It's been a crazy last few days around here.
I don't know if you heard, but the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series last Friday night. Although I'm a Cubs fan for life, I wanted to be a part of the hoopla (I mean, after all, it is still BASEBALL. The sport I love.), so me and some of my peeps headed down to Mike Shannon's (located right across the street from Busch Stadium) to watch the game. I even wore red! The place was packed, of course, and buzzing with excitement...which only grew as they hit the 7th and 8th innings, when it became clear the Cards were gonna win. Once the 9th inning came around, I braced myself for what was about to happen. As that final out was made, I tried desperately to take pics of the players celebrating on the TV, but I was quickly swarmed by cheering people, many my friends. There was beer being thrown from every direction (I smelled like a brewery by the end of the night). My body took a beating as we (along with pretty much everyone else there) tried to leave the bar and go TO the stadium. I was slammed into the wall on numerous occasions, but managed to make it outside alive. We never made it inside the stadium (my brother did, however), but got close enough to get pics of the fireworks and the stadium still full of celebrating fans (if you are on Facebook, check out my pics). Afterward, as we headed to our car, I videoed the streets of St. Louis-cars jammed, people honking, yelling, cheering, high fiving strangers. It was quite a thing to be a part of. Yes, it wasn't my team, but it was my hometown team, and pretty easy to get caught up in. My dad said today that the 2011 Cards were the first team he's ever seen that couldn't hit, couldn't pitch, couldn't run and couldn't field yet still won the World Series. He then said "heck, with a team like that, even your Cubs have a chance". Nice dig dad. Nice dig.
Sunday was the World Series parade downtown. I've never seen a World Series parade before and nothing was going to stop me from being there. Besides, seeing Skip Schumaker in person? Hells yes. The parade and that day in general were my favorite part of the weekend-not only were several of my friends/family there with me, but so were my brother, my sister, my brother-in-law and my sweet niece and nephew. The first World Series I remember was the 1982 one in which the Cards beat the Brewers. I was 6. Kendall and Rylan won't remember their first one, but we will certainly have the pics to show them and the stories to tell them! Kendall was excited to see "Fredbird and the rally squirrel". She was also excitedly catching confetti while perched on her daddy's shoulders. The parade itself was super fun. I got pics of most of the players (again, located on Facebook) and nearly passed out when Skip and his family went by. Seriously, it's ridiculous to be that hot. My friend Robin and I also discovered just how hot Matt Holliday is, even though we both tried to deny it.
Monday was Halloween and I was honored (truly) when my sister said I could come over to see the kids in their costumes. Kendall, at age two and a half, has been totally in to Halloween this year. For two months she's been anxiously awaiting being able to wear her Tinkerbell costume and for Rylan to wear his pirate costume (seriously, two of the cutest things I think I've ever seen). When the big day arrived, my sister and I helped Tink get dressed (K pronounces it "Tinterbell") and make her grand entrance down the stairs (complete with a ponytail and a wand, of course). She was adorable, not gonna lie. Rylan wasn't a huge fan of his costume, but he looked so freakin cute in it. Sorry, no pics on here, I shared them with family only. I was also able to with my sis and Jon to take K trick-or-treating. SUCH FUN. She fearlessly rang the doorbell at each house and quickly caught on to this whole candy thing. We had to remind her what to say ("tricher-treat", "thank you" and, my favorite, "Happy Hadoween"), but overall, she did a great job. And walked the entire time, only getting whiney towards the end. Such a big girl!
Yesterday, my sister and I took the kids to the zoo (I've been off work all week, killing PTO before the end of the year). It was an absolutely beautiful day. It was Ry's first trip to the zoo (thank you sis, for letting me be a part of that). K was super excited, she told me she wanted to see a baby jaguar (like on Diego) and ride the train. We didn't see a baby jaguar, but we did see a leopard, so that was close enough. We rode the train around the entire zoo, K LOVED the tunnels! We got to see the baby elephant (SO cute!). K loved the hippos (especially when they swam in the water) and decided she wanted to see the gorillas (funny, since last time she went to the zoo she said they were scary). Aunt Kerri took her on the carousel (proof that I love her because I get motion sick VERY easily) where she decided she wanted to ride on the zebra. While on the carousel, she informed me that when he was bigger, Rylan would be riding on the giraffe. She then decided she wanted to go see the real giraffes and zebras (we did). Rylan pretty much chilled the whole time, which is what 11 week olds do. It was SO fun to see the zoo through K's eyes. She just loved everything and was so happy to be there. Although, as we sat down for some ice cream, she says to me "I want to go to the park now, Kerri". Uhm.......the kiddo has boundless energy! That is, until we put her in the car. She was asleep within minutes. :)
Those kids put such a smile on my face, no matter what else is going on. They're pretty awesome.
In other news, the Cubs fired Mike Quade (not a surprise) and the Theo Trio (as Theo, Jed and Jason are now known as) are working hard to convince us they know how to end this 103 year World Series drought. Thus far, I'm buying whatever Theo is selling. He makes me believe. Delusional? Perhaps? Devoted? Definitely. Excited for the future of the Cubs? Most definitely.
I return to work tomorrow (yes, I have to go in for one measly day) but at least it's Friday. Bring on the weekend! Prolly not the right attitude to have when you've just come off a vacation, but, whatevs.
I don't know if you heard, but the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series last Friday night. Although I'm a Cubs fan for life, I wanted to be a part of the hoopla (I mean, after all, it is still BASEBALL. The sport I love.), so me and some of my peeps headed down to Mike Shannon's (located right across the street from Busch Stadium) to watch the game. I even wore red! The place was packed, of course, and buzzing with excitement...which only grew as they hit the 7th and 8th innings, when it became clear the Cards were gonna win. Once the 9th inning came around, I braced myself for what was about to happen. As that final out was made, I tried desperately to take pics of the players celebrating on the TV, but I was quickly swarmed by cheering people, many my friends. There was beer being thrown from every direction (I smelled like a brewery by the end of the night). My body took a beating as we (along with pretty much everyone else there) tried to leave the bar and go TO the stadium. I was slammed into the wall on numerous occasions, but managed to make it outside alive. We never made it inside the stadium (my brother did, however), but got close enough to get pics of the fireworks and the stadium still full of celebrating fans (if you are on Facebook, check out my pics). Afterward, as we headed to our car, I videoed the streets of St. Louis-cars jammed, people honking, yelling, cheering, high fiving strangers. It was quite a thing to be a part of. Yes, it wasn't my team, but it was my hometown team, and pretty easy to get caught up in. My dad said today that the 2011 Cards were the first team he's ever seen that couldn't hit, couldn't pitch, couldn't run and couldn't field yet still won the World Series. He then said "heck, with a team like that, even your Cubs have a chance". Nice dig dad. Nice dig.
Sunday was the World Series parade downtown. I've never seen a World Series parade before and nothing was going to stop me from being there. Besides, seeing Skip Schumaker in person? Hells yes. The parade and that day in general were my favorite part of the weekend-not only were several of my friends/family there with me, but so were my brother, my sister, my brother-in-law and my sweet niece and nephew. The first World Series I remember was the 1982 one in which the Cards beat the Brewers. I was 6. Kendall and Rylan won't remember their first one, but we will certainly have the pics to show them and the stories to tell them! Kendall was excited to see "Fredbird and the rally squirrel". She was also excitedly catching confetti while perched on her daddy's shoulders. The parade itself was super fun. I got pics of most of the players (again, located on Facebook) and nearly passed out when Skip and his family went by. Seriously, it's ridiculous to be that hot. My friend Robin and I also discovered just how hot Matt Holliday is, even though we both tried to deny it.
Monday was Halloween and I was honored (truly) when my sister said I could come over to see the kids in their costumes. Kendall, at age two and a half, has been totally in to Halloween this year. For two months she's been anxiously awaiting being able to wear her Tinkerbell costume and for Rylan to wear his pirate costume (seriously, two of the cutest things I think I've ever seen). When the big day arrived, my sister and I helped Tink get dressed (K pronounces it "Tinterbell") and make her grand entrance down the stairs (complete with a ponytail and a wand, of course). She was adorable, not gonna lie. Rylan wasn't a huge fan of his costume, but he looked so freakin cute in it. Sorry, no pics on here, I shared them with family only. I was also able to with my sis and Jon to take K trick-or-treating. SUCH FUN. She fearlessly rang the doorbell at each house and quickly caught on to this whole candy thing. We had to remind her what to say ("tricher-treat", "thank you" and, my favorite, "Happy Hadoween"), but overall, she did a great job. And walked the entire time, only getting whiney towards the end. Such a big girl!
Yesterday, my sister and I took the kids to the zoo (I've been off work all week, killing PTO before the end of the year). It was an absolutely beautiful day. It was Ry's first trip to the zoo (thank you sis, for letting me be a part of that). K was super excited, she told me she wanted to see a baby jaguar (like on Diego) and ride the train. We didn't see a baby jaguar, but we did see a leopard, so that was close enough. We rode the train around the entire zoo, K LOVED the tunnels! We got to see the baby elephant (SO cute!). K loved the hippos (especially when they swam in the water) and decided she wanted to see the gorillas (funny, since last time she went to the zoo she said they were scary). Aunt Kerri took her on the carousel (proof that I love her because I get motion sick VERY easily) where she decided she wanted to ride on the zebra. While on the carousel, she informed me that when he was bigger, Rylan would be riding on the giraffe. She then decided she wanted to go see the real giraffes and zebras (we did). Rylan pretty much chilled the whole time, which is what 11 week olds do. It was SO fun to see the zoo through K's eyes. She just loved everything and was so happy to be there. Although, as we sat down for some ice cream, she says to me "I want to go to the park now, Kerri". Uhm.......the kiddo has boundless energy! That is, until we put her in the car. She was asleep within minutes. :)
Those kids put such a smile on my face, no matter what else is going on. They're pretty awesome.
In other news, the Cubs fired Mike Quade (not a surprise) and the Theo Trio (as Theo, Jed and Jason are now known as) are working hard to convince us they know how to end this 103 year World Series drought. Thus far, I'm buying whatever Theo is selling. He makes me believe. Delusional? Perhaps? Devoted? Definitely. Excited for the future of the Cubs? Most definitely.
I return to work tomorrow (yes, I have to go in for one measly day) but at least it's Friday. Bring on the weekend! Prolly not the right attitude to have when you've just come off a vacation, but, whatevs.
