Last night we went to a Lakeshore Chinooks baseball game, which is the local NWL team. They have a beautiful stadium about 10 minutes from our house that just opened up a few summers ago. It’s clean, it sits directly on the shores of Lake Michigan, it’s much smaller than Miller Park and subsequently so much better to handle with small children, and it’s just all around easy and pleasant.
The last time Della and I had been was the summer of 2012 when I was pregnant with Lana, so I was excited to get back. Plus tickets are only $6 – can’t beat that.
The main reason we went was because it was princess night. Little girls could come and meet some princesses in person, and a local salon and spa was doing complimentary princess hair and makeup if you so chose. Della loved having a princess braid put in her hair, but we forewent the makeup. On a 3 year old? No thanks.
Since summer apparently forgot that it officially began this past weekend around here, the entire stadium was blanketed in thick fog by the time we arrived, and the first pitch got postponed for over an hour past its originally scheduled 6:35 time slot. The game ended up being canceled at 7:45 due to conditions, but at least our tickets are good for another game of our choosing.
The fog did lift at one point, though, and it stayed clear just long enough for what turned out to be the supreme highlight of the evening. All the little girls got to go out on the field and run the bases with the princesses. Oh man, Della was going to love this!
Little did I know what was in store…
Everyone lined up at home plate for a photo op, then the girls all took off running down the third base line. Why they ran them backwards, I have no idea, but as soon as everyone started running, “Let It Go” came over the speakers. And the girls began running as fast as they could, barely able to contain their excitement.
About halfway between third and second bases of the first lap (they were running the bases backwards, remember), Della all of a sudden left the pack. I thought, where in the world is she going? It was quite obvious what the intended route was.
She apparently had grander plans.
She ran into the infield, practically stood on the pitcher’s mound, and proceeded to enact her entire routine to “Let It Go,” singing, hand motions, foot stomps, and all.
I honestly almost burst into tears I was so happy watching her do her own little thing and have the most amazing time doing it. Witnessing the sheer, unadulterated joy of a kid being a kid, as that kid’s parent, is probably the single most wonderful thing I have ever experienced.
Her little legs could not go any faster, she was running around that field so happily and carefreely. Carefreely? Is that even a word? It is now, and it’s exactly how she was running.
She did rejoin the crowd a couple times to continue on around, but man, that infield was her stage. I could not believe it. I’ve never known her to break away so surely from a group like that, especially since she first trotted out hand-in-hand with another little girl she had befriended earlier on the playground. But break away she did, and I couldn’t have been prouder.
I kept thinking that had a talent scout been in the crowd, we would have had the next Broadway star on our hands. Well, maybe.
I tell ya, this parenting stuff just never ceases to amaze me. These little pieces of me who are now out and about in the world, walking, singing, dancing, “Let It Go”-ing on their own just make me so, so very happy.
our little princesses with the “real” princesses. della decided she wanted to run around on the playground instead of wear her princess dress, so they both settled for crowns and Frozen necklaces. and della wore her fancy pink jellies with flowers on them. plus it was way too cold for a dress. stupid weather.
that is awesome!! way to go, Della!