Hendrix Night at the Naturals

Play Ball!

Last night we attended our first Northwest Arkansas Naturals game at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.

It was also Hendrix Night at the Naturals so I got to see some old college friends. I also saw one of the moms of a kid in our Sunday school class. She went to Hendrix, and we didn't even know that about each other! She was about 4 years ahead of me, though.





Here are the teams warming up. I couldn't decide who to cheer for. I guess I was supposed to be for the Naturals. But, having grown up in North Little Rock, it is just hardwired into me to cheer for the Travs. I found myself cheering for them without meaning to!






The Naturals mascot is a sasquatch named Strike. Why they picked a sasquatch, I don't know. I guess that was better than a naked man. (au naturel.....)







The girls enjoyed the game for the most part. They had jumpy things and a playground, which they both enjoyed a lot more. The jumpy thing cost $1 every time you wanted to go through it, though. So they each got to do it once.





There were so many kids on the playground that you had to stand in line to use anything! That didn't stop my girls, though.








Here's Beta on these cool things you could step on and move across. Some were anchored down, but others were just chained so they moved.











Here's Alpha on another thing that moved. She loves to climb.








Up near the playground, there was an impromptu kids ballgame. They had about 4 or 5 1st basemen, 3 or 4 2nd basemen, and about 20 kids lined up to bat. It was really neat to see! I thought it captured the spirit and heart of baseball much more than the playground or even the real game down there did. Just a bunch of kids with a ball, a bat, and some dirt. Paul Greenberg, of the Democrat-Gazette, should see this.



The scoreboard was built so you could walk right in front of it. The girls loved seeing how big it was up close.







Now for the outtakes:

Before we went, I put bug spray on both girls. As we were passing the beer garden on our way to the playground, you could smell the beer pretty strong in the air. Beta says "I smell that bugspray!"

We wanted sprite to drink. Alas, they have a contract with Pepsi. But even then, there was no Sierra Mist or Slice. So Jim got us all lemonade ice cups. Very yummy, but they kind of made us thirstier than we were before. They also turned our tongues yellow!





As Alpha and I were walking back to the playground, she says she's finally figured out why they only sell drinks with caffeine. "It's so you can stay awake to watch the game!" (and I found this to be true. The first 5 or 6 innings were no-hit no-run innings for almost both sides. )

We all had a wonderful time!