Astros Faith & Family Night

Another weekend has come and gone! I hope you all had a great weekend and enjoyed each moment! :)  My Saturday morning began with a 5 mile run around town followed by an Astros game!

I couldn't find anything for breakfast before my run, so this GoGo Squeeze from Princess Weekend worked for me! The humidity was pretty tough but we made it!

I know that most of you already know this, but I'm a huge baseball fan and so are the members of my family. Well, we had the opportunity to attend an Astros game this past weekend and we had a blast! It also happened to be Faith & Family night, an event we've attended almost yearly for the past 10 years or so (give or take a year). Mercy Me was in concert after the game for 2017's event and I was super excited to hear them perform again! To date, we've seen Mercy Me a few times, Third Day, Stephen Curtis Chapman a couple of times, Jeremy Camp, and Jars of Clay.

As per usual, our first stop after entering the park was with Mickey! I tried convincing Brayden that wearing his Astros hat would be fun, but he wouldn't have any of that. It's so funny the stages that babies/kids go through....in February for Spring training and at his first Astros game last August, he was 100% ok with a hat on his head.

When Brayden is with us, we like to sit in the Club level because it's less crowded and there's SO much room to walk around! The seats are also padded and not as squished together. The alcove behind the seats is also a bit quieter with less commotion which is super nice when having a baby with you! 

We were so excited my dad was able to join us for the game! Sadly, my mom had to work and wasn't able to be there...maybe next time!

My cousin who lives in Dallas also happened to be at this game, so we met up for a quick hello and a picture! It was so nice to see her again!

What's a baseball game without ice cream in a tiny helmet cup? 

The Astros played the Angels and the Astros won! It was a great game!

After the game was over, we moved down to the first base line for the Mercy Me concert.

Brayden did get a little restless towards the end of the game, but did well through most of the game as well as the concert!

He LOVED sitting in his own chair at the concert like a big boy!

One of the Astros starting pitchers gave his testimony, then it was time for Mercy Me!

The concert lasted about an hour and they did an awesome job! It was well worth our time!

The entire first base line was packed from the first section all the way up to the fourth! It was awesome to see how many people stuck around after the game!

After the concert, we said goodbye to the Astros and Minute Maid Park once again. It was a GREAT day and I really enjoyed spending the time with my family! :)

Thanks for another great Faith & Family event, Astros! We truly have enjoyed ourselves year after year and look forward to the next one!

A Houston Weekend

Every once in a while, I like to get away and spend time with Jason. We did just that this past Friday night!

Our trip began at the Westin Houston Downtown, a hotel which used to be named “Inn at the Ballpark”.

We spent many a weekend at Inn at the Ballpark and were unsure of how we would like the transition to the Westin.

Surprise surprise, we loved it!!

The overall feel of the hotel remained the same – we loved our room, the bed was super comfortable, and the staff was still as friendly and helpful as before. The main change made in the hotel was with the colors and the baseball theming which no longer exists (whomp whomp).

Imagine my surprise the following morning at breakfast when I realized the “Ballpark Café” was left untouched! The colors and wall décor were the same as before…I couldn’t have been more excited!

We only stayed one night at the Westin, but really enjoyed it and will definitely be back in the future!

After checkout, we stopped at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

Prior to our visit, we purchased a Groupon for two tickets for the price of one…score!

I hadn’t visited the museum since a high school field trip way back when, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Overall, we enjoyed the exhibits but don’t know if we would visit again any time soon.

There were a few “hands on” exhibits to see…

…or should I say “noses on”? Oh Jason…

After spending a few hours at the museum, we made our final stop for the weekend at Minute Maid Park for an Astros game!

It’s been a while since our last Astros game – we try to make a few games each season and this was our first for 2014.

I do love baseball and I love everything about this sport, but I’m a little disappointed with the Astros organization at the moment.

A few seasons ago, the decision was made to combine all of the Houston sports teams to one network, CSN Houston.

Unfortunately, most of the networks around our area do NOT carry CSN Houston and probably never will (even areas as close as an hour away from Houston). This means that a huge percentage of the Astros area fan base are unable to watch regular season Astros games on TV. How in the world can you be a fan of a team if you can’t watch them play? How can you even get to like or know a “favorite player” if you are unable to see any of the games? Sadly, I’ve seen a huge drop in attendance over the past two seasons – the Astros no longer hold that “personal touch” for me. I know the names of maybe two names of players on the field. TWO. Yes, that’s partly because they did a roster overhaul a few seasons ago….but it’s mostly because this long time faithful fan can no longer watch a game from home.

I live a couple of hours from Houston, but the Astros are my closest professional team. You know who I CAN watch on TV? The Rangers and the Braves. Think I can hop over to a Rangers game any time I want? Think again…that’s a 6+ hour drive for me…and Atlanta is way out of the question.

So, that leaves me here – with a blog and a rant. Maybe if enough Houston sports fans get together, we can make a change. Oddly enough, a friend of mine sent this link over to me this morning and it was perfect for everything I’m trying to say here!

OK off my soapbox… :)

I will say this, I had a great time at the game and the Astros won!

Towards the end of the game, I was watching the scoreboard and saw this….

…a picture I posted to instragram earlier in the game!

Luckily, I had my camera in my lap and was able to snap a quick photo before it disappeared! Nifty, huh?

The only other time I’ve been on the scoreboard was with my mom in the old Astrodome sometime around 1996 or so. (See what I mean? LONGTIME FAN.)

After the game, we were given the opportunity to hear a concert by Mercy Me for Faith & Family Night.

These guys were great and everyone really enjoyed them!

On our way out, I stopped for a photo with my old pal Mickey!

Where’s your favorite place to travel for a short weekend getaway? Are you a sports fan? Who’s your favorite professional team? Have you ever made it on the big screen at a game?