Halloween

One cheese thief. And one 13 year old who put on enough props to say he is dressed up so he can collect candy. Both went to go hang out with their friends and trick or treat. So I didn't see much of them. Since it was pouring rain, I wasn't really complaining about getting to stay home. I watched the World Series instead. And apparently they move pretty fast, because they collected a combined 25 pounds of candy.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SYsDj88LGNL8RaRw8

Decorating & Carving Pumpkins

Got our pumpkins carved and the house is decorated. Yes, Jake made a slice of swiss cheese on the front of his. And yes, Tommy put 67 on the back of his. They are long past taking my suggestions on pumpkin carving.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2XrkpMzrjrMYdznr8

Sad Ending...But Great Season

Eric took this photo of me in the house watching the Mariners playing in Toronto. Where I can't sit down. I was just pacing back and forth in the kitchen. I had my rally slipper on. After decades of being a Mariners fan, I am not going to quit now. We battled hard. I thought we had it to the very end. I love our guys. And I will be right there cheering you on next year. And to you BC Blue Jay fans, I know it was tense. Maybe the most tense I have ever seen it. It was just because we wanted this that much. And as much as we brought it to you in our stadium, it was because we wanted it that much. We now need you to go take down those Dodgers.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/skC9bt8ARQg14yoE9

ALCS Game 5

After wake up at 4:30 AM every day this week. You could say I am running on fumes. I probably got about 5 hours or less of sleep last night. If it wasn't for a Mariners playoff game, I am not sure if I would have had enough adrenaline to keep going. This was also they boys first ever Mariners playoff game. It would have been great to take them to more, but the cost of the tickets was really expensive. Especially extra ones not in the season ticket holder strip. So I picked the one game that I thought would be the best option.

My boys had the day off of school. We rode the water taxi with grandma to the game. Just like all the other games we ran into lots of excited Mariners fans. Ones from Vashon and ones from from other states. And of course there were Canadians there again. We got into the stadium early enough that there was still some batting practice happening. Tommy really wanted to get up close to see them hit. Then we went out to the outfield bleachers to watch the bullpen warm up. The bullpen coaches had been throwing out balls to people every single game. So I told the boys to stand right up on the railing with their glove and see if they could get a ball. There was a small group of kids waiting. Unfortunately the bullpen threw balls out, but not to us. Then Cal came to warm up. I held up my sign, the kids all standing next to me. And Cal threw a ball up. It went 5 rows behind us. Then he threw a second one. It went to Tommy in the mess of kids. He almost had it when a kid knocked into his glove. Don't worry, I was there on the rebound and got it for him.

The game was pretty stressful. Pitchers were keeping things pretty tight. And once again, we got to see a started come out of the bullpen. With such a tight game things were pretty tense. Just like all the other games in this series there was some battling back and forth between fans. Going into the bottom of the 8th with the score 2-1 I was stressed out, but hopeful. I forced my kids to put their stinky shoes on their heads hoping for the power of the rally shoe. And then Cal hit a home run to tie it up. The place went crazy. After that we proceeded to go from hopeful to confident when we got the bases loaded with nobody out. And then Gino steps to the plate and hits a grand salami. The place erupted. You could feel the place shaking. Then we watched the celebration. And the excitement as we left the stadium was crazy. It was like a parade out the stadium. Once again. I don't know that they really understand, but the boys just witnessed a game that will go down in Mariners history. I am so glad that this was the game they got to go to.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/7ah4V1L7t9TPwS9e7

ALCS Game 4

After a depressing loss I came back to the stadium pretty determined to not let those Blue Jays fans beat me today. No matter what I was going to be louder than they were. And it seemed like there were more of them than yesterday. I am working east coast time this week. Worked well as far as being able to get to the games on time. But you could say I was a little tired and cranky. Especially after the game yesterday. So every time the Blue Jays fans started cheering, including the ones behind me, I started cheering louder. It was exhausting, but I wasn't going to let them beat me. We didn't pull out a win today. Today I didn't go home depressed. I went home a bit angry.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/YfNyiECsvw9Eurau7

ALCS Game 3

After 2 amazing wins in Toronto I can say I felt pretty good going into the stadium for game 3. Then we get in the stadium and you can start to see how many Blue Jays fans had come down from BC. The game started out good though. It was optimistic. And then things started to fall apart. And you could hear all the Blue Jays fans. And it got to the point where Mariners fans seemed in shock and were essentially silent and let the Blue Jays fans take over. There was even a whole section of them sitting together in the 300 level. I couldn't believe what was happening. I wanted to see some fight but it seemed like they had just given up. I don't know what had happened to the crowd that had been electrifying for every game so far. I went home totally depressed after the loss. We were still up 2 games to 1. And I guess I wasn't too sad that there was now going to be a game 5 as I had gotten tickets for the boys to go. But I just couldn't believe how much we let them take over our stadium. They didn't just win. They totally deflated us.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/msG8e4LmRaTPVuDy7

School Pictures

School pictures are here. We had to do retakes because I had to bribe Tommy to smile.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Y4u8PbUspV5jkhXRA

ALDS Game 5

I was kind of hoping that the Mariners would have cliched it on the road to save my nerves. We did have an amazing game 3, including the Dump 61 Here guy catching Cal's home run. Talk about epic. But game 4 was one we thought we had in the start. And then we blew it. So here we are. Game 5 with the season on the line. And here we are again. Skubal, Skubal, Skubal. As much as I have heard the doubters tell us how we won't be able to beat him, I have faith we can do it.

We were able to take the water taxi to the game. I hung out in the bullpen again. We met more people who had driven far to get to be to see this game. We also watched as the Dump 61 Here guys waited in line for about an hour to take pictures with fans who just randomly started forming a line to get a picture with him. Right before the game started we got to see Griffey drive in on a sweet ride.

We had some pretty cool seats for this game. They weren't front row. But the were on the aisle in front of the tunnel. So essentially there was no one behind us. I didn't really sit down for the entire game. Little did I know it would be such a long game. The building was rocking. We were just going to will this into happening. We were right in a spot where you could take a few steps down to check to see who was warming up in the bullpen. It was crazy. We were watching the starters to see if they would get up as they were all sitting in the bullpen and did end up coming in. And before we knew it there was a second 7th inning stretch after the game was still tied in the 14th. At this point the crowds wasn't exactly quiet, but you could see and feel the exhaustion. So the Mariners pulled out all the stops. In the 15th inning they ran the Salmon Run again. And in a surprise, HUMPY WON! This is the first time Humpy had every won. They crowd erupted and found their adrenaline again. And there in the 15th Polanco got a walk off RBI single. Mariners are ALCS bound!

The stadium was going crazy. And despite everyone being exhausted after a 5 hour game, the party began. As we left the stadium there was so much excitement. There was high fiving, chanting, singing, cheering. And outside the left field gate there was a dance party. And then we saw Humpy and Rick Rizzs put up the post season win on the outside of the stadium. And the walk and bus ride home was much of the same. Everyone was riding on a high.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/iuKdWhtdhQBjFnoz9

Visiting with Madeline and Roger

Madeline and Roger were visiting Vashon from New Jersey. They wanted to come over and see the house. We had a nice visit with them as they were touring around the island.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZWNo3gLHPZUhojKz8

ALDS Game 2

Lost the first game but I am back out again today. My voice was already rough this morning. I brought a huge pile of throat lozenges with me. We'll see if I can talk tomorrow. Today I was headed to the game with my brother Wes. We rode the bus again. This time we had a super funny experience. We ran into the same dad and his adult son, who were from Vashon so many times times. The bus, outside the park, at the hot dog stand, the bullpen, the bus ride home, the ferry. It was pretty hilarious seeing is there were 100,000 people in the area with Seahawks game and the Mariners playoff game. Wes and I got in the stadium and hung out in the bullpen to get a closer look at Cal. We were thrown a ball. I told Wes he had to give it away to a kid. We found a kid from Idaho who was at his first Mariners game and was waiting to see Cal Raleigh. He was so excited. It has been so fund to meet people around the park. Every one is just so excited to be there. The game was amazing. All the talk before the game. Skubal, Skubal, Skubal. And Polanco hits 2 home runs. Unbelievable. And then a go ahead double by Julio. High fives were happening all around.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9y4Bx9PhPMV4VNfd7

Oktoberfest

While I was at the Mariners game, Eric took the boys around town. After soccer, they headed to Oktoberfest to have some food and fun.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5F7cajYU3QUkSkr28

ALDS Game 1

We have had our playoff tickets in hand for a while now. Since we were able to clinch the AL West and had a better record than Cleveland and Detroit, we were able to get a bye through the Wild Card round. So the anticipation of getting our chance to play felt like forever. I bought a partial stirp of 2 tickets in the left field bleachers. That was the cheapest place other than standing room only. Standing room only wasn't that much cheaper, so it didn't see worth it. I had planned to go to all the games. The other ticket was being split between my mom and my brother Wes. My mom went with me to Game 1.

Parking Fees were as high as $125. We looked for alternate modes of transportation. Since the water taxi was limited, we decided to try the bus. It actually turned out to be really easy once we figured it out. We got down there early because we had time, and we didn't want to be rushed getting into the stadium. There was quite a buzz happening on the street. It was a Saturday so there were quite a few people around town. There was a beer garden and DJ in the alley. We went in to check it out. We didn't partake, but we did see a trident in there you could get a picture with. So we had to do that. And then we got in line to head in.

The seats we were in we not part of the strip, but these were front row left field. So that was cool. The view was great from there. While we were waiting for the game to start I got tossed 2 balls from the bullpen as we were sitting right above it. I gave them to kids who were really excited. 

The sense of excitement in the stadium was pretty thrilling. The game was a tight one that we lost in the 11th. But we will head out tomorrow and try again.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Pev4kEHiMFguwcfb7

Mariners Scrimmage

Eric and I went to the Mariners scrimmage today. We took the water taxi, which is always great. It was first come first seating. We sat a couple rows behind diamond club. Got to see a Cal and Geno home run. Saw Ichiro playing right field. It was a fun day.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uFD98pzAJZx38GTLA