I Have Moved

The address for the new blog is:

http://johnwseaton.blogspot.com/

Chewing Up The Experience @ Wrigley

After a sick day in Chicago that saw Raegan go down into the city and then come all the way back to the hotel (1 hour plus train ride each way), we headed back down into the city the next day. We got to go visit the Navy Pier and enjoy all the fun and surroundings there. After that we headed up to the Addison St. train stop and hopped off for the block walk to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs take on the Milwaukee Brewers.

What a wonderful experience it was to go to Wrigley Field. It made me think back to the old days of baseball where the stadium is right in the middle of a neighborhood. You could just see what it must have been like in the old days with the bars on each corner and apartment buildings on each street surrounding the stadium.

Once inside it just has this amazing feel to it. The bricks and ivy are very real and the old time scoreboard was right there in center. It was a good game as the Cubs and Brewers were battling for first. We got to sing the 7th inning stretch with the famous play-by-play man for the Brewers Bob Uecker. There were also free Cubs hats for some of the first arrivals. It was absolutely the most electric baseball atmosphere I have ever been in. Oh, and the Cubs won. It was the best game and final game of the 2007 MLB Season Ballpark Tour.

Here is the final tally:

6 Stadiums
Minute Maid Park (Houston)
Great American Ballpark (Cincy)
Turner Field (Atlanta)
Jacobs Field (Cleveland)
US Cellular Field (Chicago)
Wrigley Field (Chicago)

12 Teams
Houston Astros
St. Louis Cardinals
Cincinnati Reds
Colorado Rockies
Atlanta Braves
Florida Marlins
Cleveland Indians
Kansas City Royals
Chicago White Sox
Boston Red Sox
Chicago Cubs
Milwaukee Brewers

As a side note, I got to see three of the four teams that made their respective LCS. Also if Colorado can win the NLCS, I would have seen both teams in the World Series. It was an exciting season.

Mismatched Sox: Baseball in Chicago Part 1

Oh how the long neglected blog always seems to get revitalized. For my birthday back in April, Raegan bought me tickets to see a White Sox and Cubs game in Chicago in August. It also helps that I have always loved Chicago and wanted to go back since I went my only other trip there in high school so we ventured up to "The Windy City" and our first stop was at US Cellular Field to see the White Sox take on the Boston Red Sox.

It was quite an enjoyable game. It is a nice little new stadium that is pretty simple and good to watch a game in. It was a little chilly and I was unknowingly coming down sick as the game wore on. The Red Sox ended up putting a pretty good beating on the White Sox as they homered all over the park. A highlight for both Raegan and I was a Big Papi long ball to dead center.

Here comes the update:
5 Stadiums
Minute Maid Park (Houston)
Great American Ballpark (Cincy)
Turner Field (Atlanta)
Jacobs Field (Cleveland)
US Cellular Field (Chicago)

10 Teams
Houston Astros
St. Louis Cardinals
Cincinnati Reds
Colorado Rockies
Atlanta Braves
Florida Marlins
Cleveland Indians
Kansas City Royals
Chicago White Sox
Boston Red Sox

The Wedding Chronicles Part 2 and 3 - Rehearsal Dinner and Wedding

Here comes parts two and three of the wedding. The rehearsal dinner was at a restaurant in The Woodlands called Jasper's. It is a little more modern looking restaurant with delicious food.

The wedding took place in the Robb Chapel at The Woodlands UMC. It is a smaller chapel away from the larger sanctuary. Raegan's mom helped in the decoration and design of the chapel which made it even more special. You can see the pure beauty of the chapel in the pictures. So, here they are.

1) A shot from the restaurant where we had the rehearsal dinner
2) A shot of the altar in the chapel
3) My family with Raegan and I after the wedding
4) Entering the reception
5) First dance at the reception

The Wedding Chronicles Part 1 - The Barn Party

As many of you know, Raegan and I got marrried July 21st in her hometown of The Woodlands, TX. It was quite an exciting weekend full of fun and festivities for the whole family (literally).

The first event of the weekend was "the barn party" on Thursday. Pretty much everybody who was already in town for the wedding was there. I will let the pictures tell most of the story, but the food, fun and fellowship were outstanding. It was a good ole Texas time for everybody. Enjoy part one of the story. I will be back with part two, the rehearsal dinner later.

Picture descriptions:
1) The barn
2) The cake made to look like the barn
3) The food spread
4) Everybody eating
5) A lot of mom's family that came down
6) The happy couple

Journeying to "The Jake"

Well kids, here it is. Another trip and another ballpark. This time I ventured the approximately 6 hours up to Cleveland along with my friends Joel and Patrick to watch the Indians take on the Kansas City Royals. It was my first ever visit to Jacobs Field. Baseball fans might remember that Jacobs Field was the first of the "new school" of baseball stadiums that went away from the circular "cookie cutter" stadiums to more fan/family friendly stadiums.

One of my favorite features of the park is shown in the picture on the right. It is an area called Heritage Park which could be considered similar to monument park in Yankee Stadium I guess. It featured plaques honoring all the famous Indians in the history of the franchise along with info about them.

As for the game, it was a good one. A good pitching match-up between the Indians Cy Young contender (at the time) C.C. Sabathia (who has been struggling somewhat ever since we went) and the Royals #1 starter Gil Meche. A pair of homeruns highlighted the offensive side of the game and fabulous defensive play by Indians catcher Victor Martinez (it was a web gem on Baseball Tonight) highlighted the defensive side. Overall, the game experience was a good one. We had a little trouble negotiating the roads in Cleveland but we got where we needed to go even if it took a little longer than it probably should have.

Now for the update. Here is what I am up to:
4 Stadiums
Minute Maid Park (Houston)
Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati)
Turner Field (Atlanta)
Jacobs Field (Cleveland)

8 Teams
Houston Astros
St. Louis Cardinals
Cincinnati Reds
Colorado Rockies
Atlanta Braves
Florida Marlins
Cleveland Indians
Kansas City Royals

The World While I Was Gone

It has been over a month now since I have posted on this blog and with good reason. When we last spoke, the following things were on the plate:

1.) I was preparing to head to Cleveland with my friends Joel and Patrick to take in a Cleveland Indians game.
2.) I was getting ready to leave for Texas to go get married.
3.) After getting married, I was going to be on my way to Puerto Rico for a week for the honeymoon.
4.) After that, Raegan and I packed up a 17 foot U-Haul and drove it 1,000 miles from The Woodlands, TX to Wilmore, KY.
5.) And then, we had to move into the house and settle in.

Now see, I have been a busy man which is why this blog has not been that busy. Over the next few days I plan on updating the blog with posts about each of those events. It will take a few days to chronicle it all, but I will get it done.

John