A FUN FAMILY VISIT IN DALLAS

We always enjoy stopping in Dallas on our trips out west to visit our daughter, Wendy, and her family. Wendy planned a special outing for us while we were there, a visit to the George W. Bush Presidential Library,, on the SMU campus about 2 miles from her home.

Grandson John had recently visited the library on a school field trip, so he told us to hurry to the exhibit he knew Grandpop would enjoy.  Paul pretended he was head of our country, sitting behind the president's desk in an exact replica of Bush's Oval Office. 

Wendy recommended the trip to the Bush library because she knew of her father's love for baseball.  Also on display at the library was a special touring exhibit entitled "Baseball: America's Presidents, America's Pastime".

Part of this exhibit showed a video of George W. Bush throwing out the first pitch at game #3 of the World Series in 2001 at Yankee Stadium, less than 2 months after the horrific events of 9/11. Derek Jeter is shown chatting with President Bush in the batting tunnel underneath the stands at Yankee Stadium. 

Jeter asked Bush if he is going to throw out the first pitch from in front of home plate or the mound. Bush answers, "I don't know, Derek." Jeter replied, "If you don't throw from the mound, they [the crowd] will boo you." As Jeter left the area, he turned and said to Bush, "Don't bounce it or they will boo you." 

This video and many of the pieces of baseball memorabilia found throughout the brought back memories of baseball as I knew it growing up as a kid and as well as an adult. For example, the letter President Eisenhower sent to Don Larson after he pitched a perfect game in the 1956 World Series was on display as was Don Larson's letter back to Eisenhower.  

Below, President Bush is shown giving a thumbs up to the crowd as the crowd enthusiastically cheered him when he was introduced by legendary Yankee PA announcer Bob Sheppard.  Then he threw from the mound and did not bounce the ball. 

Both our grandchildren, Amelia (11) and John (8), are heavily involved in youth sports. We were able to see Amelia play volleyball twice over the weekend. Amelia is showing her serving form as she gets one over the net for her team.

We also enjoyed watching John play basketball. John, in the dark jersey, is getting ready to pass the ball as two defenders are closing in.  We saw John score several times, including a 3-point shot from the left of the top of the key.

On Sunday, Amelia was confirmed into their church. While we have no photos of the church service, we did celebrate Amelia's confirmation with a cake later that evening.

On Sunday afternoon, we attended a Frisco Rough Riders game (Texas League, AA affiliate of the Texas Rangers). Dr. Pepper Ballpark is one of the most fan friendly and enthusiastic minor league baseball stadiums that we have visited. As you enter the main entrance, there is a large kid's play area. John went right to the Pop-A-Shot to test his skills while Paul and Scott (Wendy's husband) look on. Check out John's socks!

Amelia beat all comers in Connect Four, including Grandpop.

You can readily see from this photo that the lights were on and storm clouds were in the area. The video scoreboard in left-centerfield was huge! The condos behind the right field wall give fans a view similar to the view from the roof tops at Wrigley Field in Chicago. 

The seating configuration included some bistro tables between the upper and lower sections of seats directly behind home plate. Here Amelia and John sit with Paul and Ann.

There were a lot of between inning activities to keep the crowd enthused about the baseball experience. We were amused by several appearances of inflatable characters related to sports history  Pee Wee Geese (Hall of Fame member Pee Wee Reese) and Harry Canary (Cary--famous Cubs announcer) are doing a dance between innings.

Peyton Manatee (Manning) and Manatee (Manny) Ramirez [former Red Sox and Dodgers outfielder] were the next two characters to appear.

A few innings later, Cow (Cal) Ripken [Oriole Hall of Famer] came to "wow" the crowd. You can see how big these inflatables are by comparing the size of a 6 year old boy having his photo taken below.

Who else should lead the singing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch other than Harry Canary.

Later Paul shook Harry Canary's hand in a photo op.

Our visit to Frisco was a great way to conclude our family visit to Dallas.