Daytona Tortugas Opening Night

We had a nice time at the beach today, the three of us in an open spot as you can see above under a nice beach umbrella.  we were digging in the sand a bit, most Madison though. She was intent on not just burying Daddy's feet, but instead creating a massive pile of sand that covered most of his legs too.

Here she is with the finished product, although as you can see, she's taken my place at this point.  She put the tower up there when Daddy walked away, creating a sort of old weathered mountain, one that surprisingly stayed up for most of the day - we could see it from our balcony pretty easily, as it was pretty large.

This was a nice afternoon, perfect weather and a quiet time at the beach.  We could see further north where Daytona Beach is, and we could see the massive crowds.  Meanwhile, down here it was pretty sedate, and perfect for relaxing.  It was a nice afternoon, just sitting there on the sand.

Afterwards, Madison and Daddy went to the pool for the traditional game of "Yes or No," which you can thank "A Christmas Carol" for.  Madison wanted to do one entirely themed to Star Wars, so there it was.  We swim about and play the game while going from one end of the pool to the other.  The water was cooler, but it was indoors, where it was probably actually warmer than the pool water outside.

Later on, we ate dinner and were on our way to Jackie Robinson Ballpark for another fun time!

It was opening night for the Tortugas season, and there was a sold-out crowd there at the ballpark.  There were all kinds of formalities at the beginning, with at least eight different ceremonial first pitches.  There was a stirring rendition of the national anthem, and a significant game delay due to a drone that hovered over the place and wouldn't go away.  But soon enough, it was time to "PLAY BALL!"

This time, our seats were where we ended up last time, back a bit and along the first base line.  They were actually really good seats, and safe from broken bats and balls, and flying bats too.  Yes, there were plenty of those in this game.

Check out our view!  The game was rather close, at least up until the last inning when the Daytona Tortugas put in a few questionable relief pitchers.  Until that time, they actually had ten strike-outs, a nifty double play, and no one ever reaching third base.

But you know the song, "If they don't win it's a shame."  It's still fun to go out the old ball game and see America's favorite pastime.  Madison was quite into the game throughout, still learning about rules of the game and calling pitches, whether they were strikes or balls.  She was learning some of the nuances of the game too, the head games that pitchers, batters, and baserunners play against each other.

The starting pitcher for the Daytona Tortugas was super good, throwing solid strikes, and mowing down the batters.  Not literally.  But he was fantastic.  The crowd was really into the game too, cheering and wearing all kinds of Tortugas gear.  Daddy and Ba-Ba had our Daytona Tortugas hats on, but there were plenty of other types of hats and t-shirts out there too.

One funny moment came when Sheldon, the mascot for the Tortugas, was throwing out t-shirts to the crowd.  Don't you always want to be the one to catch one of those t-shirts?  They were brought to you by Wawa, a local convenience store chain.  Madison was actually able to get one of those t-shirts, and we opened it up and... it was a black t-shirt with the word "Wawa" on it.  Madison wanted to throw it right back!

But speaking of which, and I don't know if this sort of thing happens each game this season or not, but you can see above a post celebration of sorts.  Before the game, Sheldon proposed to the other turtle mascot, Shelly.  And she said yes!  We have lots of pictures of this momentous occasion.  We're so glad she went with Sheldon the Tortuga, rather than Striker the Fire Frog.  That's the team the Tortugas played against tonight, the Kissimmee Fire Frogs.  This is an even stranger name, but one thing we realized mid-game was that the Fire Frogs were part of the Atlanta Braves farming system.  So therefore, it was sort of a mixed bag as to who to cheer for tonight.  Of course, we're here in Daytona, but we're also pretty big Braves fans.

And really, it didn't matter who won or lost in the end for us.  It was about going out to a local ball game together and having a good time.  Which we did.  We enjoyed the huge fireworks display at the end, and when it was all said and done, we really only had about a ten minute drive home.  So it was all good, and in fact we'll probably be going to another ball game pretty soon.  Madison wants to go see the Gwinnett Stripers again - she said that tonight. We'll do that, and maybe we'll invite Nana and Ba-Ba to come along with us for a baseball tradition.

We got home tonight and read, as we always do.  And then it was off to sleep pretty quickly.  Everyone was worn out from the day.  It was a great one.