Sporty Weekend

FORCE FIELD: We started off the weekend with a combination of two of our favorite things, baseball and Star Wars. It was Star Wars night at Safeco Field and the Mariners were fittingly playing the Houston Astros. There were a whole bunch of fans wearing costumes, and many others wearing Star Wars-related t-shirts. The Mariners had a few photo-op stations setup around the stadium with both Imperial and Rebel Alliance hired guns on hand.

Annabelle's Princess Leia costume looked great, but needed a bit of modification to bring it more in line with the theme of the evening. We sacrificed a foam Dollar Store baseball to dress it up a bit, and some blue Dollar Store hair to weave into her Leia earmuff buns.

Annabelle doesn't look too distraught at being in the hands of Imperial Scout and Storm Troopers. Maybe she knows that they can't hit the broadside of a battle cruiser with those blasters, so if she runs away she stands an excellent chance of escaping unscathed.

CJ, with his Darth-Vader-at-the-bat t-shirt might be contemplating joining the dark side here.

The Mariners' official team photographer made sure to get a photo of Annabelle and a too-short Darth Vader on the centerfield concourse.

Little does this ruffian wielding a lightsaber know that CJ could crush him like a bug with the power of his mind.

A Kashyyyk Clone Scout Trooper tries to make a princess into a prisoner.

Even the stuffed mascots got into the swing of things.

This shot was taken at the edge of the forest on Endor, where the trees end and the concrete begins.

Of course we had to visit the Dave Niehaus memorial statue.

Darth Vader striding to the mound for the ceremonial first pitch.

The Star Wars theme was great fun, the Mariners won convincingly 5-2, and then we got to see a really cool fireworks show, set to Star Wars music, of course.

They had fireworks going off from the rim of the stadium, and the roof of the neighboring parking garage.

They even had them firing off from the infield!

BACK FOR MORE: You know we are baseball fans, so it probably won't surprise you much to hear that we returned to Safeco Field on Father's Day for an afternoon game, the final of the series with the Astros. Prior to the game we usually hang out down by the bullpens in left field to watch the pitchers warm up, and maybe catch a batting practice home run. This time we brought a tablet and thanks to the stadium wifi, we watched some more of the U.S. Open Golf Tournament while waiting for the game to start.

 After the game we went down to South Lake Union Park to watch some more on the jumbo-tron. There wasn't any more shade there than there was at Chambers Bay, so we didn't stick around too long. We watched the finale of the tournament from the relative comfort (it was still pretty warm even in the shade) of one of our favorite restaurants for a Father's Day dinner.

All in all, lots of fun. Now time to get our noses back to the grindstone!