The Prog

So last night we took the girls to their first ever Cleveland Indians baseball game at Progressive Field. And what an appropriate name for the field it turned out to be.

This was my husband's and my first trip to Progressive Field. It used to be called "Jacob's Field" or, even better, "The Jake". We made many memories at the Jake (now called Progressive Field), so you can imagine our sense of dismay (ok not really DISMAY, but you know what I mean) when they changed the name. We spent many a date at The Jake before we were married. We got to see the American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners there in '95, in the frigid October air. We got to sit in a loge (spelling?) once with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. We even got to see the home opener of 1996 at the Jake, when they received their World Series rings (even thought they didn't win, they got something for just being in it the year before). We went there on a whim on our 1st wedding anniversary as we were driving by after having a nice brunch aboard the Good Time Two. We were listening to Tom Hamilton on WTAM 1100 when someone hit a homerun, the crowd went wild, we heard it and decided we wanted to be there too. So we parked the car, found a scalper and the rest is history. :)

So when The Jake changed its name, we struggled a bit. What would we call it now "The Prog"? (That was actually my husband's idea.) But last night, it proved an appropriate name for this new stage of life we've recently hit. Namely, the stage where we can go to a large public gathering, such as a professional baseball game, with our children and actually find more enjoyment in the process than stress. (Notice I did not say it was entirely stress-free.)

So we are progressing. And we had so much fun (despite what I may look like in the above picture taken with the cell phone)!

And Cleveland even won!

GO TRIBE!

Fishsticks and Lilacs

Since I started my blog, I've been trying to be more aware of and actively searching for those mini revelations I often get while just doing the mundane. That worked for a while, and kept my blog going for a few weeks, but now I'm back to the mundane with not much depth of thought to share. I'm sure there's lots going on somewhere in that brain of mine, but it just ain't revealing itself quite yet. So for now, we'll have to settle with just plain updates.
I have found that as the weather gets increasingly beautfiul, the family meals become decreasingly so. Last summer, I thought maybe I had lost my love for cooking. This time around, though, I've discovered that it's not so much a love lost, but a love put on the backburner (no pun intended, though it turned out nicely, huh?) for a season or two (namely spring and summer). The nicer it is outside, the less likely I am to be inside cooking or even planning a meal. Sadly, in fact, during this season I often find myself in the late afternoon/early evening having forgotten entirely that I have a family that will be needing dinner in an hour (or 5 minutes, depending on how lost in the moment I am). So I'm scrambling (in my brain while I remain outside) to come up with something that can be thrown together quickly. And usually I come up with something like ... fishsticks. Well, at least for the girls. I can often throw together something like a salad or something for my husband and myself expecting that we'll scrounge later when we get hungry again. :) And there actually are some great things about the fishstick meal at our house. First off, I'm almost guaranteed that the youngest (seriously the very definition of PICKY when it comes to food) will eat (provided ketchup is also involved in the meal). Secondly, they are absolutely the easiest entree to complement with side dishes -- anything pretty much goes with fishsticks!! Finally, the aforementioned benefit is that it's a quick and easy meal. (Albeit not very healthy.) I guess we can't have everything.
Well, at least we get to enjoy the lilacs we cut while being outside all day as we eat our (not so) gourmet meal! :)