Weekend adventure

Last week, I became the grandmother of an adult - Matthew turned 18. Time for an adventure. Our tradition has been to see a minor league baseball game to celebrate his birthday. The only farm team of the Orioles that he had yet to see was the Norfolk Tides. Road trip! We left early Saturday morning with plans of going on a boat cruise to see dolphins at 2, then the game at 7:15. Traffic got in our way - a long slow backup to get to the Norfolk tunnel. Plan B was to go on the 4 pm boat cruise - got there with about 5 minutes to spare only to learn boat trips for the weekend were cancelled due to very choppy seas. Plan C became a nice walk on the beach - he knows his Mimi pretty well, how I love to walk on the beach and get my feet into the ocean. Here's Matt.

Got to the game a bit late due to more traffic, had a good time and the Tides won. In fact, the Orioles and the other farm teams all won that day.

The Norfolk area is home to several military bases. Saturday night was Armed Forces Appreciation Night, complete with fireworks. The seventh inning stretch at the stadium begins with a photo tribute to the Armed Forces to the sounds of Kate Smith leading the crowd in the singing of God Bless America. That was impressive.

We ran through our options for Sunday and decided to see another baseball game - Matt was hoping to see two of his favorite pitchers on this trip - he did see one on Sunday. And the Tides won again!

The biggest surprise of the trip for me was yet to come. As we stopped for dinner, about 50 miles south of DC, he announced he would be driving the rest of the way home. I had to take several deep breaths - it's been a long time since I drove with a teenager - but it was going to happen. As you can see, he's a good sized guy in the MimiMobile.

After a brief spin in the parking lot to test the brakes, etc., we got back on I95 north and after a while I stopped clutching the door handle and pushing the imaginary brake pedal and became the navigator with just a few gentle hints for driving in heavy, fast traffic. We both relaxed into the drive and he did fine. He described the adjustment as when a coach and a player are new to each other, both are a little on edge and have to find the groove. So, we grooved home after a fast and fun trip. So nice to have a grown grandson who still wants to travel with his "Little Mimi".

Thanks for reading, Karen