Friends with Benefits

My friend Lisa's husband works for the Houston Astros - not as a janitor or concessions worker, but as a real, life, bona-fide higher-up guy who has access to a sweet suite at Minute Maid Park! We finally got ourselves invited for the last home game of the season. There were three couples and three toddlers. 

Willa was pretty nervous at first, especially during the national anthem, but she got used to it and soon was trying to make a great escape with the other two rascals into the neighboring suite.

Here's the inside of the place. It is definitely the only way to go to a sporting event with a toddler. We still didn't get a lot of game watching in, but we could let them play and roam free inside whenever they got too wild outside. We also got to quiz Larry on the details of a President Obama visit to the park where Larry had to host him. Sometimes Lisa would let slip top secret changes coming to the team when they move to the American League next year. I like this photo of Ryan, with his head halo'd by light, he looks like Medieval saint.

You can see that we moved the furniture out of the way to allow for that delicate balance of maximum roaming/minimum injury. We brought toys and snacks, which are all over the floor, and it was a very enjoyable night! The hostess from the suite next door even brought over three popcorns for the little tykes!