Let's Go Red Sox, Let's Go

Bill took a shower early, ate breakfast and took Titan for a walk while the rest of us ate and got ready.  We left the house at 11:00, right on time and headed to Ft. Myers for a spring training game against the Phillies.  Bill ordered the tickets months ago and for the first time in several years, we actually had seats.  It was HOT and it was sunny, but it was nice to sit, rather than stand the entire game.  Bill told Dan it would be shady in 45 minutes, then changed it to maybe an hour and 45 minutes, then remembered Daylight Savings Time was in effect, so changed it again to two hours and 45 minutes.  We were never in the shade but to be fair, we left in the 7th inning.  We would have been in the shade if we had stayed ;o)  

Not sure who the guy in the yellow shirt is...

2018

but I know who the guy in the blue shirt is..

There's one in every crowd!

2016

Being at the stadium has such a great feel to it, familiar and exciting!

Wendy and I beat our way through the store, which is never a fun experience.  This life size LEGO statue of David Ortiz stands outside the store.

It stands 6'7", from the foot to the statue's finger tips, weighs 170 pounds, took 290 hours to complete and contains 34,510 LEGO blocks.  Very cool!

Can't get comfortable before taking pictures.

The Sox were down 2-4 when we left, with Chris Sales pitching, but they came back in the 9th to win...6-5!  We left early in order to go to the outlet stores so Dan and Wendy could shop at Under Armour and Reebok.

On the way home we stopped at McDonalds to use the bathroom and get iced coffees, Wendy had a sundae.  We arrived home right at 6:00, perfect timing for Titan.  Bill gave him a treat on the deck while Wendy and I worked on dinner.  

We took Titan for a walk along Rt. 41 where we checked out the new Jeeps.  This walk is close to home and Titan likes the nice grass!  We finished our game of Dominoes when we returned; Bill came from behind to win.  He's sneaky that way!

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Three Cheers for Spring Training

Except for the wind, it was a beautiful day for a ball game.  The Red Sox played the Atlanta Braves, although I don't really care who the other team is.

We had standing room only tickets under the Green Monster deck.  We find these perfectly satisfactory for us, mostly because we are in the shade.  We have sat in a couple of different sections and it is blazing hot in the sun...we like the shade.  ;o)

We found the perfect spot right along the third base line.  There was a little railing to lean on and no one in front of us.  We just have to remember to get to the park early enough to get this spot next time.

The winds were blowing about 20 mph so I didn't dare rest my beer on the railing so I could eat my popcorn.  Bill came up with this clever idea...

hands free popcorn holder

We left at the end of the 8th inning, Sox were ahead 11-1.

While there, we smelled smoke, watched several fire trucks racing down the highway and eventually could see the smoke from a brush fire that started in the Picayune Strand State Forest.  

photo NBC-2.com

**By Wednesday, it will have grown to 8600 acres, destroyed two homes, caused the closing of a portion of I75 and the evacuation of several RV parks.

photo NBC-2.com

photo NBC-2.com

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Spring Training with Wendy and Dan

YAY!  Wendy and Dan are here and we are off to see the Red Sox.  84*, sunny and windy...not a bad day for baseball, other than the wind...made it difficult to get a good picture.  Well, Dan looks good, except for that silly hat!

Looks like a good lineup.

Darn wind!

Standing room only, but a decent view of the field.

We left at the end of the 7th inning with the Twins ahead 7-0; they won 8-2.  We went to the outlets where everyone else bought something and I saved my money!  We had some pizza for dinner, bought iced coffees at McD for the ride home and arrived back at the house around 6:15.  

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Martineaus Come to Visit 3/16/15

Play Ball!  Today is Red Sox day! 

Bill and I took Titan for a quick walk while Wendy and Dan did some reading on the deck.  We left the house about 11:00 and drove to Jet Blue Park in Ft. Myers for a game against the Mets.  

The temperature reached 90* and tied the record high.  Thankfully we had standing room tickets on the Green Monster but under the roof, so we were in the shade.

Looking over practice fields

We grabbed some lunch while they "saved" our places, then we switched places and they grabbed some lunch.

That's quite a hot dog!

It was a decent game with most of the recognizable names starting.

Nothing says baseball like a nice cold beer for $7.25

 

Vaping?  Who ever even heard of vaping?

We ended up leaving after the 7th inning (Sox 2 - Mets 3) because we wanted to do some shopping and I didn't want to leave Titan alone for more than seven hours.  I'm a worrier, what can I say?  We drove to Bass Pro Shops in a nearby shopping mall so Dan could look for a long sleeve sunscreen shirt.

This one has a waterfall and large aquarium inside.

From there we went to another mall (there are lots of huge malls in Ft. Myers) to the Reebok outlet store so I could look for a pair of sneakers that they both recommend...Nano's.  Whatever.  I found a bright yellow pair, I like to call them my Big Bird shoes.  Originally $119, on sale for $79, with a 40% discount and another 20% AAA discount.  I paid somewhere around $30.  Cha Ching!

Yup, these are YELLOW!

Today Dairy Queen was celebrating their 75th anniversary and they were giving away FREE ice cream cones.  Who doesn't like FREE ice cream?  As luck would have it, Wendy found us a DQ almost right around the corner from the Reebok store.  Way to go Wendy!  The ultimate discount!!!

Yeah, I know, it's not a cone!  They ran out of cones, so we got a cup.  

We were home by 6:00, let Titan out and fed him, watched the news (Sox ended up winning 4 - 3) and went back to The Celtic Ray for dinner, which was their treat.  Not necessary, but very nice of them.  Thank you both!  We watched Dancing With the Stars when we got home and the three of them played Trivia Crack.  I don't play games on my iPad, I waste enough time without playing games.

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"Cause a girls gotta see her mama!!" Day 4

"Happy Birthday, Bill"!

Today's is Bill's **th birthday and he deserves to have a marvelous one!

We had a nice walk again this morning, Wendy & I along the HarborWalk while Bill and Titan walked along the sidewalk with all of us meeting at the hospital and returning together. 

We are all smiles when we meet at the hospital

We ate lunch at home then asked Bill to drop the two of us off at Charlotte Harbor Beach Park while he went to the gym.  It was a beautiful day at the beach. 

It doesn't get any better than this.

We only stayed a couple of hours because we had big plans to celebrate Bill's birthday...RED SOX!

We headed south to Ft. Myers around 5:00 and arrived early along with many others.

We were early enough to grab a bite for dinner, see the sunset

so much prettier in person

and catch a little bit of the warm ups.

Wendy scored us great seats down the third base line.

While moving some of the warm up equipment off the field, a couple of balls fell onto the warning track just below us and one of the Red Sox team members returned to pick it up (we're saying it was the catcher, Ryan Lavarnway).  Wendy leaned over the railing and asked him to throw her one of the balls because it was Bill's birthday.  He graciously obliged but threw it a little short.  Thankfully, Wendy didn't lean over the railing far enough to fall.  Being the good guy, he threw it to her again and she presented it to Bill.

Happy Birthday Bill!

It wasn't a great game, the Sox lost 0-2 and we left in the 8th inning because we were getting cold but I think everyone would agree...we had a good time.

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Red Sox vs Rays

David and Paula brought Red Sox tickets with them when they came to visit.  Although David originally purchased tickets for standing room on the grassy knoll berm in the outfield, which sounds very romantic but is actually a small grassy area in full sun, he was able to upgrade to seats, actual seats!  Thanks, David.

Ticket for a real seat...yay!

View from our seats.

We got there early and had a chance to check out the practice fields but we just missed batting practice.

Back side of the outfield wall

Two handsome dudes but not Red Sox dudes.

Speaks for itself

We even got their early enough to get some free food!

Land O-Lakes grilled cheese

 OMG, these were awesome...and, did I mention...they were FREE!  I ate two.

The weather was perfect, in the 80's but we were glad when 2:50 arrived and our seats were in the shade.  We had a great time and the Sox WON, killing massacring beating the Tampa Bay Rays 8-0!

We returned home to enjoy a marvelous dinner of filet mignon, grilled veggies and two side dishes prepared by Paula, one involved spinach and the other involved a combination of root vegetables.  Everything was delicious!

David being responsible for the veggies, Bill keeping an eye on the steaks, Paula soaking up the aroma

Looks good, tasted great

It was an awesome day...good friends, good food, good fun.

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;o)

Today's the Day

Wendy comes to visit ;o)

 Overlooking the practice fields...JetBlue Park at Fenway South

Additional posts to follow...

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;o)