Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack -

Tonight we had tickets to watch our local 1A baseball team. The stadium is small. The team wore replica 1908 Cubs uniforms which made them look straight out of the movie The Natural (I know, wrong era and wrong team, but I love the movie and that is how I associated the experience.) We were given replica 1908 Cubs t-shirts for souvenirs.

The seats were box seats right in front of third base. The sun was behind us and the heat had calmed down to 82 degrees. I kept thinking that my daddy and my twin sis' husband would appreciate this much more than I did (they actually like baseball). It was a nice night to be out.

The Love Magnet watched movies (thanks to K for loaning us their portable DVD player). Thirdborn and The Love Magnet kept asking for food (they had just eaten at a neighbor's BBQ so how could they be hungry?) Firstborn and Secondborn were happy to treat them with the first money from their summer jobs. Peanuts and popcorn, pizza and root beer. It ended up being a great lesson on why its not smart to waste your money on stadium food when they realized just how much they spent by the end of the evening. Thirdborn was disappointed that no one threw him a t-shirt, ball cap, or baseball.

There was a fireworks show after the game. The Love Magnet doesn't like fireworks. "Mom, they are too loud for me!" She buried her head in my shoulder. The fireworks were so close that we could feel the heat from some of them. My daughter bounced from Mr. Wonderful to me to Firstborn every time a particularly loud cannon shot firework exploded. She could not make up her mind whose arms would be safer. I could tell that Firstborn was honored to be included in the "Safe Arms Zone" this year.

I have decided that I like this smaller town atmosphere very much. The celebrations, the community pancake breakfasts, the parades, the sports. This place feels like home.