The view of the world from the eyes of my four-year-old son is always amazing. They were wide with anticipation of meeting "Dinger", the dinosaur mascot as we approached the ballpark with a crowd of hundreds. Our pace was slow (4-year-old slow) and relaxed as we strolled through the frenetic crowd. My son squeezed my fingers with his tiny, big-boy fist.

I had visited the park many times before but must have been moving too fast to ever notice the many families with small children, especially Dads with their boys. My husband beamed with pride as we found our "rock pile" seats with both of our two young boys (four and the other is 17 months). Baseball is, the national sport of my husband's native country of Nicaragua. His father must have felt the same enjoyment bringing his son to his very first baseball game.

I don't think we ever really watched the game that Sunday afternoon. We did however, see the big-screen replays and watched several rhythmic waves of people; creating waves with their arms around the stadium (try to explain the "why" of that ritual to a four-year-old). We ate a lot, lots of nachos, hot dogs and peanuts. We sang the anthem, said the pledge of allegiance and participated in "take me out to the ball game . . ." We did it all!

The whole experience felt as nostalgic as a Rockwell painting. A family outing as timeless as simply going to see a baseball game has been etched on our family timeline forever. While we never saw the dinosaur mascot, our team did win the game 6 to 2!

Tips on having a great visit with your family at the ball park:
We thought the "rock pile" seats were great! They are really inexpensive and felt roomier because they are benches instead of actual seats. We even had space for the baby to side in the stroller next to us and watch the game. Try to go on a Sunday - parking is free or very cheap. Arrive a little late, leave a little early to avoid some of the crowd.
Bring:
empty water bottles, you can fill them in the park - you can not bring liquid in and it's heavy to carry anyway; sunscreen, hats, spray bottle - to sprits yourself and new friends on really hot days, light wind/rain jackets, small blanket to sit on, cut-up fruit to eat between salty snacks, binoculars-for watching the action and people watching, your ball glove - just in case and your camera!



Introducing you to who you want to meet. - Jenee Centeno, EasyLiving Front Range Magazine a publication of EasyChair Media