LA HABRA, CA - We went over to the Bridgeford's house tonight for a BBQ. My friend Kayla was visiting from Seattle (that's her on the right in the above picture - Nickola Orr is in the middle) with her Mommy, Daddy and sister Makenzie. I got to play, play, play and daddy got to eat, eat, eat (Carne Asada, for those inquiring minds). The Bridgefords have a very fun swingset in their backyard with a special two-seat swing so I got to ride with Aiden, then Nickola and even Jacob Bridgeford (he's pretty old, like in 3rd grade or something). Oh, and I even got a purple popsicle for dessert...yummy.

FULLERTON, CA - Hoppy Easter! I know it's a bit early, but I'm feeling a bit festive since I got to go on my first Easter egg hunt today. We went over to a very nice house and had a yummy brunch, sang some songs (while the Easter Bunny - wink, wink - hid all the eggs) and then went on a very successful egg hunt. My friends Abby and Nickola were there along with their brother James and lots of other real nice kids. I think my favorite eggs had stickers or jellybeans in them. Yay!

FULLERTON, CA - Well, there's a first time for everything and tonight I got to go bowling for my first time ever. I went with mommy, daddy, aunt Julie, my friends Morgan and Lindsay and their dad. The highlight for me had to be the fact that you got special shoes to bowl in...and they had some that were just my size! How can you not like something that requires a shoe change? Dad was proud of me because the first time I put the bowling ball down in front of the lane I tried to kick it...Coach Mark would be so happy.

I was so excited to be bowling that I ran about 6 feet down the bowling lane in my special shoes. Daddy learned that it's very slippery out there when he tried to come "rescue" me. He fell down. Whooops. Morgan and Lindsay's dad appeared to be the best bowler of the group - he scored over 200! I asked what my dad what score he got and he said that what was important was just having fun and enjoying each other's company. Hmmm, sounds like he stinks at bowling.

SPRING TRAINING UPDATE #4 - MONDAY

We droppped off Nana & Tata at the airport this morning, and then drove, drove, drove back to my house in Fullerton. After we dropped off our passengers, I told Aunt Julie that I was ready for another baseball game. I think that made her very happy. She said we could go to another game very soon and we wouldn't have to drive very far at all, since the Angels play right by my house!

I had such a good time in Arizona...thank you Aunt Julie, thank you Nana & Tata!

SPRING TRAINING UPDATE #3 - SUNDAY

PHOENIX, AZ - Today we went to see Nana's A's at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. They were taking on their cross-bay rivals, Los Gigantes de San Francisco. It was pretty warm today so Aunt Julie took me to find some shade right away. The lawn area was up behind 3rd base past all the food stands. There was a nice man there who was cleaning up after the Valporaiso Alumni Party, but had one extra hot dog left over...just for me! I stayed in the shade for most of this game, but I hear it ended in exciting fashion, with the home side winnig 3-2 in the bottom of the 9th. Nana said it was the most exciting thing we had seen this trip. Daddy disagreed, he mumbled something about KU getting a #1 seed, but I don't really see what that has to do with Spring Training. Anyways, I met a very nice girl named Sydney, who I shared my stickers with for several innings. She was very nice.






DINNER: MACAYO'S DEPOT, TEMPE
After another failed attempt to visit Aunt Chilada's, we settled on a casual mexican restaurant that is housed in a former train station just north of downtown Tempe. Macayo's has several Arizona locations and I liked my beans and rice, but the highlight for me had to be the red balloon from our waitress. Outside of re-filling daddy's water with iced tea, I thought she did an excellent job. Daddy also noticed that a couple of Angels broadcasters, Terry Smith and Jose Mota seemed to be enjoying themselves there as well, so Aunt Julie said that any mexican restaurant good enough for them, was probably good enough for us.

SPRING TRAINING UPDATE #2 - SATURDAY

PHOENIX, AZ - We drove up to Maryvale Baseball Park today to catch the Brewers take on the Diamondbacks. We were going to go to a Brewers game last year but got rained out, so this was our "make-up game." I may have taken a little snooze on the way up to the park, but I'm told I didn't miss much. Aunt Julie scored us some seats right behind the Diamondbacks dugout which was cool - plus there was a shaded lawn area where we could go whenever we got too hot...or to finish a nap. This being Milwaukee's home park and all meant that we got to see a Sausage race in the top of the 7th inning...wheeeee! The crowd favorite was clearly sausage #5, Mr Chorizo, but he couldn't pull out the victory this time...Sausage #3 (The Italian Sausage) nipped the others at the line. There were a lot of hits in this game and the home team pulled out the victory 9-8.






DINNER: DOWNTOWN TEMPE
After the game we went over to Borders in Tempe to work up an appetite by reading some good stories about Strawberry Shortcake and Dora the Explorer. Mommy read about recipes and Aunt Julie caught up on "the news" by reading People Magzine. For dinner, we walked across the street to Pizzeria Uno. I had the Mac N' Cheese, or as I call it, the "Chee-zee Mack." While we were waiting for them to make my dinner, I got to meet a horse named Candy. Candy was waiting in the street for some people to pull in her special cart. The horse was very nice...she let me say Hi and pet her gently. Oh, and for dessert it was a quick stop at Cold Stone for some mint ice cream with rainbow sprinkles...yummmy!

SPRING TRAINING UPDATE #1 - FRIDAY

TEMPE, AZ - We made it to Spring Training in Arizona! After mommy woke me up at 5:00 am, before the sun was even up, we drove, drove, drove to Phoenix to pick up my Nana & Tata at the airport. Then we drove straight to Tempe Diablo Stadium (home of my Angels) to watch them take on the Padres (who are now managed by former Angels pitching coach, Bud Black - one of my mommy's favorites). When I looked up from doing my sticker book with Tata, I noticed that Kelvim Escobar was the one pitching for the Halos. The Padres pitcher, David Wells, didn't even make it out of the 2nd inning...I guess fielding that bunt by Chone Figgins was harder than it looked. The Angels won the game, but we were long gone by then...a swimming pool was calling my name. Oh, in case you were wondering, and I know you were, I had a hot dog, lemonade and ice cream...mmmm, the tastes of spring.







DINNER: ARIZONA MILLS - TEMPE
After a quick swim, we crossed the street to Arizona Mills so we could find some dinner. Mommy had the great idea to go to Johnny Rockets...they have burgers, fries and shakes there, what else could you want? I went with the grilled cheese sandwich which came with french fries (I let Daddy share those).