Rangers vs Cubs 2010

In case I've never mentioned it before, I'm a big Rangers fan. And Ted happens to be a Cubs fan. So, when the two teams play each other (once every 3 or more years) in Texas, we take advantage of it and go watch them play. So, last weekend, we packed up with our good friends, the Cales, and headed to Arlington!

Game #1

Check out my Rangers' fans!
Our first item of business was to visit Madi's favorite part of the ballpark - Captain's Corner. Captain is the Rangers' mascot and one very cool horse.
Here's Madi and Jenna posing with the super big Captain!
And Madi and Paxton watching the kids' Home Run Derby. They were a little upset I didn't give them a bat and let them take a swing or two...
Paxton tried hard, but he wasn't able to keep those eyes open for the whole game. It didn't seem to bother him that everyone around him was yelling and cheering.
He did wake up in time to hang out with my cousin Taylor, who joined us for the game. Paxton was quite captivated by Taylor and they had some good discussions in between innings.
Turn out all of our cheering paid off and the Rangers beat the Cubs! Go Rangers!

Game #2

So in the interest of being "fair", I let the kids wear their Cubs attire the next night. Turned out to not be such a good idea, but I'll get to that later.

Since we'd already explored the kid's area, Madi moved onto the next most important part of the ballpark - the food!
Once again, Paxton fought the urge to sleep for about 5 innings, but finally gave it up.
This time, he slept through the yelling, cheering and 2 rounds of fireworks when the Ranger's hit homeruns!
A bonus to this game was that we got to hang out with my good buddy Susan (and her husband Jessy, not pictured).
Unfortunately, Paxton also hung out with Ted some this game and somehow ended up wearing a rally cap. It worked. The Cubs won. :(
Even though he was wearing his Cubs attire, I think Paxton was really still cheering for the Rangers and hoping they would come to their senses and put him in the ballgame.

Game #3

On Sunday morning, we woke up and got some breakfast before heading to church. I got this food for Ted, Madi and myself. Madi decided it was just for her. I think Ted and I got a bite or two of her leftovers.

Despite the fact that it was hot and we'd now logged almost 10 hours at the ballpark, Madi was still cheering! (Okay, I'll be honest, she was actually cheering for the dots in the Dot Race. But it still made a cute picture!)

Just another day at the ballpark...
Unfortunately, the Cubs once again came out victorious. We finally left the ballpark at 4 on Sunday and put the hot, sweaty, un-napped kids in the car to head back to Arkansas. Paxton crashed before the car was started.
Madi, on the other hand, was WIDE AWAKE!
She never did take a nap on the way home and was quite delirious by the time we made it to our house around 10:30pm!
Such a wonderful trip. Yet it was still so nice to get home and get in our own beds! Madi's prayer that night actually went something like this "Dear God, thank you for this day and thank you for our beds! In Jesus' name, Amen". Paxton agreed. So even though the Cubs took the series 2-1, it was a wonderful and memorable trip. And don't worry, we'll get 'em next time!