If there's anything kids love more than a costumed character, than I'm not sure what it would be. When I was four years old, I know that I was absolutely enamored with the life-size costumed replicas of my favorite Disney characters at Disney World. I also know that I apparently harbor a grudge against "Dopey" to this day for not taking the time to take a picture with me. It's ok though because everyone knows that "Doc" and "Grumpy" were the superior members of the Seven Dwarfs.
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| Those are the eyes of pure evil... |
For my kids, they don't necessarily get excited about the idea of meeting Disney characters. However, what they do get excited about is meeting their favorite Kansas City-based costume characters. For reference, I'm talking about icons like KC Wolf and Sluggerrr. It's that second one in particular that is the focus of this blog post.
Yesterday, as a precursor to today's Opening Day, the Royals held a free Workout Day at the K where fans could come and watch the Royals take batting practice and do some fielding drills. While I didn't totally know if Ethan would enjoy it or not, I went ahead and got tickets for Ethan, my dad, and me to go. Worst case scenario, I figured that we could just leave early if Ethan got bored and antsy.
Practice started promptly at 11 so we obviously made sure that we arrived early enough to get inside the stadium and find our seats. It didn't take long for things to get going after we arrived and it was really fun to watch my dad point out guys like Salvador Perez and Bobby Witt, Jr. to Ethan as things went along. However, it didn't take long for Ethan to see someone in a Royals jersey that excited him more than the aforementioned Salvy or Witt. Who was that someone you might ask? Sluggerrr.
Ethan first saw the costumed lion a couple of sections over from where we were sitting and kept pointing at him excitedly. Finally, as our area was largely open, I told him that he could run over and wave to Sluggerrr. Ethan did exactly that but was largely dismayed that Sluggerrr didn't wave back. Much like myself and "Dopey", there was a chance that we were seeing the beginning of a lifelong blood feud. Luckily for Ethan, that would not be the case.
As Sluggerr continued to weave his way through the seating area, it didn't take long until he spotted Ethan sitting between my dad and me. Once that happened, he weaved his way up to our seats where Ethan excitedly shook the lion's hand. Then, with Sluggerrr deftly tilting Ethan's head in my direction, I snapped a series of pictures of the two before Ethan's new friend wandered away to meet new friends of his own. With that, Ethan sat back down in his seat and proceeded to excitedly retell the entire event to my dad and me.
While Ethan's brief moment of meeting Sluggerrr was undoubtedly the highlight of the day for the little man, I would be hard-pressed to choose between that moment and the ones that involved my dad sharing his passion for the KC Royals with his grandson. You know what, both are good. Both are good.
On a different topic, you know what's not good? "Dopey." "Dopey" is definitely not good.
#DaddyWrite
So neat!!
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