One more reason the State Fair is a hit

Last week I wrote about Sydney's favorite part of the fair being the big yellow slide. For AJ, it's the Minnesota Twins' booth. It's what he looked forward to the most and will no doubt be the part he remembers best.

They have a mini field of dreams set up, and kids get to play a couple innings, both batting and in the outfield. AJ was so overly confident of his abilities that he bragged he was going to get a home run as a switch hitter.

"Why don't you see if you can hit a home run batting right-handed?" I suggested, remembering that he hadn't batted particularly well the first time.

"But, Mom," he started to whine.

"Hit a home run batting normal," I said, "and then you can try switch hitting."

And so he got in line to hit, while I took Sydney to the bouncy house. (Look up my post from last year if you need to see a picture. It looks the same.)

Right about the time Sydney finished, it was at last AJ's turn to play. He swung hard...

 

 

and got a single. Undeterred, he waited until it was his turn in the rotation came again. And again he swung hard. And got a single.

In between at bats, he also took his turn in the field, running and diving with great (and often unnecessary) intensity. But he was having fun. He told me later he felt like he was in a real game and liked having all the people watching in the stands.

The game ended, but the line of kids waiting to play was short, so AJ asked if he could play again. I'm pretty sure he would have asked to play again even if the line had been long, but since it was short, we told him he could.

Again he stepped up to the plate and swung with all his might.

 

And hit yet another single. It was at this point Sydney's attention span ran out. Leaving Jeff to watch AJ, I took off with Sydney for some girl time. We visited the neighboring Bizarre, where Sydney found an adorable tutu with matching fairy wings. How could we pass that up? And once we bought it, how could she not immediately wear it?

We also checked out the flowers in the horticulture building (making more than a few people nervous, I suspect. The flowers were still being judged, and Sydney wanted to sniff them. Alas, we left all flowers unscathed.) Finally we made it back to the Twins booth where AJ had just finished his third game.

"Mom, I hit a home run!" He announced victoriously. "So next year I can bat left handed."

What a field of dreams this had turned out to be. And with that he turned his attention to pitching. Anyone who questions if he's giving 100 percent needs only to look at his facial expressions for confirmation.

 

Sydney decided she needed to give it a try. Let's just say she throws like a fairy princess.

 

I'm fairly certain she'll have a chance to improve next year. Because I'm willing to bet her brother will be dragging us back to this booth for a well-earned chance to bat left-handed.