, the dancing was not together, and I honestly wanted to take a bathroom break every time Aladdin had a solo. It also very much lacked that 'Disney magic' that you see in every other Disney show. I don't know - it just made me sad.

And you know what else was sad?

After leaving that lackluster performance, the exit we took from the theater put us out on a different street, and when I looked up I realized I was standing in front of the Nederlander. 

What is the Nederlander you ask? 

Oh - just the theatre where I saw the greatest Disney broadway show to ever see a stage. 

That's where we saw Newsies back in 2013, and I had tears in my eyes the whole time simply because it was SO. GOOD. 

So remembering that glimpse of goodness after leaving Aladdin just twisted the knife a bit. 

But alas, we headed back to the apartment, finished off the gelato, and called it a day!

Sunday morning was a bit of a wild card. Jeff and I had a birthday brunch that started at noon, and mom really wanted to see Ground Zero, so the couples split ways mid-morning. However, we split only after I made a run to Dunkin Donuts because it was Father's Day and my dad's blood type is DD+ and Jeff could eat donuts every day of his life. So, we had another quiet morning before another busy day!

Jeff and I decided to take the long, scenic route to the birthday shindig by taking another stroll through Central Park. We grabbed coffee, people watched, and (being as this trip was one week after the gender reveal) talked about what we wanted to name our little girl :)

We got to Ryan's party - in a really fancy old speakeasy by the way - and had a blast. We ate good food, had good cake, jammed to an incredible playlist (I'm looking at you Now Hits of 2000), and played with a photobooth! Plus, I invited two of my work friends from Dallas who now live in NYC - so it was a little reunion too :)

After the party, we headed back to the apartment to meet up with my parents and get refreshed for our last big evening in the city. And after Saturday night being a fail, I am happy to report that Sunday night was a huge success.

We kicked off our evening with an early dinner at Carmines. Y'all - best Italian food I've ever put in my mouth. And I've been to Italy! 

Okay, so it was probably comparable to Italy, but seriously - I will never make another trip to NY without going to Carmines. The whole menu is family style, so between the four of us we split spaghetti bolognese and chicken parmesan, and we had enough food to feed a small army. I'm not kidding when I say that Carmines' spaghetti bolognese was the best I've ever had. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I went to take a picture of the portion size and Jeff made a sneak attack at the last minute :)

After we ate as much as we could (and cried a little when they took away our leftovers), we took a 5-minute walk to the Stephen Sondheim Theatre to see Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

Alright, here's the deal: when I was first researching/inquiring about what shows to see, a few people told me about this one. And my response was very much "but I have no idea who Carole King is." However, I listened to the album on spotify and was SHOCKED with how many of her songs I knew! That girl must have written like half of the 'oldies!' 

So when I told my dad about the musical he, of course, knew who Carole King was, but when I played some of the album, he got SO excited! And I knew then and there that I wanted to take him to see that show for Father's Day. 

We 'splurged' and got seats on the front row of the balcony, but it also was a much smaller theatre than Aladdin/Frozen, so everything just felt more intimate. 

Eeks! It was go-time! 

Y'ALL. It was SO. GOOD. Seriously - if you are looking for a feel-good, family-friendly musical -- this is it. And if you're going to NYC and you're above the age of 50? It's a must-do. I mean we didn't want it to end! Plus just watching dad beam and snap his way through the performance gave me all the feels. (Cause let me tell you - none of us were beaming and snapping during Aladdin!).

I seriously can't say enough good things about this show. No, there was no "Disney magic" (it wasn't even a Disney show) - but it really didn't need any. It was good acting, a good story, and some fantastic music/vocals. In fact, I just decided I will be listening to the soundtrack at work today.

So, Saturday may have been a huge fail in the food/show department, but Sunday DEFINITELY made up for it!

On Monday morning, Jeff had to hop a 6a flight to Florida for work, but the parentals and I didn't fly out until Tuesday morning, so we had a whole extra day! We kicked off Monday with something I've been wanting to do for FOREVER...

We did brunch at the Plaza. ;)

The ceiling of the Palm Court. Not a bad view at all! 

This trip had many highlights, but this right here was definitely top three for me. We spent almost two hours just drinking coffee, feeling fancy, and talking about life. We had a really great time. And let me tell you - we ate like we hadn't seen carbs in years. Pancakes, french toast - all of it. 

I mean - look. It's kind of starting to melt, but my chocolate chip pancakes had a chocolate made "Plaza" emblem on top. Not too shabby for Katy!

After brunch, we had time to kill before heading to our hotel. (We also had a super early flight out on Tuesday morning, so we decided to stay in a hotel right by the airport Monday night to eliminate the travel from the city on a weekday.)

We were throwing out random options of things to do, but we knew mom REALLY wanted to go to the Museum of Natural History. So that's what we did. And I'm pretty sure we were there for nineteen hours. My mom is obsessed with history, so she reads any and every plaque there is. So that combined with the monstrosity that is that museum meant Dad and I had to kick into survival mode. 

This was the one picture I took at the museum:

I thought it might resemble what I look/feel like at the end of this pregnancy. And because I'm documenting this 14 weeks after I actually took the picture, I can confirm that I'm well on my way :)

After surviving the museum (and again, feeling like my feet were about to fall from my body), we grabbed a quick lunch which just HAPPENED to be right by our gelato place. 

So we indulged one last time and then headed to the airport hotel, where we all curled up on the bed and watched Newsies (the broadway show version) on Netflix. The perfect way to end a trip to New York City. :)

And that's a wrap! Seriously one of the greatest trips I've been on and one I'll remember forever :) Thanks for hanging in there with me! Have a wonderful Monday, everyone!

Until next time,

Katy

Game 9: Pittsburgh Pirates

Ah, Game 9.

Game 9 makes me laugh. Previously we have had wonderful weather and timely first pitches at all 8 games.

Things changed a bit with good ole Game 9.

Game 9: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. San Francisco Giants - May 12, 2018

Mother’s Day weekend, dad and I set out to see the Pittsburgh Pirates. He has always wanted to go to that stadium, and Jeff has a big ole chunk of family in Pennsylvania (translation: I already had a hat), so it was kind of a no-brainer. Flights to Pennsylvania aren’t overly abundant in nature, so we headed out mid-morning on Saturday with a return flight at the crack-o-dawn (commonly referred to as 6a) on Sunday.

Plane selfie! Upgraded again. Fist pump. 

We landed around 2:30p and the game wasn’t until 7:05p, so we headed to the hotel, checked in, and went down to the Strip District (which my dad called the Strip Joint). The Strip District is near the business district of Pittsburgh, has a lot of restaurants and boutique type shops, and is about a 10-minute Uber away from the stadium. I had been there before with Jeff/my MIL, so we thought it was the perfect way to kill time before the game!

By the time we arrived it was about 4:30, so we walked around, bought some Pirates paraphernalia, and happened upon the one place my dad and I always seem to find ourselves: an ice cream parlor! I swear it’s like a gravitational pull. We don’t know how it happens…

While enjoying our ice cream we watched it sprinkle outside. We knew there was a chance of rain (and bought ponchos from the hotel just-in-case), so my dad ran across and grabbed us a $5 Pirates umbrella from the street. But by the time we finished our ice cream cones, the weather had cleared.

Or so we thought.

About 27 steps outside of the ice cream shop, the bottom dropped out. It was a full out monsoon. And the BEST part? (insert sarcasm here) Unbeknownst to me, the Strip District closes at 5p on Saturdays. So at 5:10, we’re outside running around like hooligans, only to find the doors to every coffee shop, bookstore, and clothing boutique locked. Wamp wamp.

Because sometimes you find yourself soaked from the knees down, your umbrella all but blowing you away like Mary Poppins, and you laughing hysterically wondering how on earth you found yourself in such a situation. So you capture the moment. :)

At this point the stadium had opened up, so we decided the best option was to have an Uber come pick up a couple of wet dogs (aka, us) and head to PNC Park.

Want to know something REALLY funny?
(insert more sarcasm)

Out of all 9 stadiums we had been to at this point, this one was (by far) the most open aired. I mean, it was hard finding any bit of shelter! Much less shelter enough to eat a hot dog!

We decided to head to our seats where the nice seat attendant wiped off our chairs with a dry rag. Note: the rag was dry for us at 5:30p, the rag did not stay of the dry nature by the time other guests arrived throughout the evening…

We sat down and decided to capture our token picture in the stadium (above) as soon as possible in the event there was another downpour. That's why there's virtually no fans in that picture. My phone shows it was taken at 5:51p. Still over an hour before first pitch. 

After we took our picture, we decided the sensible (and only other) thing to do was eat a hot dog. After we ate, as we're sitting there wet and cold waiting for the game to start, we joked that we had eaten hot dogs, taken our picture, seen the stadium, and that that was enough to check it off our list!  

THANKFULLY, when it started to rain, the rain hit all the chairs in front of us up to the very row in front of us. Somehow, we were far enough back (by one whole row) that we escaped the majority of the rain. Thus, we hung out for a bit. 

At this point the announcer told us that the game was officially delayed and they weren't sure for how long (never a good sign). 

This was our view for the majority of the evening. 

At one point they took the stakes out of the tarp and we thought we were about to have some action, but then they put the stakes back in. The crowd fussed, but about 5 minutes after they returned the stakes, we were hit with another beastly downpour. And our row did not survive this one.

So we busted out our ponchos and watched all the fans in the front few rows run frantically to the (little) shelter in the back of the stadium. Our seventh zero inning selfie looks a little different for Game 9!

Inclement weather texting :)

After the big downpour they removed the tarp and started prepping the field for the game. While this was mildly interesting (especially after watching absolutely nothing for over two hours), this prepping process took about 45 minutes! I would have never guessed. Such a high maintenance lil field.

The next picture on my phone is this one, when the game had finally started, taken at 8:50p. So almost a two hour delay, but almost three and a half hours since we had gotten to the stadium!

With our 6a flight the next day, we had a 4a wake up call, so we watched a couple of innings (that had some good action!) and then headed back to the hotel.

Here's what we decided:

Did it suffice as Game 9?
Absolutely. Again, we took pictures, we ate hot dogs, we saw some baseball as well as the stadium. It counted.

Do we need a return trip?
Yes. We feel like while it indeed counted for purposes of our ten games, we definitely need a "redo" to give PNC Park a fair shot.

Did we have a good time?
We laughed a TON at this "game." I mean the circumstances weren't great, but we chose to embrace them and laugh through them - so we had a really fantastic 24-hour jaunt to Pittsburgh. And one that gives us a great story to tell. :)

And that wraps up Game 9!

Today actually kick starts my weekend, and I'm off to Mississippi for our annual family reunion at the campground. So I'm going to chug this coffee and go throw more things I don't need in the suitcase - cause I'm an impulse packer with the best of 'em.

Have a wonderful rest of the week (and weekend)!

Click below for recaps of:

Game 1

Games 2 & 3

Games 4 & 5

Game 6

Game 7

Until next time,
Katy

Game 8: Chicago Cubs

Why is it that the Mondays after vacation are the darn hardest?! We just got back from five days at the beach, and in theory, I should be all kinds of well-rested. And I was! ..Until this morning when my alarm went off for work. Wamp wamp.

Alrighty - we are going a bit retro today. We are going back to recap something from this past April. 

If you remember back before my writing hiatus, I had a list of 30 things I wanted to accomplish before turning 30 (I just recently hopped into this new decade a few weeks ago). The complete list, including my successes and failures of said list, will come later, but one of the items on that list was to attend TEN out of state baseball games with my dad. 

TEN. That's TEN things within ONE bullet point. So I basically wanted to accomplish 40 things before I turned 30. Just wanted to make sure everyone understood that and I got extra credit. :) 

Long story short - one of the games we knew we wanted to attend was to see those Cubbies play at Wrigley. We had actually planned to see them last September, but the dad of one of my besties got wind of this and told us to wait and use their season tickets. 

<Which in hindsight was a total God thing because I was busy fighting cancer last September and there's no way we would have been able to go!>

So, at the end of April, my dad and I conquered Game 8 of our ten game stretch!

Game 8 - Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers - April 28th, 2018

And yes - we are wearing some mighty heavy winter wear. We'll get to that in a minute. 

Since the game was a mid-day game, we decided we could do a morning/evening same day flight and be just fine. We hopped an early morning flight, received a complimentary upgrade to first class, and had a mighty nice little jaunt to Illinois! 

I'm clearly out of blogging practice, because mid-flight my dad reminded me that we hadn't taken a flight selfie. And if you recall from all the other games we've attended, we have always taken a flight selfie. Way to be, pops!

After a pretty quick flight and some turbulent landing, we headed into the airport where I tossed that entire complimentary breakfast I had just eaten because, well, #pregnant. 

We had a good hour or so before we had to be at the game, so we opted for the budget-friendly subway to take us to Wrigley. My dad snapped this on the ride...

This right here is the poster child for the first trimester. 

SO TIRED ALL THE TIME. 

But just for the record I had a fantastic nap. 

The subway let us off right at the field, so we (and thousands of our closest friends) headed into the ballpark. We sat in our seats, checked out the view, and then immediately headed to go get some hats. We have hats from every game we've been to and I am loving my little collection. :) 

Our seats were on the 8th row behind the visitor's dugout and the best view we've had so far! Huge shout out and thank you to the Kool family!

We've purchased hats at the ballpark before and it hasn't been any big deal, but we also haven't been to a game in 40 degree weather. That gift shop was PACKED with fans buying sweatshirts, blankets, and all sorts of cold-weather gear. Twas a big business day for the Cubbies franchise. 

We got our hats, hot dogs, and headed back out to the game. And I will say, having seats in the sun and wearing a ski jacket made for an extremely pleasant game! Being in Texas I've sat through some 100+ degree games and I would take a colder game in appropriate attire any day. 

And by appropriate attire, I mean...

I. Look. Good. 

My dad wore a peacoat and mittens and though this picture doesn't really show anything, I would laugh HYSTERICALLY when he clapped after a play. It was the saddest most muffled clap I've ever heard and it just really tripped my ticklebone.

We shared the seats with Kelsey's brother and his friend and had such a good time catching up!

I mean look at those sun rays! That sun was our saving grace that day! 

I will admit - no ice cream was consumed during Game 8. Which is very unlike my dad and me. But y'all we didn't even look for it. We stuck to hot dogs and peanuts and were quite content!

Obligatory seventh inning selfie :)

We enjoyed such a great game and a Cubs WIN!! Which was probably my favorite part of the day because we got to witness this: 

It's like the Sweet Caroline of Fenway. AND I knew all the words because it's also Kelsey's ringtone any time her parents call :)

CUBBIES WIN!!!!!!

Two happy kids right there. 

Afterwards it was a mass exodus leaving the ballpark, so we stopped at Dunkin Donuts, grabbed a coffee, and let the subway clear out before heading to the airport. Where I puked on the plane. Yet again. 

It was a quick but perfect day. And Game 8 was officially in the books! 

Stay tuned for Games 9 & 10, because - spoiler alert - WE HIT ALL TEN! 

Love this man and this little jaunt we started three years ago :)

Click below for recaps of:

Game 1

Games 2 & 3

Games 4 & 5

Game 6

Game 7

Happy Monday everyone!

Katy

Game 7: Atlanta Braves

Hello there, Tuesday. 

So, in all honesty, today is my Monday. We had a jam-packed weekend, and then I had some tests run yesterday, so I just decided I needed a one day extension and then we'd start again today :)

This past Sunday was Game 7. In the event that means absolutely nothing to you, let me explain. When I turned 27, I decided I wanted to make a list of 30 things I wanted to do before I turned thirty. You can see the complete list here, but one of those things on that list was to see 10 out of state baseball games with my dad! 

Game 1 was the Boston Red Sox, 

Game 2 was the LA Angels,

Game 3 was the San Diego Padres,

Game 4 was the San Francisco Giants,

Game 5 was the Oakland A's, 

Game 6 was the St. Louis Cardinals, 

and GAME 7 was the Atlanta Braves. 

(PS I just did that list from memory and I'm quite proud of myself..)

Why the Atlanta Braves, you ask? Because they got a new stadium this year. And we wanted to see it!

Game 7 - St. Louis Cardinals vs. Atlanta Braves - May 7, 2017

The flight from Dallas to Atlanta is only about an hour and a half and the game was at 1:30, so we decided to make a day trip out of it. The day trips are perfect in that you have no hotel costs, but you're also at the mercy of the flight schedule. 

For instance, the only morning flight that could get us to Atlanta before the game started left at 7a. Which means my alarm went off at 3:30 Sunday morning. 

Here is our obligatory plane selfie - the sleepy version. 

The plus side? We got upgraded to first class! Things that make taking off in the dark a little more bearable :)

When we landed, we took a train/uber combo to the new stadium. The old stadium used to be right downtown, but the new one was built on the outskirts of Atlanta (which apparently where the Atlanta population is going as well...). 

Since the game wasn't until 1:30 and we got there around 11:30, we had some good time to explore the stadium before the game even started. 

I love these flag pictures. I take them at every game. For some reason they just make me happy. 

Here are a few pictures of the outside of the stadium. It was QUITE packed 2 hours before the game started. There was live music, a drumline, restaurants/bars with lines out the door - it was basically tailgate central.

Hey Bobby Cox!

They opened the doors at noon and we headed in to do some more touring. 

Only after eating a hot dog. Obviously. 

One of my favorite things about the stadium was the "Atlanta Braves Monumental Garden." It's basically a giant pathway tribute to the past of the Braves. Dating all the way back to when they were the Boston Braves. Who knew!? They had jerseys, gloves, bats - even celebratory champagne bottles from way back when. Pretty impressive. I always have all the feels for the nostalgia.

Another pretty cool thing? They have their own custom jersey making shop - right in the stadium! Those jerseys were revolving around the top and they would customize them right there during the game!

I wish the Rangers' stadium had that. I would get one that said "Katy Hamels" on the back :)

#notmarriedyet

Then the game started, and WHAT a game it was!! We decided this game and the LA Angels game were the top two most interesting games of the seven that we've been to. After the first few innings the Cardinals were up 4-0, and then by the eighth inning it was tied 4-4. We saw multiple home runs, double plays, stolen bases, and 2 plays overturned cause the umpire on first base was just not having a great day. 

And you know what else? The people sitting around us were not obnoxious. HUGE WIN. Because we definitely can't say that for several of the games we've been to...

We had to leave in the middle of the eighth, but at the airport we saw that the game went to FOURTEEN innings, and the Braves ended up loosing 6-4. Wamp wamp. 

Man, such a good game though. We didn't want to leave!

Oh and the food? We checked it all off the list. 

Multiple hot dogs? Check.

Peanuts? Check.

Ice cream? Check. 

Ballpark food is some good eatin. 

I also learned why my dad likes peanuts. He likes to create a complete and utter mess. 

I mean, really. I found a peanut shell in my shoe when I got home that night. It got a little easier once he stopped throwing the shells at our neighbors, but still - can't take this guy anywhere :)

Oh, and it was cold. In the sun it was really nice, but our seats were in the sun for approximately 8 minutes of the entire game. So when it was time for ice cream, we found one teeny tiny block of sun and stood in it while we ate. The things we do for our sugar-dairy intake. 

Cheers to Mayfield Creamery!
(that tasted a lot like Baskin Robbins!)

And finally, like we always do, we took our 'seventh inning selfie' in our new baseball hats! By the way, I'm going to need to have a son. And I'm going to need his nursery to be baseball themed. I've got a wall of hats ready to decorate. And then when we're up all hours of the night I can tell him stories of how his grandaddy and I got all those hats :)

And then we got home and had to part ways. These days are always just so much fun, the goodbyes at the end are just so hard. Love this dad of mine! 

We decided we might have time to fit in Game 8 this year, so if you'll excuse me, I need to go look at baseball calendars :)

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Until next time,

Katy