My unintentional tour of baseball's best cities continued this summer.
'08 was Boston.
'09 was Chicago.
'10 was St. Louis.
Once again, baseball was not the reason for the vacation, nor was it the best part of my trip.
But there's certainly a thread developing here.
Who's going to take me to Dodger Stadium in '11?
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Got to spend a weekend earlier this month with the Jorgensens, who live about 20 minutes across the river from the STL.
Who, might you ask, are the Jorgensens? They belong to her.
Despite what my facial expression might indicate, I was thrilled Katie invited me to be a late addition to the "O'Fallon Fun Recital Extravaganza."
The Cardinals put on a great show (8-0 win, Wainwright's first-ever shutout, postgame fireworks), but the best performance and the real star of the weekend was Miss Heidi. People flew in from Arizona, Utah and Texas to see this girl dance!!
Here are the only stats you need to know from her ballet/dance recital:
• Dancers beside Heidi who rocked the role of Aurora in Sleeping Beauty: 0
• Tears/smiles/applause expressed following her solos: 347,000
Yes, I did my own interpretation of "Sleeping Beauty" a couple times during the show, but everything I saw was spectacular.
And yes, Mrs. Jorgensen, we see you back there. What, no bunny ears?
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Everyone got a chance to strut their stuff when Katie's dad set up the backyard obstacle course.
If any of the challenges look familiar to some of you out there, they should. The only thing this party was missing from a Weiler backyard shindig was the water relay with sponges.
Whiffle ball toss over the swing
Golf ball slide into the bucket
Knock over the wood blocks with the wood baton
Ring (formerly used as packaging material) toss
Dart throw into the firepit
How well can you arrange the Quorum of the 12 in order?
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Some of you may have noticed from the pictures the slightly uneven gender ratio at the Jorgy home that weekend.
5 women (plus 1 infant girl): 2 men. Not the kind of odds I'm familiar with. Trust me, it didn't take me long to make this observation.
So did one other gentleman, who said it best while sitting around before for Katie's dad was set apart as a counselor in the bishopric
"Well, aren't you the thorn among the roses."
Sure am, Mr. Stake President. Thanks for the encouragement.
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While no trip to the STL would be complete without some baseball, I got a double dose of America's pastime thanks to my own relatives. I forgot to take some pics of my cousin Jason (a.k.a. Willie Mays) playing in his baseball tournament, but here are some of the highlights of my time with the Lofgreens:
• Line of the day from cuz Grant: "Did you guys drive through the ghetto to get here?" (Yes, we did.)
• Line of the day from Grant No. 2: "Sweet. Got mom's credit cards."
• Cuz Emily (age 6) figures I'm about 15 years old (awesome). Big props to Emily also for pounding her way through an entire IHOP kids meal.
• Cuz Jason was on the money on both his relay throws from center field to second base at his game. Unfortunately, the second baseman was 0-for-2 in tagging out the runner.
• Cuz Grant's shock and disbelief over the local Dairy Queen's complete lack of hamburgers and fries on the menu
• Cuz Megan's anxiety to make sure Emily was on time for summer school and out of her hair for the rest of the day. Hang in there Megan. We've all been there.
