Returning to the Cactus League in Arizona for the first time since before COVID, we planned a trip with our friends the Jungingers. This time we would park and fly together along with sharing a place and watching four ballgames. The place was a surprising deal, costing only about $150/night for all of us to stay together and everyone had a bed in five bedrooms and three bathrooms. The pool was cold but we didn't have much time to use it anyways. We would spend our free time playing games like Happy Salmon, Wits and Wagers, Nerts, and Coup among others. We challenged ourselves with whiffleball, football, ultimate frisbee, soccer, and kickball. Sometimes we suffered injuries...We also enjoyed an evening at TopGolf together and found a quality church just around the block from the house we were staying at.
A highlight for Brett was being recognized when getting to our seats by Bobby Crosby in the A's dugout and being called over to introduce the kids to him. The following day, there was a little more time and he was able to introduce Joy to Bobby as well.
Griffin had his picture taken by the Associated Press while playing whiffleball at the Goodyear field that we try to go to each time we are down in Arizona. The photographer was very appreciative that we had "captured the spirit of spring training."
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| Bryce takes our group picture on the parking lot shuttle...we took up the whole shuttle! |
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| Ask and you shall receive, a whole bag of snacks on the flight... |
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| Eating dinner at the Mediterranean chipotle... |
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| The plastic bags, must be see-through and apparently ours didn't qualify? |
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| Garrett and Brett get Tyler Rogers autograph. |
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| Ex-Athletic Marcus Semien was cheered on by us. |
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| While the kids ran off to explore, we had some quiet couple time. |
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| The boys' section: Garrett, Luke, Griffin, Caleb, Bryce. |
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| Luke and Griffin |
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| Caleb and Bryce. |
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| The Junginger-Farley squad. |
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| Family Giants picture. |
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| All the kids: Grace, Anna, Caleb, Griffin, Bryce, Luke, Garrett. |
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| Kids playing Coup minus Luke. |
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| Enjoying the BBQ chicken dinner and salad. |
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| Attending Scottsdale Stadium, on time for batting practice home run balls. |
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| Bryce surrounded by Eric, Garrett, and Griffin. |
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| Bryce forces Griffin out of bounds after an interception. |
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| Bryce going for the ball while Griffin defends. |
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| Line up the two teams: Grace, Anna, Brett, Caleb, Bryce vs Garrett, Eric, Luke, Griffin, and Joy. |
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| Double Ditto as a group, a new fun game to learn. |
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| Batting practice home run ball collection--Bryce and Brett. |
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| Remember when we first started this tradition, it was just the two of us with one on the way... |
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| Cheering on the Giants in a high scoring affair. |
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| Giants Closer and All-Star, Camilo Doval pitching. |
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| A second straight day of Giants baseball. |
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| In honor of Ira... |
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| Navigating the AirTrans from rental car center to airport. |
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| A's won both games we saw them play this spring! |
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| Brett caught this foul ball hit by Max Muncy and later got his autograph. |
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| We had our own section at HoHoKam and Garrett caught a foul ball too. |
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| Another epic scoreboard message. |
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| Introducing Bobby Crosby to Bryce and Joy. |
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| Seth Brown kindly signed our baseballs. |
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| Top Golf preparation. |
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| Bryce hits his 120-130 mph exit velocity drives. |
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| Top Golf Party time. |
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| Griffin's picture in the Idaho Press Democrat. |
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| Our AirBnB bargain. |
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| Relaxing while waiting their turn at Top Gold. |
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| Griffin lines up his shot. |
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| Both Griffin and Luke got balls too. |
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| Brett and Eric scorekeeping. |
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| Our seats behind home plate at Goodyear. |
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| Our whiffleball crew. |
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| Garrett takes his swing for the fences. |
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| The kids team starts a rally. |
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| Bobby Crosby takes the lineup card to home plate. |
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| Adults out to dinner. |
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| The cold pool...Anna was brave to a point. |
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| Our church for Sunday...pretty solid. |
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| My how the kids have grown or the balls have shrunk. |
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| Our whole crew at the Giants Welcome sign. |
