the SON shines: $12 Parking + $30 in Snacks = $42. Family Time = Priceless

Brian's been wanting to take our family out to The Ballpark for a Rangers game.

I will allow him to write all over my pregnant stomach in permanent marker and then televise that bare stomach to the entire D/FW metroplex in the name of love. And, admittedly, because I do enjoy basketball. The constant running back and forth and scoring is entertaining.

But sitting in a little plastic chair during a game that lasts five innings too long and has very little to offer in the way of visual stimulation is not what some would call my love language.

Unless the tickets are free. Free usually speaks to my soul. Even so, I'm unsure I'm a truly willing participant when it comes to baseball.

But, in the name of love, and due to the free tickets Brian's brother generously passed on to us, we found ourselves heading to a Rangers vs. Angels game. (I sat in that hard plastic chair for seven innings and yet I cannot promise that's who we played).

Knowing that the length of the game and sitting so far from the action would lead to boredom for the boys, we settled on the idea that we'd constantly have to feed them snacks from the 4th inning until whenever Brian decided to call it a night. This is after we'd already fed them a nutritious meal from McDonald's on the way to The Ballpark.

I believe we made it through exactly two innings before we broke down and bought a bag of cotton candy.

$3.50 for a bag of pure sugar.

And, thus began the feeding of the boys that made me think of the Incans and how they used to toss their children into volcanoes to appease the gods. It was as if the only way we could appease our children at a game where the players looked one inch tall was to throw sacrifical junk food their way for six straight innings and pray they would stay contained in their seats.

However, there is no logic to the notion that if we fill up our children with sugar for six straight innings, they will sit still. Which is why we left in the seventh inning. Lord o' mercy.

Blessed unappeased mini volcanoes. Saved me from two innings.

But, I have to admit, this little moment and just being together as a family made me happy.

Because, someday too soon, I'm aware that family times could turn into outings where every member spends the entire time on their cell phone like this family in front of us.

Their entire Ballpark experience, though I'm sorry to judge, was spent on facebook and texting. I found it both a source of amusement and sadness.

As for the boys, while their Ballpark experience had very little to do with the actual game of baseball and more to do with a feeding frenzy, it included getting to ride a shuttle bus...

Daddy's shoulders...