Father's Day, A Giveaway Winner, and a Tigers Game...Oh My!

Holy COW What a busy couple days we have had here in Sluiter Nation!  This post is all about this weekend:  Father's Day, A baseball game, and at the end?  You know it!  The mLphotography gift certificate winner!!!

As you all know, today was Cortney's first Father's Day!  He was ALMOST a dad last year on Father'sDay.  If you've been reading, I've

been putting Eddie's birthday story in installments here on the blog.  First we had to weather a HUGE storm; then we were in a wedding where I was just sluggish all day.  The day after that was Father's Day...like today we had a million places to be.  First we went and watched Cort's sis and her new hubs open wedding gifts.  Then we had to bust a move to my side of the family for some Father's Day fun.  It just seemed like I was moving SOOO SLOWLY.  I had a pretty great pregnancy, but the two days previous definitely took their toll on me and by father's day I was just ready to be DONE.

This year was even BUSIER.  Yesterday, Cort took me to a Tigers game in Detroit for our anniversary (pics in a minute). We spent the night since it was a night game.  Eddie had a slumber party with his best buds, Jake and Joe (sweet pic of that in a minute too).

So this morning Cort and I busted out of the D by 8:00am so we could pick Eddie up, get home and feed him, get back to my parents' house and hopefully stop to see Cort's stepdad.  Turns out Cort's stepdad had to work, so he wasn't going to be home, and Eddie MASSIVELY needed a nap (as did his parents), so we ended up back at home.

I feel like the day was such a whirlwind we didn't get to properly love on the dads.

So here we go (WARNING...this post is going to get lengthy).

That is my dad over there -------------->

And yes, that was taken last year when I was preggo.  My dad is pretty cool.  I told you about him on his birthday.  My dad and I have the same stupid sense of humor according to my mom.  He's the classic DAD.

He's the guy that I still swear has ALL the answers to anything.  When I was a kid I remember asking him why we had to set our clocks back and ahead for day lights saving time.  He explained to me why.  I am not sure it was the real reason since I don't remember him mentioning the government, but he sure acted like he knew.  He was always good like that.  He always does the same thing when he's going to explain something.  He puts one hand out, closes his eyes for a second like he's thinking of the best way to explain it and says, "well..." and then starts in.  Best dad ever.

We even have our own song, "Hey, Hey We're The Monkees." by The Monkees.  He used to sing it to me at bedtime when I was very little.  It made my night!  And when it was time to walk me down the aisle, instead of getting all sappy (thank you, by the way dad), I started singing, "here we come...walking down the street..." very softly and he laughed.  It was super great.

Father's Day is hard for me to write about.  For one, I'm not a father.  It's not like Mother's Day when I could talk about how great it was to be a mother now and all that I am learning from my mom's.  Secondly, it's tough because we are missing a dad.  Cort's dad died almost five years ago from lung cancer.  He was AWESOME.

Cort was very close with his dad.  They even looked a LOT alike.  This picture was taken a LONG time ago on one of their family boat trips.  He and his dad were two peas in a pod.  It was very difficult to lose such an awesomely funny, loving guy.  He was only my dad-in-law for two months, but he will forever be in my heart.  I got to share some great moments with him in the short time that I could call him Pops.  I know Cort misses his dad all the time, but days like today are even tougher. I know Cort would love to talk "dad" stuff with his old man, and I know he wishes Eddie could have known his Papa Steve.

Cort does have a stepdad though. His parents divorced years ago, and Ray is married to Cortney's mom. He is just a GREAT guy!  Ray is Eddie's Grampy and we just love him!  He is the nicest, kindest guy who will do just about anything for the people he loves.

We feel so blessed that we have him in our life!

Today is also about Eddie's dad-do.  Almost a year ago, Cortney welcomed his little boy into the world and took on the role of father.  He has done even more than I could ever hope in this role.  He helped me with feedings and household stuff after we came home from the hospital.  He went on coffee runs every morning for two weeks to help us be more comfortable with our new little family.

Since being laid off in October, he has stepped up as a Stay At Home Dad (SAHD), and he is AWESOME at it.  His patience far surpasses mine and he is very good about playing with Eddie and knowing all his cues for hunger, sleep, and just grumpiness.  He brings him out on "field trips" each day too!  He is just so loving and wonderful.  Many times I catch myself smiling or tearing up just watching him love our little boy!

Speaking of taking good care of things...Cort takes good care of me too!  For our anniversary, not only did we go out to eat, but we decided to go see at Detroit Tigers baseball game (our FAVORITE team).  It was super great!  We stayed right near the field.  It was only a few short blocks to walk there.

Once there we found our seats and then decided to be on the quest for the Joel Zumaya jersey that I have been desperately wanting...and we found it!

This is us before the game started.  Man were we excited!  And we got there early enough that we could walk around and get some hotdogs and gear before the game started!  FUN!

I got me one of these tasty beverages--pina colada and strawberry daiquiri...YUM!.  Don't worry, mom.  I remembered NOT to chug it this time.  No sick here!  It was almost 90 degrees though, so I COULD have chugged it.  But instead I sipped it and then had a hot dog and a pretzel.  And a beer.  I was at the ball park after all!

The Tigers played the Arizona Diamond Backs.  It was a pretty exciting game!

Love us some Comerica Park!

Look Mom!  I got a picture of Mags for you!  Your Tiger!  ROAR!

Also had to get a picture of the Fox Sports Detroit booth.  Big ups to Rod standing there!  Whoot!

Oh, and while we were enjoying the game, this is what my son was doing.  We didn't know when we dropped him off that pool fun would be part of his slumber party, so we didn't pack his swimsuit.  But not to worry!  The Visels had a spare speedo for him.  And a spare hat!

He is TOTALLY rocking that look, is he not?  Meow.

Back at the game, the Tigers were not winning.  They needed up to RALLY!  So I turned my visor upside down and got my rally on!

It didn't work.  They lost 5-6.  But we were still happy because it was such a fun time...oh...and the show was SO not over.

Um, yes.  That would be a WEDDING on  home plate after the game! WHAT!? Yes, it's true.  They won a radio contest!  It was crazy.

After the game and the wedding, we watched the fireworks before walking back to our hotel.  It was such a fun little get away, but we did keep on talking about what Eddie would love about this and that.  We sure missed him!  I guess that is the thing about being parents, you want to get away from the mundane schedule so bad, but when you do, you miss the little guy!  Sigh....

Oh!  Before I forget and wrap up this super long crazy random post, we have a WINNER for the mLphotography $25 gift certificate!  So many people commented who weren't actually entering the giveaway, that random.org was not going to work out for me.  So I put everyone's names who WERE entering in my Stetson the number of times they entered (does that make sense???) and Eddie picked a winner:

Oh yeah, and you are NOT allowed to laugh at how broke down I look in this video.  It has been a long day already.  Ahem...anyway...the WINNER...

So congrats!!!

We will be having ONE more giveaway to be announced on Eddie's birthday (Wednesday).  He wanted to give you all something for being such great readers and peeps.  So one more giveaway to come!  And Eddie's birthday story to be concluded!

Whew!  hope you all had as much fun as we did!