Nats Fest 2014

Last weekend we took the boys to Nats Fest 2014.  It was a really fun event that we all enjoyed.  We got to go in a little early since we are partial season ticket holders, so we got to do a few things before it got really crowded.  Timmy and Tyler demanded that we go straight to the batting inflatable, and they took a few turns each!

 From there, Tim went ahead to get in line for pictures with players.  I waited with the boys to have balloon hats made, and then Timmy took some batting practice from, we are assuming, some minor league players.  He thought it was so cool that he got a few hits off of "real baseball players"!

The boys got to take a picture with Doug Fister and Danny Espinosa.  The players were really nice, sitting down on the bench so Timmy and Tyler could actually be in the picture!

Timmy had asked if he would get to run the bases, and I was happy to see they had a set up of 3rd to Home.  They took a few turns each the first time we went.  Later, while Tim was waiting in line for our autographs, they went literally dozens of times!  Both people starting and timing them commented every time they came through.  Timmy was in heaven!  He did get Tyler to race him one time; Tyler, ready for his nap, had a melt down before he was half way down the line because Timmy was already done, I had to go pick him up!  They went a few more times individually, before Timmy asked Tyler to race him again, but promised to go slow.  Tyler agreed and Timmy went at a snails pace!

Tim headed off to hear people talking about the organization...

So I took the boys over to "Story Time with the Players" to see what it was like.  It was awesome.  Bryce Harper was sitting there reading Corduroy to the group!  I maneuvered the boys up to the closest empty bean bags and we enjoyed listening to the first book.  After he finished, he asked for volunteers to pick a second book.  I had brought along copies of our Christmas Card from 2012 with the hopes of having them autographed if Bryce was in our session, after seeing him ask for volunteers, I took one over to Timmy and told him that if he got picked to choose the next book, to give him our card.  Timmy passed this job off to Tyler, and then held Tyler's hand in the air through the entire second book!  Bryce read, "The Berenstein Bears go out for Baseball" and it was pretty entertaining.  He laughed at several parts of the story, and towards the end substituted the team name "Orioles" for "Nationals", and then admitted what he had done.  It was cool to see his personality showing around the kids.

Top right and bottom left you can see Timmy holding Tyler's arm up!

Tyler was indeed selected to pick the third book, and he successfully delivered our Christmas card to Bryce!  I checked after he left, and he did take it with him!

Joe was working the event and after story time we found him to say hello for a few minutes.  Then Tim headed off to the autograph line and the boys did all of their base running!  We joined Tim for the last stretch of the line and got autographs from Danny Espinosa and Tyler Clippard.  Espinosa recognized them from the photo session, asking if he'd taken pictures with them earlier.  We were supposed to get one autograph per player, so Tim had given one ball to Timmy and one to Tyler, and told them who to give their ball too.  Luckily, after signing Timmy's ball, Danny reached for Tyler's as well, and Clippard followed suit, both signing both balls.  Tyler excited told Clippard that his name was Tyler too.  Both players were very nice.

On our way out Tim went to the shop and the boys and I wandered over to see where we were hearing music from.  Two musicians who frequently play at the park were there giving demonstrations and letting the kids check out their instruments.  They both loved playing the Baseball Bat (!) and the organ!

Tim was shopping for a Dug Out Line Up card for himself, and found one he liked and then noticed it was from his own birthday!  Looking a little further, he found the line up card from Tyler's actual birth date!  So they were both added to his memorabilia collection.