First Glimpse and Moving In

It's been years decades since I've been to Disney.

So I don't really remember the 'magic' of it.

And magical is how I often hear it described as our friends go and take their kiddos

for the first time.

Well, about a month before our big trip, I ran into an old high school girlfriend

that I literally hadn't seen since graduation.

(at a baseball tournament, of all places!)

Her family had been to Cooperstown several years before.

She described it to me with an excited look in her eye.

Said it was the Disney World of baseball.

I kinda smiled when she said it.

Didn't necessarily understand her, until …

 … we pulled up to the gates of Dreams Park.

It was a beautiful, sunny day.

There were flags everywhere, blowing in the breeze.

The grass was a gorgeous green.

The mountains in the background made the perfect backdrop.

Seriously, I got chills as we pulled in.

Pretty sure Bowdie got teary-eyed, too.

He may be 41, but he loves baseball and could appreciate how great this was for a 12 year old!

Seriously, it was fantastic!

I literally sat in the front seat and clapped my hands in excitement for Jarrett!

We pulled through the gate and got in a line to head to the barracks to unload 

all of Jarrett and Bowdie's stuff and get them moved in for the week.

And as we pulled in, this is what we saw:

baseball field after baseball field.

Red, white and blue everywhere.

Gorgeous bedding plants growing out of huge pots.

Everywhere I looked it was like the park was screaming,

'Welcome … baseball really is America's favorite pastime!'

This is the line of cars waiting to head to the barracks.

We had heard that this could be a little bit of a nightmare …

I mean, there are 104 teams checking in.

And each team has anywhere from 10-12+ players.

So that's a lot of cars and a lot of stuff to move in.

But we jumped in line early, even though our check in time was later.

So we only probably waited about an hour to get to the barracks.

As we drove in, each state's flag lined the road …

we spotted Georgia right away!

More red, white and blue!

Love the old school wooden outfield walls … 

Our first glimpse of the barracks, where the team would be staying.

It was basically just several rows of long metal buildings.

Each building was divided in half, so that there were 2 sides.

Waiting to be released to drive into the barracks area ...

So what to do with all the time waiting?

Trade pins, of course!

Jarrett and the other boys jumped out of cars and started trading.

So fun!!

Still trading ...

One boy had this list - he was going to keep up with what pins he had and still needed.

Goal of the week?

Get all 104 pins, plus ones from umpires as well.

Tradition … one of my favorite words of all time.

This place was full of 'em!

Driving into the barracks area ...

This would be the ONLY time any adult (other than the coaches)

was allowed in this area.  Even during checkout.

They had tight security and I loved it.  

There were manned guard stations at each entrance/exit to the barracks area.

No special wristband = no entry.  Period.

Players had to be checked out and checked in to leave Dreams Park.

Moving in to 55B.

No air conditioning in here!

Just a screened door, windows, and box fans.

Remember, though, this is upstate New York.

At night the temps dropped to the 50s.

During the day they were a perfect high 60 or low 70!

This is a boy's dream right here …

bunk beds, a foot locker for each boy,

and lots of togetherness!

Sweet Sam, always thinking ahead,

bought a whole box of ear plugs.

Didn't want anyone kept awake by the snore-ers!

Most of the mama's … we were able to get the boys unpacked into their footlockers,

make sure they knew where we put stuff, and then we left it to the coaches.

Whew!!

My sweet hubs.

So glad he got to stay with Jarrett and the boys.  

Pretty sure it brought out a little bit of the boy in him as well.

I mean, he played baseball from the time he could (t-ball) right through college.

He loves the game.  L-O-V-E-S it.  

He asked me during the week, 'Man, why didn't they have this when I was 12??!'

A panoramic of the barrack …

notice there aren't many boys.

They had run off to trade pins!

One more pic of 55B.

Ready for an awesome week!

And yes, this was a chance to 'live the dream' for sure …