Pops took Carter to the game on Tuesday night. I’m still not sure who was more excited – the Pops or the Grandson! From what I hear, they enjoyed hot dogs, ice cream, and hanging out with Deuce!

For Father’s Day this year, I gave Dad an evening out with his one and only daughter – ME!

Last night was the night. We went to the Rider game together and – though it rained BUCKETS – we had such a great time.

Daddy is one of the handful of people in my life that I can sit and talk with for, literally, hours. And that is just what we did last night.

After introducing him to the wonder that IS Founder Club Membership, we toured the various ballpark restaurants and finally settled at a table in the JC Penney Clubhouse, right next to a window overlooking home plate. Not a bad way to enjoy all – the game, my dad, and the much-needed North Texas rain!

We met Mandy and David at the game tonight. Since it was the July 4th game, the entire ballpark was a sea of red, white, and blue. It was absolutely breathtaking.

Each of the armed forces was recognized and properly commended. It was touching to see the amount of game attendees that had either served our country in the past, or are serving now.

Hearing the national anthem always gets to me, but on this night – as thousands of fellow Americans joined in together – it was a moment I’ll remember for quite a while.

This is a photo of the guys posing with The New Andrews Sisters. They were the night’s entertainment. An acapella group, they were AMAZING! They were dressed in wartime 1940s dress and were absolutely beautiful. It was a great night!

These are our wonderful friends with whom we share Rough Rider half-season tickets. On this night, we had traded in our normal seats for the chance to have four tickets together. It was a great game (I’m pretty sure) but the best part was having Mandy to chat with for two whole hours!

Mike: “You know what I’m going to have tonight?”

Me: “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to have a hot dog.”

Mike: “Me too. Isn’t it funny how we never eat hot dogs except when we’re at a baseball game?”

Me: “That’s because they really do taste good at games.”

Mike: “I’m going to have mustard on mine.”

Me: “Oooo, and relish.”

Mike: “Don’t forget the cheese.”

Me: “Definitely going to have cheese.”

Mike: “And onions…”

Me: “Blech. Don’t think so, mister. No onions.”

Mike: “You know…they say that if you have a little onion too, you’ll never even notice the onion on my breath…”

Me: “I hear that’s what ‘they’ say.”

Mike: “So you’ll eat onion?”

Me: “We’ll see…” (Translated: not in THIS lifetime!)

(Twenty minutes later, as we’re walking into the ballpark.)

Mike (pointing in the opposite direction of the hot dog place) : “Let’s go have barbeque at Sonny Bryan’s.”

Me (shrugging): “Sure. Okay.”

Denise and I were on the phone, finalizing our plans for the next night’s game. Mike and I had invited the three of them to be our guests.

“Uh…not.” I laughed. “If the girl (our nickname for ‘our girl’) doesn’t come, then the deal is OFF.”

She laughed too. “That’s what we figured.”

Now, obviously we would have still welcomed them even if they had felt the need for a night out without the baby but – Uncle Mike and Aunt Staci certainly loved seeing her reaction to her very first baseball game!

She also strolled away from the game with a brand new pink Roughrider’s cap and a matching tot-size pink bat! From start to finish, she was totally into people watching and acted as though she’d been to zillions of games!

(As you can tell, we need to convert her mommy to the Rangers/Roughriders part of the league!)

Nate and I enjoyed the game, the hotdogs, and the unlimited supply of Diet Coke but – most of all – we enjoyed one another’s company. He just moved home from his college apartment last week so this night was somewhat of a treat for us both.