A night out

David and I had a date night last night, sans Rachel.

Tomorrow is our anniversary - August 31st. We will be married 6 years. After we had Rachel, my friend Trish volunteered to babysit on our anniversary so we could go out. Great!

Last week my husband was asked by a coworker if he wanted to buy tickets to Friday night's Washington Nationals/Atlanta Braves game. My husband being the Braves fan that he is said yes. But our babysitter was for Sunday, not Friday. So I called Trish to find out if she could change the date - yes, but she needed to babysit at her house because she needed to set up for a party she was having. Perfect - we'll be there at 530PM.

This was our first time going out without Rachel. We have taken her lots of places - Bed, Bath and Beyond, Babies 'R Us, Manassas Mall, Red Robin, Logan's, Five Guys - but we have not been without her since she was born. So this was a big deal.

We arrived at Trish and Ron's at 530PM - with Rachel, a diaper bag and her Pack 'n Play. David got that set up in their living room. I went over the instructions with Trish - when to feed her, about her toys, her pajamas, where the diapers and wipes were. She had it all under control. So off David and I went.

There was hardly any traffic for a Friday night of Labor Day weekend driving into DC, and we got to the stadium in 45 minutes. Our tickets included a parking pass so we made our way there. It was about 4 blocks from the stadium.

The National Stadium - Nationals Park - just opened March 30th of this year. David and I had not been there yet and were excited to see the Braves. They had been in town for the opening game as well as the weekend of April 11th, but we were unable to attend either one of those series. Then when we knew they were going to be in town again this weekend, we didn't think we'd be able to see them then either. Since I was originally due to have Rachel on August 1st we figured we would have a three-week old baby and could not make the trip to DC to see the game. Well, since she came one month early and is now close to 8 weeks old, that made all the difference. We thought about bringing her, but not knowing where we needed to park, what the walk or environment would be like, and with a babysitter, we figured we'd do it alone.

The ballpark is great. Open with lots of great views. A great screen - so crystal clear - to see all the players and game happenings. We took a look around and then grabbed some food - hot dogs, french fries, peanuts and sodas. What else do you need?!

We found our seats and got settled in. I checked in with Trish to see how things were going. She said Rachel had eaten and was just sitting on her lap - all was going great. Good news!

We were rooting for the Braves, along with a few others around us. The game did not really go our way though. We should be happy that the home team won after a miserable losing streak, but we were disappointed. Trish called in the 7th inning to let us know how great Rachel was and that all was still going well. I mentioned that there were fireworks after the game and she said "no problem."

We left the stadium around 11:10PM and got to Trish's house before midnight. Long night for them, but they said Rachel was great and that made it easy. We made our way home and eventually to sleep. It was a lot of fun and I really appreciate Trish and Ron watching Rachel. It was a nice treat to get out by ourselves. I wasn't nervous like I thought I would be. I knew she was in good hands and if there was a problem, they would call.

We certainly would take Rachel another time now that we have checked it out. And of course we bought her a Nationals t-shirt - now we have to get her some Braves gear!