Baseballs and Tridents

Today was our last full day in Daytona Beach Shores this trip, and though it was overcast for much of the day, the rain did not come like it did the day before.  We had our beach time yesterday, one of the distinct advantages of having a condo right there on the beach.  You just wait it out, and take a walk afterwards!

One decision was made about the doll Madison has:  she's naming him Jeremiah.  There was a lot of debate about this name, as the grandparents thought it should be George.  This has gone back and forth for quite a while this week, and no doubt will continue when Madison gets home.  "Say goodnight to George!"  "His name is Jeremiah!"

One thing that Madison and Daddy did was return to the Congo for a bit more mini-golf.  We spin this spinner every few holes, and that determines what kind of handicap we have to endure.  In one instance, Madison had to take her second shot with the golf club behind her.  She was about nine feet away from the hole, and with her golf club behind her, she sunk it!  What a shot!  We had fun playing, although it took longer because there was a group in front of us that was larger.  This made for an interesting back-up with the rest of us, but it was still fun going through and revisiting the holes.  Madison's game was actually free, because last time we played this and earned a free game.  Again, next time we'll earn another free game.  This is all part of the scavenger hunt they have there.  By now we essentially have everything memorized as to where to find all the different items.  

After golf, we dropped by Cow Lick's for some ice cream.  Emphasis on the word some.  Daddy only had $8 in cash with him, and as they only take cash, that meant that Daddy had enough money to get ice cream for... Madison.  True story.  One scoop of ice cream was $4.21, so that was pretty much that.  But Madison can say she ate at Cow Lick's, and had that glorious scoop of ice cream.  It's a bit scoop, of course, and she likes it.  But part of the appeal is the atmosphere, and cows.  Still, if you're planning on going there, bring cash, and plan on bringing at least $4.21 per person.  

After that, the ball game!  We were back at the Jackie Robinson Ballpark again to see the Daytona Tortugas, and tonight, a number of the first people into the stadium got a free bobblehead doll.

This is Rick Senzel, made to look like a character from the Anchorman movies, a news team member that wields a trident and a banana.  And also wears glasses.  It's an odd mash-up, but now our family has four of these.  We had five, but tonight we gave one to a young boy in the stadium with us.  The rest we had in the car for safe keeping.  I have no idea what we're going to do with the rest of these.

On top of this item, Sheldon, the mascot for the Tortugas, came up to visit Madison in the stands.  He had three fidget spinners with the Tortugas logo on them, and gave Madison one of them.  So we came home with a lot of Tortugas loot!

Anyway, the game was a great one!  We saw the Tortugas win today, with lots of scoring and base-running.  Madison was learning about catcher's signals, RBIs, closing pitchers with super fast balls, and sacrifice flies.  They scored in nearly every inning, making for a more offensive game than we've seen from the Tortugas thus far.  In fact, this was the first game where we were on hand to see them win.  There was a lot to cheer for.  Daddy and Madison got baseball cards for the team, and had all the cards lined up to match the line-up for the night.  Each player would step up to the plate, and we'd have their picture and past stats on cards in front of us, along with those stats the show up on the screen.  It was a fun night!

We went for a walk on the beach after this, the weather so perfectly calm and quiet, the waves just lapping up on the shore, and the light not at all harsh, but overcast, and almost dreamy and surreal.  No, the turtle nests weren't quite ready yet - so we missed that again this year.  But that just makes the previous sightings more amazing:  we've seen it two or three times now where baby sea turtles were coming out of their nests.  That's pretty astounding.

Tonight we saw "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," which Daddy got for the computer a day after the show came on, so now we're caught up.  And... concerned.  Things do not look well for the team, but that's a state of being since the beginning.

We said our prayers tonight, and got ready for bed after a bit more reading.  It's been a relaxing bit of downtime, but tomorrow we're heading back home.