Our August Vacation - Part 3
After a few weeks break from writing about our vacation, I'm back with part 3. Parts 1 & 2 were all about my arrival and those moments before Cherie's arrival. Now it's time to start talking about the shared experiences! Yay!!!
Just before Cherie began her journey to Orange County, she shared her location through our Apple accounts so I could track her progress. I love technology like this. I also shared my location with her. She arrived around 3:25pm. I, of course, video recorded her train's arrival. I wasn't sure which area of the train she would be getting off of. So I sort of stayed near the front since I knew she'd pass that way regardless. I think she was coming from the bike car about half way back. She spotted me first and was waving in excitement. It made my heart so happy to see her again.
We made our way up to the front of ARTIC and she was telling me she wanted me to meet Budford before we went to the hotel. He had a surprise for me that he just couldn't wait to give me. I had been doing Budford's voice for just over a year and it was finally time to actually meet the little guy. I was so excited. And just when I thought I couldn't be more excited, out popped a little Budford! And this mini version was adorned with a little green bow tie! His surprise was that he had cloned himself so he could go home with me! Yay!!! Later, it was revealed that this clone was aptly named Bingford. Technically speaking, Cherie's mom made Bingford so Cherie could give him to me as a gift. And it means so much to me. More on that later.
We took some video selfies. I accidentally took a photo of my shadow on the bricks in front of ARTIC. That became my photo for that day. That moment was just that important. We then made our way over to the hotel. Cherie checked in, we went our separate ways briefly to prepare for that rest of our evening, and I ate my chicken shawarma I got to-go from Aleppo's Kitchen earlier that day at lunch time.
Around 5:15pm, we met up in the lobby and had some prayer time to officially kick off our vacation. We pray together often. But those times in person mean the world to us. Next, we made our way over to Angels Stadium. We entered at the right field gate, walked up the ramp, and found our seats. The sun was so bright that evening. It also made it a bit warm to be sitting there. But I was so excited to finally be sitting in the seats I'd dreamt about for months. I didn't care that the sun was melting me.
That said, Cherie asked if I'd like to explore. Yes please! Our first stop was the little gift shop nearest our seats. They have a much larger one over near the home plate entrance. But I liked this little one we went to. It had everything we were looking for. She got a magnet for her mom and an Angels mini bat to go with her Dodgers one. I picked up a pair of matching Angels pins for both of our collections. It was fun shopping together. I love doing that with her.
After the gift shop, we meandered around the stadium. We were able to see the hall-of-fame area, got a glimpse of that large gift shop, and saw a Mickey Mouse statue. I cracked a joke! Cherie, are we in heaven? I see angels everywhere! HAHAHA
It was getting close to the start of the game, so we made our way back to our seats. As the teams were warming up, we wondered if we could see Ohtani stretching. I wasn't sure at the time. But I think it was. So that was my first time seeing him in person. This was his first time pitching at Angels stadium since he switched from being an Angel to being a Dodger. So we were really excited to see him pitch. Shortly after the game started, some folks showed up and informed us we were in their seats. As it turned out, we had our seat numbers correct. But we were one section over from our actually seats. I made the mistake to have us go left when we should have gone right. I'll pay more attention to that next time.
The game itself was exciting for me. I was cheering on both teams. This was my first MLB game as an adult. So it was all really fun for me since it was really my first time experiencing it. The last time I went to a game, I was very young and that stadium doesn't even exist anymore. It was that long ago. When the music would go, I'd start dancing in my seat. When they played Harry Belafonte's Day-O, I'd echo it at the top of my lungs...DAAAAAAAY-O. Cherie laughed every single time. I love her laugh. It makes my heart so happy. I also tried to do those hand clap things they always have these days. We took selfie videos and did our Rex's. From time to time, I'd put Budford into things like Let's Go Budford instead of the team names. I had the time of my life. In the end, the Angels won. So we took one last selfie video of us pouting.
Leaving the stadium was fun. It was so neat to see so many people having this shared experience and walking calmly out. I hear that doesn't happen at Dodgers Stadium. I really enjoyed the rivalry between the fans. Nobody around us got into fights. It was all fun banter. Even as we were leaving. I loved ever moment of that. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by ARTIC to get some night photos. I took a video of her doing a throw down of her Dodgers jacket. She ended up posting that as an IG story. When I saw her post, I was like, I was there!
When we got back to the hotel, we said our good night and parted ways at the elevator.
Cherie, thank you so much for that night. Every moment made my heart so happy. Not only was it great to finally see you again, you gave me so many amazing memories I'll cherish for the rest of my life.
But that's not all! That was just day 1 of our vacation together. Stay tuned for more amazing moments!