In the rugged outdoors...

In the rugged outdoors
Originally uploaded by shermans.

Of Dowtown Scottsdale.

Still, as you can see, it was deep, deep, deep center field.

The city had a sleepover in the stadium, so we were trodding the hallowed ground whence Barry himself Bonds had walked. Just standing in the grass Ciela put on 3 pounds and her neck grew so big we had to cut her out of her shirt.

We had a good time. They served a mediocre meal from a BBQ chain, which made things very difficult on the vegetarians in the tent. We colored, we ran through obstacle courses, we did a sack race, we looked through telescopes (where I actually saw Jupiter, and Saturn and its rings--pretty flippin cool.)

They showed "A Bug's Life" on an inflateable screen, and then we all went to bed.

Except for our very rude neighbors in the tent next door who spent a good two hours after "Lights Out" talking and yelling at their kids to shut up and go to sleep. I rarely heard the kids, but their mother's voice could cut through steel. I longed for an angry Barry Bonds and a 34" Louisville Slugger. After the first half-hour, I noisely scrambled out of the tent and gave them the long glare. After an hour, I went over and told them to please keep it down. By midnight, I was yelling out of my tent to shut up and go to sleep. I wonder where these people thought they were. Why they felt that at an event that was clearly geared toward families with young kids, they could hang out talking until the wee hours of the morning. In the end, it was another instance in a long line of instances where I wonder how people can be so inconsiderate.

But then morning came, the sunrise was beautiful and breakfast included lots of coffee and orange juice and tasty muffins. We packed up, hailed one of those little groundskeeper carts and piled everything back in the car. We then went home and took a nap.