We spent Spring Break in warm and sunny Phoenix, AZ and had such a great time! We did the same thing
two years ago and had a blast and vowed to do it again sometime. The main draw to Phoenix is it's where the Texas Rangers have their spring training, and Kolby was itching to take his boy to go watch some baseball, so off we went!
If the concept of spring training is foreign to you (like it was to me), it's a month where baseball teams (the major league players plus the minor league players) each have a training complex with several fields and every morning they have practice and every afternoon they play real games against each other. It's really casual and you can see all the players up close and meet a lot of them and get autographs and such. And for the die hard fans like Kolby, you can scout out all the hot new prospects for the year (nerd alert!).
I'll admit that I've become somewhat of a baseball fan over the years so I do enjoy that aspect but I have to say my favorite part is the weather! Phoenix is warm and endlessly sunny in the spring and it's such a welcomed break from the dreary Texas weather. It was so nice to just get away as a family and spend such a fun week together! And the best part this year (other than having Beckett along!) was that both sets of our parents joined us for part of the week. It was amazing.
Here are way more pictures than you care to see!
First I have to share this picture from the flight there. I feel like it perfectly captures what it was like to fly with a VERY active one year old. It was a totally full flight and we had a 45 minute delay on the runway and were so cramped for space because of course we are too cheap to check bags so we had stored a ton of stuff in the floorboard. Beckett was oblivious to the cramped quarters and kept popping up between Kolby's knees and cracking himself up.
Oh, and he did possibly the funniest thing we've ever seen him do on the flight there. He was flirting with this pretty, blonde, mid-thirties woman across the aisle from us. She had the window seat, so there were two other people between her and us. At one point, completely out of nowhere, Beckett blew her this big, slobbery, two-handed kiss... and to make sure she knew it was to her and not the people between us, he immediately followed the kiss with this exaggerated finger point, like "that was to YOU, baby!" Oh my, we are in so much trouble with this little flirt!
On to the trip...
The morning of our very first day we stumbled upon Colby Lewis (star pitcher for the Rangers, and Kolby's favorite player) walking between fields and he was so nice to stop and meet us and hold Beckett and sign his baseball card. He told Beckett that one day he'll be big like him!
Some more pictures from morning practices:
Beckett switched to walking full-time less than a week before this trip, so it was perfect timing for him to get a chance to roam around and practice his new skills!
I have about a million pictures of Kolby and Beckett walking around like this and they make my heart melt into a puddle. MELT.
Grams and Grandpops! I love how Beckett is pointing to his head and saying "hat?!?" He's still obsessed with hats and was in heaven seeing all the baseball hats around!
Ready to get his baseball and baseball cards signed!
I need to take a minute and brag on myself for getting Beckett's Yu Darvish card signed for him. I worked hard for that one.
Catching a ride with Grandpops.
Beckett's favorite part was definitely playing on the golf carts and gators that the coaches used to move between fields.
Love these two guys!
Beckett meeting Martin Perez, another Rangers pitcher.
One really cool thing about this year is that our family friend (and fellow Allen Eagle and Baylor Bear), Shawn Tolleson, was picked up by the Rangers in the off-season so we got to see him pitch at spring training and it was really cool. So excited to cheer him on this season!
And here are some pictures from the afternoon baseball games:
Hanging out with CeeCee and Poppa.
After several weeks of Kolby practicing with him at home, Beckett finally got the chance to boo the Angels. Cutest heckler there ever was.
I can't tell you how much fun Beckett had running all.over.the.place. Busy busy!
The whole gang!
We did a lot of other fun things in Phoenix too... went to the park, the zoo, the botanical gardens, and some really cool restaurants. I don't have a ton of pictures of all that but here a few.
Beckett living the high life will all his favorite people in one place!
Admiring the monkeys (his favorite animal BY FAR) at the zoo. The orangutans basically blew his mind.
Checking out the zebras.
His first splash park experience. This kid has always loved everything he's ever done or tried, but we finally found something he's not a fan of: cold water!
Brushing a goat (this was right after a game so please excuse the Rangers gear overload).
We don't go out to eat just the three of us very often but on our last night in Phoenix we went to a hip restaurant at like 4pm and it was great. Beckett was hamming it up for the camera.
We had such a fun time and I'm so thankful that we got to spend some great time with our parents and just us three, playing all day together! No words could do justice to what a ball this kid had. He's a true baseball fan already!
