Get to the Chopper!

Madison met Chopper tonight - he's the mascot for the Gwinnett Braves.  This guy spends his time roaming about, getting fans worked up and getting kids like Madison smiling.  We went to a minor league ball game tonight, a first for Daddy and Madison.  The Gwinnett Braves were playing the Norfolk Tides, which sort of really goes well with our "Under the Sea" theme, doesn't it?

This morning, we woke up at the crack of dawn.  And there really was a crack:  it was thunder, and a lot of it.  There was a severe thunderstorm rolling overhead, which made our morning commute pretty interesting to say the least.  But our morning together was the same as it usually is, with breakfast, prayer, a photo outside and at least one person jumping out and screaming, "Boo!"

But the rain was all day long - and it was all into the night, scattered showers all over.  You can imagine us wondering about the game.  Would it be rained out?  Would there be a rain delay?

Well, the time for the game came, and amazingly, there was a window of no rain whatsoever.  It was a small window, just the right size to fit an average baseball game into.  Seriously, the rain stopped and we went to a ball game.  And the rain started again, right at the ninth inning.  We didn't know the rain was there because of the seats we had - these were unknown to us before the game.  But God gave us such grace tonight in all things:  we sat under the awning, completely unaware of the rain starting up again in the ninth inning.  And yes, it waited until the ninth inning.

Still, that wasn't enough to stop the fireworks show afterwards, which was really impressive.  We had a great night at the ol' ball game.  Our home team didn't win, which was a shame as the song goes.  But we did get the peanuts and cracker jacks.  And also some popcorn.  And some more Dipping Dots for Madison.  These came in a special Braves flavor, which was basically red, white and blue dots.  And they came in a Braves plastic helmet, which made for a perfect souvenir for the night.  Madison is seen above in the photo, still holding her Braves helmet.  The picture is Daddy's souvenir for the night.

One of our players got a home run, which was great to see, and there were many double plays in the game as well.  A lot of foul balls wandered over towards us, but we were never a serious contender to grab one.  Or get hit by one.  That's because the net was right there in front of us - we had seats that were right behind home plate there, so close up that Daddy and Madison were calling the balls and strikes with each pitch.  Madison was getting quite proficient with the rules, learning quite a bit.  All the while she was munching on peanuts, or popcorn, or Dipping Dots.

When Chopper came around the eighth inning or so, we dashed over to meet him - he was gracious enough to stop for a photo with us.  It was really a nice night together.  And it was so inexpensive too - the tickets, the parking, and even the concessions were all reasonable.  At least a lot more reasonable than we're used to at big events.  Another factor is that all of the employees there were extra nice, although this may have been at the sight of our little Madison in a ladybug poncho.

Anyway, thumbs up on the evening.  It may have been a loss for the home team, but it was a big win for us as a family.