La Familia Goes To Spring Training & Makes Papa's Dreams Come True

Our family has the most loving, giving, selfless, hardworking Papa ever.  He gives all of himself to making sure his family is happy and well taken care of.  Every year he works hard to take his girls to Disneyland where they can consume as much "magic" & "happiness" their little bodies & minds can contain, or to a tropical beach full of lazy days in the sun & sea that are essential to Mama's mental health, and on countless trips to the river where everyone can play, float and relax.  Of course he enjoys and is grateful for all of these family vacations but let's keep it real, when it comes to actually choosing our destination his role is pull out the credit card when needed and show up in the right place at the agreed-upon time.

This year it occurred to me that we should choose a Papa-themed vacation and let his heart's desires lead the way for once.  And of course, his heart pointed us in the direction of the SF Giants.  We touched down at the Phoenix airport at 10:30am on a Saturday morning and 2 hours later we were sitting 3 rows behind 1st base at Scottsdale Stadium watching Tim Lincecum throw out the first pitch of the Giants' Spring Training 2012.

our amazing seats for only $20!!!

The next 4 days of our lives were dedicated to nothing but San Francisco Giants baseball. We slept, ate, got dressed in our orange and black and spent all other minutes of our days at Scottsdale Stadium.  Justice had a blast collecting autographs and coming face-to-face with the players and coaches she has been cheering for from afar for the past 2 years.  She forgot to bring her baseballs to have signed to the first game so she improvised and had them sign her neon orange shoe which by the end of trip had signatures from Bruce Bochy, Jeremy Affeldt, Pat Burrell, Tommy Joseph, Brandon Belt and many others (once she started with the shoe there was no turning back)

Getting Bruce "Mr Big Stuff" Bochy's autograph

The 1st of many: Jeremy Affeldt

Even though  Chuli & Rio are still a little young to appreciate the mechanics of the game they found joy in the ball park snacks and lots of games of catch.

Chuli's Pre-Game Warm Ups

Enjoying their snow cones

As for Papa, it would be hard to pick what one thing was the best about this vacation.  He got to shake hands with John Miller aka "The Voice of The Giants" (who he has been listening to since he was a youngin'), catch a ball thrown to him by Melky Cabrera, personally say "thank you" to Brain Sabean for bringing his city a world championship, but most importantly he got to experience his most favorite pastime with his most favorite girls.  There is no brighter smile than the one Papa gets when he sees his girls getting pumped up about Giants baseball.  To have them find joy for something that has brought so much happiness into his own life makes him one extra proud Pop.  

Despite all of the exotic, international locations I have guided him to, I have a feeling that Scottsdale, AZ is going to make it to the top of his list of most amazing vacations.  As long as my family is smiling and the sun is shinning I guess even Mama can be convinced to return to this much desired destination.  

One thing's for sure, with the souvenir Papa took home from this trip we will be reminded of our Spring Training trip every day of our lives:

World Champion Ink By Clifton Carter, Living Ghost Tattoo