1st Father's Day...

We celebrated Jeff's first Father's day in a big way!  And that's just the way I wanted it.  Since this was his very first one, I wanted it to be pretty memorable.

I think I accomplished that.

Yes, we went to New York City!  But not only that, I got us tickets to not one, but two (count'em, peeps!), TWO Yankees baseball games!  Jeff is a big Yankees fan but has never been to a game.  And we had talked off and on over the last several years about how we should take a weekend trip to NYC -- a place neither of us had ever been -- and go to a ballgame and maybe a show or something.

And we never did.

And then we had Deacon.

When baseball season started this year, Jeff was ALL.ABOUT.IT.  He usually is anyway, but for some reason he was super-excited to get the season underway and kept talking to Deacon about the Yankees (as if he understood exactly what Daddy was talking about :).

Well, that's really when the wheels started turning and I started considering us going to NY and going to a Yankees game as his Father's day gift.

Long story short (cuz there are many more details to this one), we flew up on a Thursday (Deacon's first plane ride!) and back on a Saturday and we got to see two games.

Well, that's technically not exactly true...

The game on Thursday, against the Boston Red Sox, ended up being on a 3 1/2 hour rain delay.  We were so bummed to see the rain tarp already on the field when we got there.  We had gotten there about an hour before the game started at 7pm so we could walk around the stadium, take photos, etc.  So 4 1/2 hours later, the game finally starts but Deacon is not handling things well at that point...

He had just fallen asleep at 9pm (much later than his usual bedtime) and that was right about the time they decided to put the NBA finals up on the big jumbotron for our viewing pleasure.  Which is fine unless you have young, rowdy (read: LOUD) guys sitting in front of you who make a ruckus every time a play is made!

Because they wake your sleeping child up.

And he cries.

And then there's another play right as he's falling back to sleep.

Grrr.

So I'm over in my seat thinking, "Okay, should I be a good mother, or should I try to get my money's worth out of these dang tickets??"  Plus, it was the Red Sox and I know Jeff really wanted to see the game...I did, too, for that matter.

But we finally decided, after 2 innings and being able to see everyone in the Yankees lineup bat, that we needed to go on back to the hotel.  It was close to midnight after all.

The game Friday against the Cleveland Indians was SO.MUCH.BETTER.  It started on time, there was no rain, the rowdy boys weren't there.  We had a great time and Deacon did so much better this go-round, falling asleep and taking a good 4-inning nap so that when the game was over and we went walking around Times Square at 11:30-12am, he was good to go!

Gotta say, though -- didn't see too many folks pushing strollers around at that hour...  :)

One other thing we kind of stumbled upon was this:

You may or may not know what this is, but to us, it's a BIG DEAL.  We used to watch Orange County Choppers, the reality show, on TV all the time and even got to meet some of the family and employees down at Bike Week in FL one year.  It was really neat to be able to look around in what we watched them build on the TV show!

The trip in itself was, um, an adventure.  I wouldn't say I had a blast, nor would I say that I hated it.  There were a few "what was I thinking?" moments, and if I had it to do over again, I would definitely change some things.  But all together, it was neat for Jeff and I to be able to experience something new together and Deacon really did so well.

So glad he's got his Daddy's temperament.  :)

The trip was actually a couple of weekends before Father's day so on actual Father's day, this is what Jeff got:

Happy Father's Day, babe!  I am so proud of the Daddy you are to our son -- you are doing an absolutely wonderful job with him, and he and I both love you for it!