10th Birthday memories....part 1

*this post is going to have to be in two or three parts... a lot to say and a LOT of pictures***
**also there will be a lot of caps... I am excited. it was an exciting day... SO, to show my excitment.. CAPS***
This past weekend my oldest turned 10. It seems weird even now to say "she is ten" but, she is... Reality is the Lord has allowed me to be a mom for a decade.... I am so grateful.
I could not ask for a better daughter in Anna. I do pray that her little sister grows up to be as caring, giving, sweet, kind, helpful, loveable ..... ect as Anna.
Anyway.. this isn't a post about Anna as much as it is about her birthday celebrations....
Her birthday was a two day event. Her actual birthday and her party. The party will be the next post.. for this post I will stick with the actual birthday celebration....
Anna is a HUGE baseball fan. She started watching a little over two years ago. Because of her love for the game and her enthusiasm and always having the game on at home or in the car... we became a baseball family.
We now do not miss a game and get all into it when it is on.... SOMETHING I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SAY ABOUT MYSELF... but, it is so. I even have my own FAVORITE player... (more on that later)
one day it dawned on me to see if the Tigers were playing around her birthday... but, better yet, they were playing ON her birthday... I was elated and we asked two of her aunts and two of her uncles (all who also love the Tigers) to come along... they agreed.
I couldn't wait for the game. I was more excited then her to see her at her FIRST game.
It all far suprassed my expectations... I think all of our expectations.... it was amazing and we are just so blessed to have her and all the people who love her and went out of their way to make her day SPECIAL.

ok, I will get on with pics to help tell the story of her day :)
First, Anna wanted ribs for dinner, we opted to go to a place called "Slows" in the D. This place is famous and so we were really looking forward to trying it out. It was AMAZING btw.. if you live in the Metro D... I say GET THERE AS SOON AS YOU CAN. *btw it is not expenisive either.. same price as say a Red Robin or something of the like**
My brother and my sister in law met us there....

Here is Anna with her full slab of ribs and her root beer... She only ate half a slab ... Daddy and I helped with the rest. :)

Here she is with the dessert they gave her. She is also sporting her new jersey from Uncle Shane and Aunt Kelly... I wish I had the picture of her opening it (Shane does)  she was so excited... 

After dinner we headed to the ball park. Anna was so excited she was acting so goofy. She had seen the park on the way to dinner and just couldn't contain her excitement
When we got there, we were in line. We were a little over two hours early but, we had hoped to maybe see a couple players batting and maybe get an autograph.
While in line a gentlemen that worked there seen Anna with her birthday hat and sign and took her from the line where she was and put her at the front. He said that she should be first since it was her first game and her Birthday.
Once we got in we waited for Shane and Kelly to get in and Shane started booking ... I yelled for Anna to catch up (having NO clue where he was going) and we followed.
He took us down by the Tigers bull pin (or is it dugout?) whatever, they were practicing... It was so amazing to see all the players we watch so often on T.V. SO CLOSE to us. They were walking around like normal and were like "WOW" it was funny.
Anyway.. Anna stood there holding her sign trying to get them to come over to give autographs

She recieved a lot of attention from the players.. Cebrara kept waving.. Fielder gave
her a little nod and wave and then Torii Hunter walked by and my brother yelled out and asked him to sign her jersey.. he came right over

This is when a crowd started developing. She was the only one to get Torii but people were not going to let that happen again. THANKFULLY... my brother is a BIG guy and he was also right in front. He made room for Anna and wasn't going to let Anna miss out.

As I said Cabrera had waved a couple of times and I am unclear what was said to get him over but, my brother got him over to sign her shirt :)

I love how she is just sitting there while he signs others stuff

Here he is signing my brothers hat.. what a guy, he made sure she got hers first. 

This is a picture of her with a TRIPLE CROWN WINNER.. 

A funny story about this is, there was a guy in the way back of the crowd who asked if he would take a picture with his daughter. I thought.. no, wait, my daughter has been sitting here... my daughter is in front SHE deserves the picture (ok, maybe she didn't deserve it but, I was going to make it happen)

And, I did, I pushed her up to Shane and he held her up and.... tada :)

Anna and Miggy!!!

It was right before this picture that he wished her a Happy Birthday.

I always appreciate "Stars" who can take the time out to say hello (or happy birthday)

to their fans. This is one of the best ball players in the world and he came over to 

sign her jersey and wish her happy birthday!

I was bummed because the game before our game .. my favorite player (Phil Coke) had pitched (and, it was a BAD game he pitched) so, I knew he wouldn't be playing the game we went to.

I was bummed that my first game in 16 years I couldn't see my favorite player ........

but, I was really excited when I seen him walking in off of the field 

I was even MORE excited when I seen him walking over after my brother called him to SIGN MY DAUGHTERS JERSEY.....

was super SUPER excited when he agreed to take a picture with Anna and then ME.. (tho I will not post the picture of me... but, I am very excited to have it)

She was so excited to have signatures of three players on her new jersey 

Torii Hunters up top... Phil Coke (40) below and Cebrara to the right (24)

after all the players left we went to find our seats an walk around for a bit . 

At this point Anna got a certificate for it being her birthday and one for her first game from the Tigers.

She also got two posters of Cebrara .

Right before the game Anna's last surprise came... Aunt Mindy and Uncle Timmy were  there! I wish I had a picture of her reaction but, I was video taping it. It was SO cute.

The game went awesome.. They won 10 to 0 which Anna believes was because of her. lol

She help up a sign during the game and made it on the score board 

Here is apicture of that tho, it is not very clear. A lot of times taking a picture of a screen doesn't come out so well.

Her Aunt took her to the gift shop and got her a cool new pink hat to match her pink jersey..

Also before the game ended a man that was a couple rows a head of us called Anna over to him.

He asked her if they were winning 10-0 an Anna said yes. He asked her if it were her 10th birthday.. She said yes.. and he then gave her a pink Tigers ball he had got for her at the gift shop. What a sweet and kind man.

They also let her know (there was a crowd of them) that if they caught a ball they would be giving it to her. IN fact.. I am quite sure that everyone in our general area felt that way as they would chant as a Tiger was up to bat to hit it in her direction for her~ 

On our way out several people told her "HEY I saw you on the scoreboard!" she felt so so so special

Here she is during the game... 

This is Torii Hunter .. we were seated behind him.

Here she is when we were finally home with her ball, her hat and her jersey. 

Very sleepy but VERY VERY happy girl.

I had felt guilty that we didn't have an actual present for her (tho her daddy did end up buying her a pink glove to take to the game)

I wanted to get her something BIG for her big birthday. She had wanted a kindle and her Meme and I were going to go in on it.. but my hubby got really sick with Mono and was out of work for 3 weeks. He said that her present was going to have to be the Tigers game ONLY.

I felt bad.. I am not sure why but I felt like we should have got her something BIG for her birthday.. and while going to the game is big.. I had no idea what it was going to be like before we got there.. I just felt like she should have something.

We weren't spending anymore on her then we usually do. 

It was a silly way of thinking. We spent 65 dollars (on tickets) and she has a better birthday then we could have ever imagined. She has memories that NO Kindle would have given her.

Sometimes.... we get these visions in our head of what things are supposed to be. To me, she was supposed to get a big expensive gift for her big 10th birthday...

I was humbled after the game at what she was really given. Of the excitement and memories she had  and feeling like the only girl in the world by her mom, her dad, her aunts, her uncles , the fans and even the Tigers~

Would she have loved a Kindle? YES.. of coarse but, the excitement would have wore off. There would be no memories there. One day when she is 34 She will remember being at the Tigers game ..

I do not say all this to brag "hey look what I gave my kid" All WE did was buy the tickets.. the rest was all a blessing.. And, a lesson to me who, while I am not into material things sometimes (like her big tenth birthday) I thought it was important.. but, I was wrong.... 

Part two coming soon.