Will root, root, roots for the Tigers

Well, we did it. We took Will to his first Tigers game yesterday, and it was a huge success. Will was a very sweet boy and he was so excited during the whole event.

Here's right as we're leaving. We left to drive to Detroit and meet our friends right when he woke up from his nap. We got him all decked out in his Tigers outfit though - he has a sweet Magglio Ordonez jersey - that's his favorite Tiger because they used to have the same hair (Will, Magglio).

We got downtown before everyone else so got to wander around a bit. Comerica Park - where the Tigers play - is very impressive. There are balls and giant tigers everywhere, so Will was constantly pointing at things and either yelling "Wow! A Baall!" or "RAaarrr" (Tiger roar).

We went looking around some nearby memorabilia stores for a Tigers shirt for mom. Lots more "A Ball!"s and roars.

We met our friends KC, Rachel, Jim, and others, got our tickets and went in the park to get dinner. What better dinner to have at the ball park then a hot dog!

Comerica Park has a Ferris Wheel made out of balls. Wow!

Our seats were not good. But sometimes the super-bleacher seats are the most fun. We had some good dancers, including a very entertaining beer vendor, and a great section of fans around us - Will entertained a lot of them. The young man sitting in front of us was a very good sport, even after getting hit by various things Will threw (raisin box, twizzler, water cup - multiple times, his cap, my cap...)

Will brought his glove.

So silly!

The game started off quietly - you don't always know what's going on when you're up that high, and also the Tigers were not doing much to excite the crowd. After the 5th inning, the Tigers were losing by a score of 6 - 0. Since, at this point, it was already after Will's bed time and he was being rather wiggly and disobedient, Erin and I were planning on packing up and heading home soon. But we decided to wait until the 7th-inning stretch, so Will could sing "Take me out to the ballgame".

But then, I had this feeling we might want to stick around.

Sure enough, in the 6th inning the Tigers scored a run (now 6 - 1). So there was some excitement, and Will got to high-five and fist-pound everyone. When the 7th-inning stretch came around (by the way, Will just stared off into space and sucked his fingers during the song, did not want to sing at all, what a letdown), Erin and I both thought he was doing well enough, and the excitement of the previous inning had interested him enough, that we could stick around a little longer.

In the bottom of the 7th, the Tigers rallied to score 5 runs and tied the game 6 - 6. Then, in the bottom of the ninth they won on a walk-off homerun, which is about as exciting as it gets. Erin and I had already decided we were leaving after that inning (because we were not about to wait out extra innings, since it was already a couple hours past Will's bedtime), so I couldn't have asked for a better way for the game to end.

Somehow, Will didn't fall asleep in the car the whole way home. We finally got him to bed at about 11, and he was only a little slow getting up this morning. But still roaring and very excited about the game last night. When I dropped him off at daycare this morning, I told him to tell all his friends about the Tigers game he went to - he ran inside yelling about "A BALL!"