That was some game!

Every year, we go to a baseball game for Father's Day. This year, the game Jeff wanted to go to was last night (actually, the one he really wanted was Friday night, but the girls were at my Dad's boat to watch the fireworks).

It was pretty toasty when we got to our seats. Even though the game started at 7PM (we got there about an hour early), it was 97 degrees. Sarah said she wished it would rain, and I said that just some clouds would do it for me.

After a disastrous first inning (I don't know who was pitching, but he let two home runs go, making the score 5-0), I noticed that it was clouding up. And, um, the clouds didn't look friendly. They looked like the clouds that precede a storm that pops up when it's insanely hot in the summer.

About halfway through the second inning, I saw the first flash of lightning. Hm. Yeah, we're in the upper deck, really high up. The clouds were still a ways off, but definitely moving in our direction. We frequently leave before the last pitch is thrown, but the second inning wasn't even over yet! As the second inning closed, we decided to head out. We stopped to see if my Dad wanted to leave (he & Sharon had come with us, but because he needs wheelchair access, they sat in a different area), but he wanted to stick it out.

We made our way through the concourse, and sure enough, it started to rain. By the time we got closer to an exit (went past the statues, on our way to the covered area under the fountains), the wind was gale force and the rain was driving. At that point, we were all trying to stay together, and not so worried about getting wet, because we knew there was no getting around it at that point.

We made it just under the covered area, but I could see the poor grounds crew getting the tarp on and people trying to get from their seats to a covered area. It was really packed in there, and we weren't staying dry anyway. Some people were shoving, and when a wheelchair could barely make it through, we decided to head out. By the time we got to the Nemo's bus, all four of us were drenched through. It took another 15 minutes or so before the bus was full enough to leave, and by the time we got back to our car, it had mostly stopped raining.

I really wanted our bedraggled selves as this year's family picture, but the stranger I grabbed to shoot it had a hard time with my camera, because it came out quite blurry, to my disappointment. Seriously, if it had been clearer, it would be my new Facebook profile picture.

We got home and I called my Dad to see how they were doing. He was still waiting for a wheelchair to get through, and ready to start walking himself. (Note: he can walk, just not the kind of distances to get from the entrance to our seats.) They finally called us back about an hour later to say that they'd made it out and were on their way home.

So although this was certainly a memorable Father's Day game, it was in no way our worst. That honor still goes to "hood flipped up while driving on the highway, making it impossible to see and requiring the whole thing be replaced" 2008.