As I sit here in my hotel room in Miami and am able to reflect on the last week for a few minutes I realize that I am fortunate to have a very cool “job” that I enjoy and that provides me opportunities to experience once-in-a-lifetime situations much more often than I realize.
The team went through Boston earlier in the week and I was able to finally see Fenway park, the Mecca (sorry Yankee fans), and experience Red Sox Nation. And I had a blast. I can’t describe the goosebumps and sense of history that hit me when I walked up the steps into the dugout and onto the field the other day. For me, it looks much different in person than on TV and it took a second to get my barings.
I was able to just wander around and give myself a tour of the park and I explored every nook and cranny that I could find. I went to the top of the Monster, out to Pesky pole, sat behind one of the pillars in the grandstand (just to see what the poor saps who buy the tickets from the scalpers see) and had to pick splinters from the wooden seats out of my shorts. I got a chance to go through the Red Sox clubhouse and just cruised the concourses to get a feel for the place … AWESOME! I shook hands with Manny and saw Papelbon wearing a Pirates’ bandana and eye patch in the weight room (the Yankees were playing the Pirates so their clubhouse was pulling for Pittsburgh, obviously). I also had the opportunity to go inside the Green Monster and “immortalize” myself by signing my name with a Sharpie on the foundation of Fenway park amid the thousands of other signatures down there (there were so many that I was in there for 20 minutes reading the old signatures and didn’t even come across the legends). And no, I didn’t pee in the same spot Manny so famously did during the infamous pitching change a few years ago.
I was also able to walk around Boston’s downtown a little bit and spent a fair amount of time in the park (Boston Commons). There were some Trumpeter Geese (that were almost as big as I am) that were sitting on a nest full of, what looked like, dinosaur eggs - something I’ve never seen before.
It was also good to catch up with some old friends and people I used to work with, who are now Red Sox employees, after one of the games. They showed off their World Series rings and shared stories of the Duckboat parade. Needless to say I was jealous and eager to have a similar experience in Phoenix one of these days.
It was an unbelievable stop and something that definitely lived up to the expectations.
I am, however, looking forward to getting home. When it’s all said and done, I will have spent just 8 days at home this month and have been gone the better part of the last 6 weeks. My minor league scouting coverage is complete, with just a handful of reports left to write up before the trade deadline so the work load will lighten up a bit soon, relatively speaking.
I hope all of you are doing well and hopefully my travels will bring us together at some point soon … Now if I can only get “Sweet Caroline” out of my head.
We knew it was coming, but nothing can really prepare us for the feeling of 115 degrees :) We have been trying to stay cool here at home by taking daily dips in the pool and escaping up north to the cabin where it’s about 20 degrees cooler.
As usual, we have been busy with Braelyn’s new music class and finishing up swim classes. She is ready to move up to the “Little Snappers” class in the fall when we re-enroll. Matt had his 1 day off this month at home last week and we took Braelyn to see Kung Fu Panda which she liked and surprisingly sat still through (although we did have to take 3 seperate potty trips!). Matt has been on the road 3 out of the last 4 weeks and doesn’t come home until Sunday. We are SO looking forward to the All-Star break in mid-July when he has a few days off.
We are planning a trip to Sea World with Tom, Sheri & Devyn over the break and we are looking forward to escaping the heat, enjoying seeing Braelyn’s reaction to the sea animals and spending time with our SD family, whom we don’t see as often as we would like to. It should be a fun trip and we can’t wait to get some family time together after the last few months which have been really tough on all of us. Matt is in Boston right now and is at least enjoying the thrill of seeing Fenway Park which is a stadium he has never seen and Boston is a city he hasn’t spent much time in.
The Dbacks have been struggling lately so it makes for some stressful game days and when the team isn’t winning, it makes life on the road a bit more rough. It’s a long season though and we are hoping that they can go on a nice little winning streak right before the break to cap off the 1st half of the season.
I have included some new pics of Braelyn baking cookies with her fancy hat on and also a couple of funny ones showing what we get to experience on a daily basis. She really is such a great little person to spend time with and I am really lucky that she is my “job”.
I am hoping that Matt might have a few minutes next week when he is home to post a note or two to catch you all up on his daily happenings.
We miss you all and hope everyone is having a great week!
The AZ Smiths hope you are enjoying your weekend :) B has been practicing many different faces lately, and I thought you all would like to see the different sides of her personality and how she displays them! We are all doing well and enjoying our time together as a family. The heat hasn’t quite topped out yet so…we can still be outside and play, thankfully. Braelyn starts music class and a mini exercise and dance class in June so I am sure there will be plenty of pictures to post in a few weeks. Until then, enjoy the many faces of our darling daughter
B came down with the VERY nasty stomach virus that is apparently going around in the kiddos and it knocked her FLAT for 1 full week. Those of you that are familiar with B and her daily antics will know that this must have been something serious to keep her from eating and playing for 7 days. We are glad that she is finally feeling better and have become obsessive/compulsive hand washers the last few weeks to try to keep it from spreading - it is not something I would care to have. Luckily MLB dad avoided getting it, mainly becuase he has been gone for about 2 weeks straight - I think we saw him for a total of about 10 hours since May 9th and he won’t return until the 26th.
Because this month and next are so crazy for traveling (he is gone 21 out of 30 days in June), B and I have become dedicated Dbacks watchers (even more so than in the past) and have foresaken pretty much all other TV so that we can keep up on the goings on with the team. It is necessity for me because I can guarantee that after the game I will receive a phone call quizzing me on plays and strategy for that evening’s contest & I better be ready :) It also keeps us feeling close to his daily routine and what he is experiencing when he is away from us for so long.
B has become a regular cheerleader and knows all of the starting pitcher’s names. On their day to start, she will do a “GO (Fill in pitcher’s name here) and GO DBACKS!” cheer for Matt and we have even recorded it and messaged him on his cell phone. She knows that the Dbacks wear red hats and that they try to “hit the ball over the fence.” She even practices hitting like the Dbacks with her set of golf clubs and works on catching the ball like “O-Dog.” I fear we have created a monster. She will run around the living room saying that she “LOVES baseball” and that “Micah is her favorite and she LOVES him.” Oh the poor boys that will date her and try to keep up with her baseball knowledge!
I got lucky and married someone who is more obsessed than I am with sports but we do have entertaining evenings of watching Baseball Tonight and Sports Center to try and catch the 10 second highlights of the Dbacks that they show (East Coast and AL Bias!!!!) He knows WAY more than me about everything regarding baseball and all I can do is try to keep up and impress him with my surprising tidbits of info.
Anyway, if you all didn’t know it, we are baseball crazy and we try to stay connected any way that we can. It is such a HUGE part of Matt’s life and therefore ours but I am growing to love it more and more and couldn’t imagine another way of life. It’s hard when he’s gone for so long, but knowing that he has a job that he loves so much, makes it easier.
We hope you are all well and taking the time to enjoy being with your spouse, kids and family. Quality time is important, don’t take it for granted!! We love you all.
Just a quick note for anyone who missed or was not able to open the radio interview with Micah Owings that I emailed out earlier this week. Micah was interviewed on ESPN yesterday at the field and mentioned Matt’s name AGAIN!! I just like everyone to know what Matt is up to and that he really does have an impact on some of the Dbacks players. He would never tell everyone all of these things, so I do it for him :) Enjoy and have a great weekend!
Well, after 2+ years, it is finally time to get B’s 1st haircut. Although most children have had multiple cuts by now, B’s hair has managed to grow extremely slow and rather than getting long, it is just adding curl after curl and turning into what I like to call, the Albert Einstein look
I finally decided to call a friend of ours who has much experience cutting the hair of little, wiggling children and is successful in making their hair look evenly cut. Since today was MLB dad’s day off, I thought it would be a good chance for us to go together as a family. I planned ahead and brought with us the lifesaving portable DVD player with the wonderful Diego Saves the Moon DVD and it came through for us once again. B sat completely still and did not have a care in the world - she did not mind in the slightest that someone was spraying her head or combing and cutting her hair.
After the haircut was done (about 15 minutes) her head was even more full of curls and looked so cute! B looked in the mirror and proclaimed “I’m SO beautiful!” I did save a few pieces of her blondie hair for whatever we moms use our kids old hair for
We hope you are all well and take the time to look in the mirror and tell the world (and yourself) that you are beautiful or handsome, whatever the case may be!!
It’s family blogging time again We just returned from up north at my parent’s cabin where B has so much fun getting dirty, playing with leaves and just generally being in the great outdoors!
As a family, we really do take advantage of how wonderful our AZ weather is (half of the year!) and how close hiking trails and outdoor activities are to where we live. We hike about once a week in the off season and make sure to take B to the park, the zoo, the farm, on picnics and anywhere else that we can be outside and enjoy the warm weather. Our favorite vacation spots are also places where we can get out and experience nature and scenery; Whistler, BC, Breckenridge, CO and Denver too. MLB Dad gets to spend a large portion of almost every day outside experiencing the different ballparks and the scenery that each provides.
I think it is so important for kids to have an appreciation for nature as well as a love for being outside. I always joke with MLB Dad and our friends that we are becoming “hippies” because we don’t really watch TV or keep up on pop culture but rather, we spend a lot of time in the outdoors exercising, talking and teaching B about all different types of plants, animals, rocks, and whatever else we happen to see.
Soon it will be too hot for hikes and picnics, but then we can shift our focus to the indoor museums, gyms and the POOL to have fun and stay cool. We hope you are all enjoying the Spring Weather and whatever outdoor activities make you happy.
Until next time - - Stop and Smell the Roses or whatever flora you have available to you!!
Well, my wife has been on me about touching base with everyone and submitting a post so here we go:
We are now in city #2 of the year and it’s actually my favorite stop on the circuit. Denver has a lot of stuff to do, good restaurants right near the hotel, good clubhouse at the park, nice hotel, and we stay close enough to the ballpark to be able to walk (which is always a plus in my mind).
Last night, our manager took the staff out for a very nice dinner at the Capital Grill (which I had never been to). It was an interesting evening to say the least but it was a very nice gesture by our manager.
This trip has been pretty low-key to this point. Cincinnati was Cincinnati (which means not good - no offense to anyone with a fondness for it - we just don’t share it). We had cold, rainy weather the whole time and there’s not a heck of a lot to do near the hotel. On the bright side, I did have an off-day there (my whopping 2nd day off since February 20th) and some of the guys took me out to dinner in a cool little area of suburban Cincinnati with little pubs and mom-and-pop restaurants. We had a good time and were able to finally just relax for an evening. I was also able to run into a friend who moved to the Dayton area about a year ago; his family came in for a game and he drove down a second day to meet me for lunch. It was good to get caught up and see a familiar face.
On that note, one of the perks of my job is that I get the opportunity to see and catch up with lots of friends and family that are scattered across the country.
It’s been interesting to open two ballparks in one week (obviously opening day in Cincy and then, yesterday, the Rockies had their home opener as well). The energy and excitement and expectations are always so high right at the start of the year and the fans come out in full force. I’ve enjoyed the experience so far.
Last paragraph, I promise: After 6 weeks in Tucson for ST and another week on the road, I am chomping at the bit to get home, sleep in my own bed, and finally get some time with L & B. It feels like a long time since we’ve been able to just go to the park, or take a walk, or … normal stuff. I’m looking forward for some time at home that isn’t an absolute scramble. On that note … I’m out.
Another MLB season is about to begin and here in the desert, we are very excited. Since MLB dad has spent much of the last 6 weeks away from home, I thought he might want to hear how his daughters (furry and human) feel about the upcoming season.
I hope you enjoy these and until the playoffs are over …. Root, Root, Root for the Dbacks
Love,
MLB Mama
Braelyn gives us her feelings on the upcoming season and her daddy!
Not to be outdone, Reiley felt like chiming in with her two-cents!
Today B & I went to swim class, the new favorite activity :) She enjoys splashing, playing with the squirting toys and just generally doing whatever she wants regardless of the lesson plan for the day. She has no fear of the water (a good and BAD thing for mom and dad) and doesn’t mind going underwater a bit.
The indoor swim school (Yes, even in hot and sunny AZ, there are times when we can’t swim outside!) that she goes to is really great - wonderful instructors and staff, small class sizes and an immaculate dressing room and restroom area. This is quite impressive to me since I only have one 2-year-old and know how hard it is to keep things clean with her running around all day! I was hesitant at first to put her in an official swim school - how hard can it be to teach a baby to swim right? Well, it’s much harder than one would think and after a summer where she only hung out on the steps, I opted to take her somewhere that would force her (and me!) to take the next step and do the dreaded underwater plunge! As with most things, the anticipation of the event is far worse than the actual event - - I was dreading some screaming, crying, coughing, water-up-the-nose-and-in-the-mouth episodes and encountered none of them at all. After a couple of trials with nothing more than a look of surprise, B was a natural under the water. Every week I ask her “Where are we going today?” and she responds with a big smile and a happy answer of “SWIM CLASS!”
It’s so fun to share in these type of activities with her & we are so grateful that I can do it every week and that when Matt is in town, his schedule will allow him to participate as well. We hope you enjoy the pics and are looking forward to the swimming weather as much as we are (although, I WILL pass on the 110 degree temps) 95 is warm enough for pool time :)
Happy Swimming, reading, walking, talking or whatever makes you happy this week!!!!
