Aud's first Reds game

The four of us met Doug & Marge for dinner last night, then we all headed down to the ball park - Great American Ball Park. It wasn't so much for the game, but they were doing fireworks afterwards. Eric had gone to a game a couple of weeks ago (when we were at the cottage) with Andy and said that he was pleasantly surprised by the fireworks. Seeing as how Conner ony remembers the not-so-great ones from the 4th of July, it seemed like a good opportunity to see some more.
We had a good time at the game. The weather was picture perfect - sunny but not hot, and it cooled down nicely when the sun went down. Attendance was sparse, so we had our pick of seats. We ended up in the first row of the upper deck along the 3rd base line (but down in the outfield). Conner spent some time playing on the steps with some cars I'd brought, and Audrey was able to make her way back and forth through all of the adults. She enjoyed climbing up on the rail and watching the game below. I have to admit that not too much baseball was seen by some of us. . .

The fireworks after the game were great, and pretty long, too. They were set to music that was pumped throughout the stadium; a nice crowd stayed to watch despite the outcome of the game (a 9 - 5 Reds loss in 10 innings). It was after 11:00 when we got to the car and after 12:00 by the time we got home - the kids were wiped out! I think the adults were, too.

I had book club this morning, then we met with the potential new babysitter at noon. I think she'll work out nicely as long as we agree on the money - we didn't have a chance to talk about it because another family showed up. I hate having to find a new babysitter, but I got a call from the New Richmond Transportation Department on Thursday and found out that Conner can't get the bus from Shannan's. The area that she lives in will attend morning preschool, but our area attends afternoon. Talk about putting a crimp in my plans! I was stressing on Thursday about it, but found an "ad" for this lady on a website called cincymoms. I e-mailed her, she called back, and we set up this time today to meet. She seems super nice, has a beautiful new house, and lives in the right part of the district (so Conner could even get the bus there next year when he goes to kindergarten). Hopefully this will work out!