Back at the Ballpark

 
HOME FIELD: Yesterday was the first game of the 2013 season for most Major League Baseball teams. Although the Mariners started their season on the road, in Oakland, Safeco Field was home to an open house Monday evening. My oh my, was that a bunch of fun!

As we walked up Occidental, past CenturyLink stadium and toward Safeco, it was fun seeing smiles on faces and the spring in the step of other die hard Mariners fans, all of us headed to a stadium where there weren't even going to be any ball players! We'd be watching the game on Safeco's enormous new HD LED screen in center field.

We arrived at the field just a little after 6 p.m. Admission was free, and we each got a free "True to the Blue" t-shirt, to boot!

There were no assigned seats. We chose to sit in section 146, on the third base side, so we'd have a good view of the screen.

It was our first chance to see the moved-in fences in left field, and the perimeter of the field was open for people who wanted to make a circuit 'round the field. Kennedy accompanied CJ and Annabelle on the tour.

Their bright yellow King Felix shirts made them easy to spot. Here was our view of them from our seats. 

And if you look closely, you can see them standing behind home plate, watching the first pitch of the season.

They had a great view of the batter's box from the on deck circle.

And they got to be bench warmers in the Mariners' and visitors' dugout.

The kids looked tiny all the way across the field. Here they are under the Hit it Here Cafe. Can you spot CJ?

They got to smoosh up against the outfield wall. Bet they wish they had baseball gloves and cleats on!

And here is a pic of the first pitch of the 2013 season. Go Mariners! Have I mentioned that the scoreboard's big? Over 5-stories high and wider than an Olympic swimming pool.

It was a lovely evening in every way. Sunny and unseasonably warm, the roof was open. At one point, I spotted some Ducks flying over the field. ...

We had garlic fries, of course. In fact, I Tweeted a photo of the fries, and it wound up on the big screen. The kids and Kennedy also wound up on the big screen, dancing to "We Got the Beat."

It was a party atmosphere in the stadium, with a crowd of 15,000 plus on hand, according to the Mariners. It was a bit different sitting in a ballpark, watching a televised game with no players on the field, but it was an absolute blast. We stayed until the very last pitch, and celebrated mightily when the Mariners got the win and, per tradition, "Let Me Stand Next to your Fire" blared over the loudspeakers. Good times!

We can't wait until next Monday night, when we go to the Ms' home opener and real live ballplayers take the field! 

MEANWHILE, IN THE MICROWAVE: We finally got around to an activity that CJ has been asking about for a few days now. It's called Peep jousting.

It's not complicated, you just take a couple Peeps, arm them with toothpicks, put them in the microwave and watch to see who stabs whom first.

Our only problem? The light in our microwave doesn't work. :( And so, we just stuck the Peeps in, 'waved 'em for 30 seconds and opened the microwave up to find this. ...

For those of you scoring at home, we called it a draw.

Actually, by my eye, they both look like they lost.

MUSIC MAKERS: CJ started talking about Mario Paint at about 6:30 this morning.

I can't say that I blame him, really. It's a neat-o game, originally for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Though we don't have the game cartridge, thanks to the magic of the Internet, the kids were each able to download an emulated copy of the game to their laptops.

The game gives you a treble clef staff and a set of stamp icons that represent different instruments/sounds. The stamps are placed on the staff to create a song. It can be as simple or as complicated as you wish.

Before CJ got started, I printed out a chart of chords on the treble clef staff. He worked for a couple of hours, placing notes in the right chord combinations to make a Mario Paint version of "Call Me Maybe." He did a great job, it was spot on.

After that, he took on some Pink Floyd,and came up with a nice version of "Breathe."

Annabelle worked on a couple of songs from "My Little Pony."

They each spent a couple of hours working with the program today. Before you know it, they'll probably be producing more sophisticated projects, like this guy's Mario Paint take on "Bohemian Rhapsody" on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO_70TBTTiY