A Summer Storm at the Ballpark

We had tickets to the Bees game on Tuesday night, but we knew going in that this one was going to look a little different from our usual night at the ballpark. We have been running pretty hard all summer, especially over the last weekend, and we knew we weren’t up for a late night on a weeknight. The forecast was also calling for some serious rain around 9:00, so our plan was simple: walk over, enjoy a few innings, and be home and in bed before the storm arrived.

My grandma had also bought tickets and invited a bunch of her family to the game. She wasn’t able to get all of their seats together, so even though we kept our tickets, we told her that some of them could use our seats and we would find somewhere else to sit. We weren’t planning to stay long anyway, and we figured we could wander around the ballpark and see where the night took us.

The heat has been scorching lately, and Tuesday was no exception. Still, we rarely mind braving the heat to walk to a Bees game. The walk there may be hot, but the walks home are almost always lovely.

As we approached the stadium, Madeline spotted Jensen hanging out near the security area. She immediately started bouncing up and down in her stroller with excitement. Mads loves a good mascot, and it turned out that this particular night would be full of them.

On our way into the stadium, we ran right into her favorite mascot, Daisy. Madeline was thrilled. She ran over, gave Daisy a big hug, and followed it up with a high five. We started to move along, but Madeline made it clear that she also wanted a picture. Daisy crouched down to her level, and the two of them took a very cute photo together. We had barely made it through the gates, and the night was already a success.

We dropped off our stroller and went to say hello to my grandparents. We sat next to my grandpa for an inning or so, and he had brought along a little bag of M&M’s for Mads. She was psyched. Eating M&M’s with Great-Grandpa has quickly become one of her favorite baseball traditions, and I suspect it may be one of his favorites too.

The game itself was a bit of a slog. The Bees jumped out to a 3–0 lead in the first inning, but the Omaha Storm Chasers tied it up with three runs in the third. There seemed to be runners on base constantly, and the innings were moving slowly.

As we watched, we noticed mascots roaming all over the stadium. Since we had already decided this wasn’t going to be a serious baseball-watching night, we took Mads for a walk to see who else we could find.

When we reached Bumble’s house, Bumble and Jensen were both there. There was a bit of a line, so we joined the queue. While we waited, Swiggy showed up too. By the time it was our turn, Madeline got to take a picture with all three of them and hand out plenty of high fives. She was delighted.

They also gave her a few stickers, which we added to her Bees water bottle. The bottle has gradually become a collection of Bumble and all his friends. At this point, every mascot except Swiggy has earned a permanent place on it, so we may need to track down a Swiggy sticker at a future game.

After visiting Bumble, we got in line to ride the train. While we were waiting, Honey and Daisy arrived, which meant all of Bumble’s friends were now gathered together in front of his house. We were a little sad that we had arrived too early to catch the whole group together, but Madeline was more than happy to ride the train instead.

As we rode around the stadium, a light rain began to fall. We looked at the darkening sky and thought it might be time to call it a night.

When we got off the train, however, Bumble and all his friends were still standing in front of the house, and the line had disappeared. We hurried over, only for the staff to cut off the line right in front of us. Bumble needed to help with the produce race in the middle of the fourth inning, and since it was already the top of the fourth, they needed to get him down to the field.

We asked whether there might be time for one last quick photo. They told us maybe, so we hung around for another minute. Thankfully, they were able to squeeze us in. Madeline got her picture with Bumble, Daisy, Honey, Jensen, and Swiggy all together. She was thrilled.

By then, the ominous clouds were directly overhead, and it felt like the sky could open up at any moment. We started walking back toward my grandparents’ seats to say goodbye, and just as we reached them, the rain began coming down. People started streaming out of their seats and rushing toward the covered concourse.

We quickly told my grandma goodbye and headed for the stroller. By the time we reached it, the rain had turned into a full downpour, and all three of us were getting soaked.

We ran toward the elevator, only to find the area in front of it packed with people trying to stay dry. I was attempting to clear a path for us when the elevator doors opened and out popped Bumble.

He spotted us in the crowd, helped us get into the elevator, and then rode down with us while holding Madeline’s hand the entire way. After a night full of mascot encounters, somehow Bumble still managed to give her one more special moment. She really is his biggest fan.

The rain stopped shortly after we left the stadium, and the walk home ended up being really pleasant. We were all wet, but after such a hot day, the cool rain actually felt pretty nice.

We didn’t watch a ton of baseball that night, and the game was eventually disrupted by rain, but boy did we have fun. We had only planned to stay for a few innings, and somehow it still became one of our most memorable Bees nights of the summer. Even getting caught in the downpour felt kind of fun. We walked home soaking wet and grateful for such a fun night.