Twins win!

What is it about baseball that allows grown men to act like boys, while at the same time makes me feel suddenly old?

For years (almost five-and-a-half, to be exact) this photo has sat on my desk at work. It was our first family photo.


Somehow, through all the pictures taken at the hospital and during AJ's first two months of life, we never got a shot of the three of us. Until we visited the Metrodome when AJ was nine weeks old. (Yes, the former reporter in me recognizes what a nice little story that will make should AJ ever make it to the big leagues.)

And just look at how big he is now.

Meanwhile, all those Twins players I had such crushes on in high school and college. Just look at them now, too.

Time certainly marches on. Which I guess is a good thing. That's how we finally found ourselves at Target Field last Friday. I'd bought the tickets last June as Father's Day gifts for Jeff and my Dad. This was the soonest I could find a block of five seats.

Jeff insisted we arrive early because "AJ" wanted to try and get some autographs. That didn't happen, but Jeff did manage to snag a baseball for him during batting practice.

The downside of this plan was that we then had to wait. And wait. And wait for the game to finally start. By chance, this past weekend the Twins celebrated their 50 greatest players (thus the reason for the legendary guys being assembled.) That presentation meant the game was delayed by a half hour.

Poor AJ just could not appreciate the talent and memories this group of men represented. "I did NOT like that show."

His attention was easily distracted, and as a guy wearing a Twins shirt passed us, heading for a concession stand, AJ pointed out, "Look! It's a Twin. He's trying to escape!"

Once the game started, AJ was happy to cheer along. Denard Span led off with a double, sending AJ into a clapping frenzy. "That was the best thing ever! He totally tricked the other team."

A little later, AJ discovered the joy of doing the wave. Not the best photo opp, but still fun.

By conventiently timing a couple of bathroom breaks to break up the length of the game for him, AJ made it through.

During one of our breaks from the game, we headed to a shop where Grandma was hoping to find a Michael Cuddyer shirt. As we left the store, by chance, TC Bear happened to walk by. Of course I didn't have my camera with for what turned out to be one of the highlights for AJ. He hurtled himself at the unsuspecting mascot, wrapping his arms around him in a big hug. The poor person inside never knew what hit him, but luckily recovered quickly enough to return the hug.

Final results? Twins won 4-3, and AJ's already asking to go back.