MLB Stadium #43!

If you've read any of my baseball posts before, you already know that we set a goal to attend a game in all 30 MLB ball parks and that we achieved that goal back in 2005! Since then, of course, new stadiums have been built and we've tried to keep up, with the most recent new-to-us stadium being St. Louis, where we attended a game in May 2022. Busch Stadium was our 42nd MLB ball park!

Well, the Oakland A's are moving to Las Vegas and their stadium is being constructed, so in the meantime, they've temporarily relocated to Sacramento and are playing in a AAA ball park, Sutter Health Park. We decided to take a quick trip to California two weekends ago so we could add this stadium to our list!

For a minor league stadium, we were impressed! The stands were pretty much full, the atmosphere was upbeat, and it certainly didn't hurt that the weather was absolutely perfect! We had a great time at the game and look forward to making a trip to Las Vegas in a few years to see the A's play in their new home!

an A's legend who also played
for the Blue Jays!

another A's legend who
played for the Blue Jays, too!

A super fun night! The best moment was when a foul ball almost came right to us, but an older gentleman about five feet away ended up getting it and he excitedly announced that it was his birthday! He was overjoyed and immediately facetimed with friends/family to tell them! He was so precious!

Happy Tails to you!

2022: A Look Back

It's hard to believe, but here we are at the end of another year. 2022 was not great. Were there awesome, happy moments? Of course. But overall, I really struggled. Under the weight of endless worries and responsibilities. Never feeling like I was doing enough. Always feeling like I was letting people down. In so many ways, I am fortunate and privileged, and I don't want anyone to think that by sharing when things aren't amazing, I'm looking for sympathy, because I'm not. I just think it's important to acknowledge that life is more than the perfect highlight reel most people see. So my real life share is that this year was really hard for me.

That being said, it was incredibly cathartic for me to go back through the year and revisit all the happy times that too often felt buried under the not-so-good times.

We were very lucky to take several trips throughout the year, and they were each incredible in their own way. Our favorite, though, was the rafting trip on the Colorado River. Our other trips included: WDW in January and again in April; a Disney Cruise in April and another in September; Puerto Rico in May; Dominican Republic in June; Las Vegas in July before the river trip and California in August after the river trip; a day trip to NYC in September; and a road trip to round out the year.

We also went to some fun events throughout the year: a Harry Potter exhibit; two Steven Page concerts; a Miami Marlins game; a New York Islanders game; a St. Louis Cardinals game; a Lantern Fest; a Chinese Lantern Festival; The Office Experience; Columbus Zoo Wildlights; and a Detroit Red Wings game. My best friend Dan also visited for a week during the summer and we went to lots of historical things together.

As for the aforementioned not-so-great things, C and I both got COVID over the summer and then we had to cancel trips to Toronto, Denver, Chicago, and Austin this fall. The biggest challenge of course...all that my mom went through this year, coupled with everything that followed when she was finally discharged from the hospital. This continues to be something we deal with every day.

When I was deciding what pictures to include in this post, I decided to choose a few of my favorite selfies and a few of my favorite travel photos to remind myself of the good times in 2022. I don't know how I would have gotten through this year without C; he is a great partner when things are going well, and an even greater one when things are not!

What a year; let's hope 2023 is filled with more joy and happiness than despair and grief! We definitely have some things we are looking forward to over the next twelve months, including trips to places we've been anticipating for a long time, as well as something wonderful tomorrow to kick off the new year!

Happy Tails to you!

Life Lately May 2022

I can sum up the month of May in three words: hockey, testing, and Ozark.

Hockey: The Stanley Cup playoffs began on May 2 and three of the four teams I cheer for made the playoffs. Every night, there were exciting games to watch, but unfortunately, none of my teams made it out of the first round. All three of the series went to a game 7 and all three of my teams lost. Extremely disappointing. I've had to shift my allegiance to the Avalanche, one of C's favorite teams, which I don't mind at all because I don't care for any of the other remaining teams, but honestly, it's just not the same as cheering for a team you love!

Testing: Ah, spring, the season of state testing. Once our testing started, I proctored tests every single day with the exception of one morning when I had an appointment and wasn't at school. It's very tiring to do that day after day after day! We only have another week to go and I will be relieved when we are finally done!

Ozark: When we were in Puerto Rico at the beginning of the month, it rained for most of our time there so I started watching Ozark. C had watched the first 3.5 seasons already, but hadn't seen the second half of the fourth season which had just been released, so he rewatched as I watched it for the first time. I quickly became obsessed with the show because I've loved Jason Bateman since he played the best friend on Silver Spoons in the 1980s. I had worried that his role as a money launderer involved with a drug cartel would make me like him less, but the opposite happened – I really loved him in Ozark. I finished the whole series in three weeks, and if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It's dark, but compelling, and the acting is superb.

After going to Puerto Rico at the beginning of the month for C's birthday, we also went to a concert at the Kennedy Center, which was really fantastic – it was a collection of Disney Princess songs and four Broadway stars who played some of the roles in the musicals, including Susan Egan, performed with the National Symphony Orchestra. I absolutely loved it! We have tickets to another show there next month and I'm already looking forward to it!

Perhaps the most noteworthy thing is that after 18+ months, my mom moved back in with us! I'm so grateful to B1 and S1 for taking such amazing care of her while she was living near them and I will continue to be vigilant about keeping germs at bay to the best of my ability so that I don't inadvertently make her sick. C is working from home, so gives me peace of mind to know he's there if she needs anything during the day when I'm at school.

We wrapped up the month with my birthday; although it was a school day, I was completely spoiled by my friends! Lunch and gifts and love! Then C and I went to St. Louis to finish off our baseball stadiums checklist and we just love driving trips in general, so the long weekend was super fun!

one of the third grade teachers made
these cute shirts for the entire team and
included me, so we wore these on
third grade test days

One of my favorite things about the show
is that the opening features four symbols,
all of which somehow represent the letters
Z-A-R-K inside of the O!
And every episode has different symbols!
SO CLEVER!

I loved these two throughout the entire series!

Our niece made C a birthday card
and told him that she put clovers on it
"because you're Irish!"
Oh my heart!

illustration of me from a student for
Teacher Appreciation Day

rainbow roses for Mother's Day...
my first without a four-legged friend
since 1998

a surprise gift from one of my all-time
favorite students who is now 16!

Dachshunds and rainbows...so perfect!

how have my godkids
gotten so tall?!?

best part of a road trip...
finding a Tim Hortons along the way

a friend recommended this ice cream
place and this specific flavor
last year when we went to Kentucky,
and it was so good that we went out of our way
to stop there again on our way to St. Louis

White Castle has Impossible Sliders
and they are amazing!

Picked up some awesome donuts
at Pharaoh's Donuts in St. Louis
and one of the employees was also from
Virginia and his parents live 20 minutes from us!
What a small world!

TUMS

proudly made in STL since 1930

my favorite human

Happy Tails to you!