Let's Go, Oakland!

With very few day games left in the season, we opted to spend Wednesday at the A's-Blue Jays game in Oakland.  On our way in, we had to make a stop at the team store to get A's caps - the kids have Giants hats, but there's only so much your cuteness can buy you in a rival ballpark.

Daniel tried to talk us into the foam cowboy hat

and Caroline thought that would've been an awesome option, too.

But in the end, they settled for something more understated.

Max was keeping a firm grasp on that cap, while Daniel couldn't decide how he wanted to wear his cap.

But for Caroline, there's no choice -

all ballcaps, even ones with velcro closures and Stomper the elephant on them, must be worn backwards.

We found our totally awesome seats in section 113 and settled in.  The kids were excited to point at the field and join along with the fans as they clapped and cheered.

This is the view from the Mommy seats - Max's big head blocking out the batter, of course.

 The kids spotted Stomper, the A's elephant mascot, in the aisle next to us and Caroline developed a laser-like focus on him.  "I want see elephant! I want see Stomper!"  So when he turned down into the lower section of seats, she and Uncle, followed quickly by Daddy, Daniel, Max, and Mommy, scooted down to the walkway behind that section to meet up when he came back up the stairs.  Caroline was a little afraid at first, but once she saw Uncle hug Stomper, she figured it was all ok.  She got a hug and high five and Daniel scooted forward for some mascot love as well.  Max stayed a little closer to Daddy, not entirely sure what to make of the fuzzy friend.  (This shouldn't be much of a surprise, considering his reaction to the Easter Bunny and his early sucker punch to Santa's gut.)

And then it was time to get some hot dogs, or at least that's what Daniel wanted.  The rest of the day's noshes included popcorn, malts, and a bite of the cotton candy the folks behind us had purchased.

(that's a cup full of ice she's digging into)

Max didn't like the malt.  I'm not entirely sure he's really my child...

Daniel looked up at my sunglasses perched on top of my head and said, "Mommy, I put on you eyes?" Yep, he'd shed his hat at this point, but that wasn't stopping him from being one cool cucumber.

By the seventh inning, the kids were getting restless, so at the stretch we headed up to the "Fun Zone", where we'd been told Stomper would be stopping by for photo ops.  The "Fun Zone" is an area off the mezzanine level with a small toddler climbing structure, some batting/pitching cages, and some ride-on toys of the variety found outside of suburban grocery stores.  Luckily, we had a bunch of quarters.

Driving with Fozzie Bear

Riding an elephant

Daniel's shifting gears with Caroline along for the ride.

Max needed some extra cuddles from Daddy high up there on the elephant's back.

Caroline's turn to drive

Daniel's flying by with Big Bird

On the "carousel"

Max still wasn't into Stomper...

We escaped the "Fun Zone" by the middle of the eighth.  The walkway outside of it is behind the glassed-off seats of the loge and suites and we used the space to run races for a while.  Daddy ducked back to the press box and Caroline whined that she wanted to go back to the seats, which we wouldn't have reached until the 9th at this point, so we watched a few at bats from the top of the stairs before tricking the kids into running races out to the exit and down the big stair case to the parking lot.  Max very proudly walked down the last 30 steps without holding Mommy's hand!

It was tied 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth when we left, so I count that as the kids making it through a whole ballgame - their first!  (Sadly, the A's ended up losing 5-2 in 1 innings.)

All in all, a fun time out at the ol' ball yard!