Wednesday: Take Me Out to the Ballgame

#notmywaffle

We gathered for breakfast one more time at our hotel in Alexandria before heading to the Washington Monument. We had mostly settled into a routine here after 3 days, and the ministry of waffles continued to grow and thrive.

Packing up the bus. Reese and Ian jumped right in and started putting the bags under. This is a job for young and spry people! I noticed this morning it was different folks, but I appreciate those who are willing to step up and get it done. It's a lot better when 1-2 people are doing this job so everyone else can get on the bus. (True confession: this was actually one of my favorite jobs when I toured with my college choir).

We headed to the Washington Monument. I managed to Taylor Swift some tickets to go up inside (by which I mean I found out when the tickets were going to drop and then obsessively refreshed my browser until they did and snatched them up as quickly as possible. This is something a lot of folks don't do in DC because it's hard to get in, so I was pumped to make it happen for our group. Before they went up, though, Sir Trots a Lot had a photo op. Michael and Elena photobombed him.

Up at the top of the monument...inside and out.

When they came out, we had a group photo. That's the Lincoln memorial in the background.

Then I had everyone turn around to take a photo in front of the Washington Monument.

Sometimes to get a shot you have to do odd things. In this case I hopped the chain and went illegally into the grass and then had to lie down and put the phone on the ground. But it was #worthit. Good picture of the choir. Ellen got this picture of me while I was taking the picture.

We set out for our concert, which was at Whitaker Glen in Raleigh, NC. We wound up a little late because reasons, but they were very gracious, and actually one person said they were glad we were late because it meant they could hear the concert. Sometimes things just kinda work out.

And...visiting with the audience. You see what I mean. Pictures of the concerts start to look similar: good group shot, and then shots of the youth visiting with the audience. 

My contact at Whitaker Glen commented on how easily our singers interact with the residents. Part of that is practice...we've done this a number of times now. But part of it is also a credit to the youth who are genuinely interested in participating.

After the concert we went to the hotel to change and then headed to the ballpark for a Durham Bulls game. It was a great night for it. I enjoy minor league games more than majors. The atmosphere is just so much fun. 

Every time I go to any baseball game ever (even my son's baseball and daughter's softball games), if there's a conference on the mound, I say, "Candlesticks make good gifts." It's a reference to Bull Durham, which though it is funny, I cannot recommend to you as an employee of the church. My favorite scene is the pitcher's mound scene where they gather because they are dealing with a lot of things that have nothing to do with baseball, one of which is that nobody knows what to get Millie and Jimmy for their wedding. The manager says that candlesticks make good gifts. So many times I've said that or posted the picture, and yet never at a Bulls game at home. Until now. "Candlesticks make good gifts..."

Look! Wesley and Lucy are in the choir and allowed me to take a picture of the three of us together!

One of the reasons I enjoy minor league games is the antics. This dude's shooting the tshirt gun. I wonder where the shirt will go...

Another reasons minor league games are fun: it's a lot easier to get on the jumbotron. Eva was very excited to be on it a total of 10 times throughout the game! But my favorite was probably when they did "Titanic Cam," which means you have to do the titanic pose...and Cole and Wesley made it happen.

The photo contest was "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." It wasn't really fair, but both of my kids won when they uploaded a picture of a mound visit captioned "Candlesticks make good gifts." What can I say? They know me. Actually Wesley said "Candlesticks make good gifs" for a little extra dad action in his joke. But there were some other strong entries.

And ANOTHER reason to love minor league games. It's easier to get balls. We got 5 of them throughout the evening.

Question: is Trots a Lot more closely related to us or to the bull?

Siblings! Look at that sibling love there.

Got a nice pic of the choir once the game ended. Good looking group!

And a good pic of the front of the ballpark.

Oh...and in case you're wondering who wound up with the tshirt from that earlier pic, it was Eva. 10 times on the jumbotron and a free tshirt? This was her entry into the photo contest.

And then we went back to the hotel. I didn't wind up doing an arrival post. Maybe next year I won't do those because most of the time they seem to come too late to be helpful. In any event...things are going. I can't believe it's Thursday (I'm writing the blog for Wednesday). 2 concerts today, senior dinner, and 2 concerts tomorrow, and this trip's in the books. It's been a lot of miles, a lot of singing...and a lot of fun.