Our Weekend in Baylor and the Bears Baseball Games

Today I am going to share our photos from the Baylor Bears baseball games and a couple of places we visited.  Let me warn you now...there are a lot of photos.  I'm being serious.  You may want to opt out now but you'll be sorry you missed some cuteness!

We were so lucky the rain stopped in time for the baseball game.  It was very cold but we did not let that get in the way of having fun.

Can you see the excitement in their faces to see their cousin, Kameron Esthay, play baseball?  OMG.  These girls are seriously his #1 fans.

You can see from this photo it is very overcast (and quite chilly!).

We had to stop and take a photo with the Baylor Bears mascot.

Can you tell we were freezing?  We had to buy a Baylor Bears blanket to help keep us warm.  Ms. A has on her Baylor beanie and the hood of her sweatshirt.  We also have on under shirts to fight off the chill.

The guy at the top is my nephew Hunter (Kameron's brother).  The beautiful girl, front and center, is his fiancee Miranda.  They are getting married in December.  He did a great job in choosing her.  She is so sweet and lots of fun.

Here are the Bears warming up for the game.

Kam stopped by to say hello to the girls.  They were so excited.  You can see he thinks just as much of them as they do him.  Ms. A is very much into watching sports, especially football.  Sweet P not so much.  But that all changed that weekend.  She watched the game closely and learned so much about baseball.

Before the game a team of baseball players met with the Baylor Bears for photos and autographs.

Here's a photo of Kam and one of the young players running onto the field.

The sun came out and we had a picturesque afternoon.

Here's the reason we were in Waco, TX to watch the Baylor Bears play Kansas.  Go #18!!!

Kansas had their best pitcher playing and the Bears lost 6-1.  After the game there were beautiful fireworks.

We all went out to dinner at George's Restaurant and Bar.  I was so busy visiting I didn't get any pics. Really wish I had as Kam's girlfriend, Emory, was with us.  It's not a fancy place but the food was really good.

The next morning we went to Chip and Joann's Magnolia Store, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and the new Baylor Bears football McLane stadium.  I will share my photos and thoughts with you on the Magnolia Store in another post.  Sorry, I don't want to rush through it.  :)

It was very chilly and dreary first thing on Saturday morning but by the time we reached the museum we had a beautiful day and slightly warmer temps.  We could not have asked for more beautiful weather.

Here's Sweet P trying to make the same steps as the basketball players...

Ms. A's turn with her long legs.

 I'm sure you've heard the saying "she may be little but she is fierce" definitely applies to Sweet P.  Don't let her small stature mislead you.  She is very strong and quite determined.  Not to mention this girl has a six pack from all of her time spent in gymnastics.

Here she is attempting to lift the shot put.

She was trying so hard to lift it.

Here's where the determination sets in.  At this point she realized she was not going to be able to lift it.   :)

I didn't realize Drew Brees was from Texas.

 Ms. A is currently taking Horsemanship so she found the saddle rather interesting.

The girls have both played soccer for several years so they really enjoyed this exhibit.

How 'bout those Astros?!!!

Ms. A and her favorite team the Houston Texans.

 A little shout out to the Dallas Cowboys.

Our own local baseball hall of fame player Nolan Ryan.

 I'll never forget my first time I went to the Astrodome to see the Astros play baseball.   They wore the bright orange uniforms.

Sweet P thought the bench made of tennis balls was pretty cool even though it was very hard and uncomfortable.

From there we went to see the new football stadium.  They were doing face painting, rock climbing, etc.  By the time we got there they had picked everything up.  :(  We had one disappointed little girl.  

We enjoyed walking around the stadium.  It is so nice.

I love this pic of her adjusting her cap.

We walked around to the other side of the stadium.

Here are the girls with Robert Griffin III's statue.

 The landscaping was very pretty.

Here's the bridge you can walk over to get to the baseball and soccer fields.  Supposedly people arrive in boats for the football games.  How cool would that be?

Baylor University campus is beautiful.  I have to say this was my first trip to Waco and I totally fell in love with the city.

After our visit to the stadium we went to the baseball parking lot to meet up with my brother and sister-in-law.  My brother had made pasta jambalaya for everyone.  It was so good.  And no, I did not get any photos.  I was too busy trying to make sure the girls ate and stayed away from the large hot pot.  You know how there is always one that gravitates towards the hot pot not paying attention.  I'm not mentioning any names.  :)

Afterwards we walked over to the baseball stadium.  It was Military Appreciation Day and the National Guard was out in full force.  They had a band playing music, they had the dogs out, and several other things all going on at the same time.  We were handed Baylor Bear dog tags when we handed in our tickets.

Sweet P was so happy to see a face painting table.  All was right with the world!!!  It's hard to see but there are gold flakes of glitter on the paint.  She was one happy girl.

How cute is this?  She was really watching them get ready for the game.  If you know her, you know this is a huge shift for her to sit still and watch the game with real interest.

Here are the guys warming up for their next game against Kansas.

Ready to watch some baseball.

Whose fingers do you think those belong to?

The incoming new members of the National Guard.  It was very moving when they did the swear-in by repeating the oath.  I couldn't help but think how young they all looked.  I was so appreciative yet my heart went out to their families.  So bittersweet.  I asked God to please keep them safe.

This sweet girl did not want to take off her Baylor Bears sweatshirt hoodie.  :)  Thank goodness it was cool enough for her to wear it.  She has such beautiful hair.

That's my brother talking to Sweet P sitting next to him.  He loved being around the girls.

Here's Sweet P getting restless while waiting for the game to start.

Look who she was talking to!

Game time!

Doesn't it look like the second baseman is trying to antagonize Kam?

Unfortunately Kam played it too close and was put out between second and third base.  The Bears won 2-1.  Go Bears!!!  After the fireworks on Friday night, the girls expected to see more after the game.  Baylor had set their expectations pretty high.

After the game we all went to see where Kam lives and then we were on our way to Baris Pasta and Pizza.  We were lucky Brooke and Brad got there early and were able to get us a table as the restaurant was packed.  The food was delicious.  I got the shrimp fettuccine with the red sauce.  It was so good!

Here's Ms. A and Kam...

and Sweet P with Kam.

After dinner he autographed some posters for the girls.  They were so excited.

Brooke and Brad (no photos of them but they were there) stayed in the living room and slept on the sofa bed.  Brooke turned the A/C down to 62 degrees.  It was so cold.  Sweet P usually sleeps on top of the covers but not this time!  She was all snuggled under the covers and her blanket.  They slept in and we had to wake them up at 10 a.m. with breakfast in bed.  Now we know the secret to getting them to sleep late. :)

On Sunday we originally planned to leave early and not stay for the game.  The girls got the okay from their mom to stay so we persuaded Paw Paw to stay.  He wanted to stay, too, so it didn't take that much effort.

We were blessed with another beautiful day with perfect weather.

We started out in the sun and quickly moved to the shade.  I left the sunscreen in my suitcase so we moved to the shade.  We totally underestimated the heat of the sun and we all got a little red.

The night before Miranda introduced Sweet P to Snap Chat so she was playing with Miranda' phone.  Sweet P is going to be the flower girl for their wedding.

Game is over and the Bears won 5-2.  It was definitely worth staying for.

Everyone is trying to get their "good-bye" hug before we head home.

I didn't get one of Ms. A hugging Kam.  Sweet P is telling Kam that Daniel (the catcher) gave her a baseball.  The guys are all so sweet to the girls.

We had a nice ride home.  The girls watched a movie and I tried hard to capture the flowers along side the highway.  :)

We had a great time.  We would be there today if we could have gotten hotel reservations but they were all sold out.  :(  We are still trying to get a room for May....keeping our fingers crossed we get one.

Go Bears!!!

I will share my photos of the silos and the Magnolia Store with you tomorrow.  Hope you have a wonderful evening!

xoxoxo

Debbie