Weekend At Owen's

Even with school starting, there remained one last gasp of summer fun, when my cousins- Alexa, Madison & Quinn aka The Girls- came to Chicago for a visit downtown, a sleepover, a Sox game, and pizza, pancakes and gelato.
The weekend started with a trek out to Naperville through some serious rain to pick-up the girls. We headed back to Chicago, where the weather cleared up and allowed for a quick bus trip to Michigan Ave. for some window shopping and head scratching when we got to the city's newest public art piece, a giant sculpture of Marilyn Monroe. We hoped the bus back to West Town and stopped or some pizza at Roots, then dessert at Black Dog Gelato. Stomachs filled we headed home for bed.
The next morning we slowly made our way out the door for brunch at a brand new restaurant nearby called Prasino, which also has a location near Gigi & Papa's. That sat us in a cool alcove, where we all enjoyed our food, which was mainly pancakes. The weekend visit with my cousins ended with a trip to U.S. Cellular Field for the White Sox vs. Texas Rangers. It was a hot day, so we ventured from our seats to find a mini-carnival midway set-up in the outfield concourse. I played some games, won prizes and hung out with stilt walkers and the Sox mascot Southpaw. Madison tried the batting cages and we both tried to throw strikes at a moving target, which Madison had better luck with. We left the rare Sox victory early to beat the heat and the traffic back out to the burbs, where the summeresque weekend came to an end.

Grinderbash 2010

Dad, Casey and I were invited the White Sox Grinderbash 2010 this year, which Dad tells me was an awesome opportunity and that one day I would realize it a bit more. I did enjoy walking around the field on the warning track and playing catch in the White Sox and visitors bullpens. I also got to sit in the dugout, visit the visitor's clubhouse (re: locker room), and see the 2005 World Series Trophy. All-in-all a fun experience, and a beautiful day I may not remember, but Dad will certainly remind me of.
Special thanks to Lindsey in the White Sox office for the tickets.

Go White Sox!

Just a few weeks after attending my first Sox game of the year, I got to go to Sox Park again in early-June. It was my fifth game in only three years on earth. Dad must really want to make sure I root for the right team. Gigi and Papa came along on what turned out to be kids day, so I got to dance with a random dog and play in a moon jump before we headed to the awesome seats Chris Schuba gave us. I wandered around with dad and got as close as possible to the field, where the newest White So(x or ck), Gordon Beckham, signed my dad's Sox cap. When the game started I had a hot dog, then passed out in Gigi's arms, where I slept for a good five innings, not even waking up for the firework's after Alexei Ramirez's homer. Unfortunately, that was the only highlight for the Sox that day, as they lost to the Indians 8 - 4.

It's Root, Root Root For The White Sox

Daddy's a huge White Sox fan and he has taken me to a couple games already, but this time we sat in awesome seats, thanks to his friend Dave Rockland at Jam. They are directly behind the visitor's dugout, which happened to be the Toronto Blue Jays. We didn't boo cause we love us some Toronto. I was so close to home plate, first base and the pitcher's mound, but I was more into eating popcorn and a hot dog and talking to the people sitting behind us. The seats are also on TV whenever a lefty was up. I was sure to wave to Papa each time and the next morning Dad replayed the game so I could see myself on TV. It was cold and a bit rainy, so I wanted to leave around the 6th inning, but not before we saw Alexei Ramirez hit a grand slam, which meant some loud fireworks. The Sox went onto win 10 - 2, but have since played like poop.