Lansing Lugnuts

Last week we decided we wanted to take Addison to a Lugnuts game and see how she did rather than tote her to Comerica Park, spend all the money involved in a Tigers game only to have her unable to sit still.  Plus the girl has been obsessed with "going to a baseball game" since we missed out on the Tigers game we had tickets for earlier this year due to crappy weather and a husband that didn't want to go to the game.

Anyhow Thursday night I got out of work a little early and we waited for Tony to get out so that we could head up to Lansing for the game.  Addison was pretty excited and did her usual non-stop talking for the entire car ride.  (seriously ride in a car with her, it's exhausing.)

When we got there Addison quickly discovered the splash pad/water fountain out front.  It was pretty much love at first site and she kept asking to go back to it while we were inside the stadium for the game.

We have to go again if nothing else to let her play in the fountain!

We found a good place to sit that wasn't occupied and allowed for a crazy toddler to run around. We grabbed food, more food, more food and fed our kid ridiculous amounts of sugar.  (seriously)

Their Mascot, the Big Lug, is a purple dinosaur.  Addison was in Dinosaur heaven...For real she would have went home with him.  She wanted to go to him wherever she spotted him throughout the game.

Addison definitely LOVED it, and for an almost 3 year old with more energy (and sugar) than most, she did great.  She got a kick out of being able to scream and yell "GO Lugnuts" she must have yelled it a hundred times.  Someone does need to work on her quite during the national anthem as a helicopter flew over nearby during the anthem she screamed "helicopter, helicopter, helicopter!" :)

 She got a game ball and a foam finger, an entire bag of cotton candy, a ball park hot dog, and some crackerjacks.  What else could she want in life?

Happy Holidays

I'm in the mists of being off work for 13 days...I have to go back on Wednesday and I am hard core dreading it.  BLAH.  I've reached full lazy mode though in the past few days and quite honestly it was much needed.

Christmas was awesome this year, Addison is the perfect age for the excitement of presents.  She may not be old enough to understand the rest of Christmas but boy oh boy does the girl love presents!  She was adorable ripping things open, getting excited hoping that the next present was pajamas too.  Of course as soon as one was open she was ready to rip into the next one.  We, Santa, got her a Doll house which has been a huge hit, as well as the new kitchen from grandma, her new sparkly LED shoes from grandma, her stick horse, her magnetic dress up doll who she calls barbie, anything she got that had Dora on it and her dollies.  The girl is spoiled rotten!  We had lots of Christmases to celebrate with our families and she actually did great for skipping naps, refusing to sleep in the car on the drive to ohio for more than 30 minutes even after waking up SUPER early on Christmas day..you really never would have known by how well she did all day.

and while we were in Ohio for Christmas we got hit with a big snow storm so we took some time to throw together some random snow attire (Browns hat..eek!) and made a make shift snow man in the not so packing snow.  Addison lasted about 15 minutes before a total cold hands break down.  To be fair those gloves were not meant for real snow!  

Now we are de-Christmasing the house sniff, sniff... I love the holiday decor.  Time for some pink/red/hearts I suppose!

Anxious

 I'm completely filled with anxiety over tomorrow actually happening.  366 days ago (it is a leap year) was the last time I ever talked to my dad.   Just thinking about September 18th actually happening makes it a little hard to breathe.  I know that it's just another day on the calendar and nothing spectacular is going to happen,  but, how is it possible that a whole year has already passed?  It still feels like it was yesterday.

The fact that it's been a year just makes him seem that much more gone I guess.  I still can feel the panic I felt last year when I got the phone call just thinking about it.  So not looking forward to having to actually having to experience tomorrow.  The good things - I have a super busy work day to help keep my mind busy throughout the day so that will be helpful.  Also, as vividly as I remember the day he passed away, I can also remember the last night that we were lucky enough to have decided to have a "small" (HUGE) bonfire in the back yard with Dad, Gail, Nick & Joey.  I can remember laughing and joking with him, him holding Addison letting her pull all over his beard saying he was training her for Santa.  Talking about teaching Addison to pick up the walnuts for money when she got bigger because she was obsessed with all the "balls" that were falling in the yard.  Making a pan of brownies and my sweets loving Dad & Nick devouring them.  He mocked my driving skills and I had to remind him that he was the one who taught me in his old maroon truck back when I was 15.  And I remember him struggling to place a pop in his cooler that was too low to the ground for him to bend, and him stopping outside of his truck before driving home because his neck was hurting/spasming where he had had his surgery in July to remove the blockage in his carotid artery.  Both of which were hard to watch and made me thing, wow my parents are really starting to get old.  (not DEAD, not DYING, just older....)

And so here we are 1 year later.  It's gonna happen whether we like it or not.  It makes me sad all that he's (we're) missing out on (him) being a part of.  Nick and Joey got the push they needed to finally get married, I know he was waiting for that for a long time and losing him may be what finally made them do it.  Family gatherings are not the same without my smart ass dad  (though I must admit the whole family carries this gene).  I can't attend a wedding with a daddy daughter dance without tearing up (proven by Satuday's most recent wedding!  (Can you all just refrain from playing butterfly kisses or I loved her first at your weddings when dancing with your fathers? K, thanks!).  So many grandkid moments he'll never get to be a part of, and so many changes in our lives that I'd love to share.  

We miss you Dad!!