1. Bring the Stroller: As guys, we often don’t like to haul the stroller around. For us, it often seems easier to carry the little ones than deal with the stroller. However, not only will this lead to tired arms, but you will have a hard time managing the other kids as well. Bring a small umbrella stroller to tote the little one and you may get lucky. If he or she falls asleep, you have a better chance of actually seeing more of the game. Plus, an umbrella stroller is easily tucked under the seats.
2. Bring Water and Snacks: Chances are that your local ballpark will let you bring in a small bag with food and drinks. Check out the club’s website ahead of time to see what kind of things are allowed.
3. Pay to Park Close: It may be cheaper to heel toe it to the park, but the last thing you want your kids to say as soon as you walk in is, “Daddy, we’re tired!” Pay a little extra and park close. Pop out the stroller and make it as painless to get into the park. They’ll be much more cooperative for the first few innings.
4. Don’t Expect to watch the Whole Game: Speaking of the first few innings, don’t expect to see too much of the game. If you’re a die hard fan and have to see every pitch, bringing the little ones may not be so pleasurable. They will stay in their seats for awhile. Then they’ll start to squirm. Then those around you will start to squirm. Plan on walking around the concourse, visiting the kids area, and entertaining them else where besides their seats.
5. Scope out Family Bathrooms: If you don’t feel comfortable taking your little girl into the men’s room or have two little ones like I do, a family bathroom is a life savor. You won’t have to worry about one taking off while attending to the other.
6. Join the Kids Club: The Diamondbacks, like I’m sure many other teams, have a kids club. Each kids gets their own card that they can swipe at kiosks. Each swipe gets them new prizes and gets you coupons. The first prize we received was temporary tattoos. As you go to more and more games, the prizes get better and better. It’s free and fun for the little ones. Some of the coupons are quite good too.
7. Find Discount Tickets: Since you won’t be seeing the majority of the game, don’t pay face value for your tickets. You can catch season ticket holders selling their tickets on the club’s website and a good discount. I was able to get three $30 tickets ($90 value), for $24. I purchased online and the tickets were available at will call. You can also check sites like stubhub.com.
8. Be Careful about where your Seats are Located: Although I got great seats for a great price, I didn’t pay enough attention to the location. They were on the first base side, right between first and right field. They were awesome seats except for the screaming foul balls that frequent that area. If you, like me, find yourself in potentially dangerous seats for your little ones, see guest relations. They will relocate you at no charge.

Hope these help. There’s nothing like getting your kids excited about baseball like you were when you were their age.

Originally posted by me on http://arizonasportsblog.com/.

Tags: MLB, Parenting, tips, Baseball

Google Maps
The family is heading down to Phoenix this weekend to do some reconnaissance as well as visit with some family. Since we are flying, we need to rent a car to cruise around and check out day care facilities and apartments before heading out to Anthem. I wanted to see if I rented a car at the airport, which rental company would have a drop off closest to Anthem. Using the new My Maps function in Google Maps, I added a push pin for the airport and then did “Find Businesses” to search for each rental company. I added a push pin to the North most location. Here is my result:

Google Earth
After I had decided that most the rental places have a drop off point close to where I needed, I noticed a new icon with the KML link. Most Google Earth geeks will recognize this as an opportunity to view the map with snazzy fly overs. This added each point I mapped in Google Maps to a layer in Google Earth. This then gave me the idea to use Google Earth to map out the location of the apartments we were looking to visit as well as my wife’s new work and the day care facilities.

By using Google Earth, I was able to see a larger area and use some interesting tools like the ruler to gauge distances. I was still able to search by address or find businesses as well as add my own markers.

Both tools are helping me familiarize myself with the area. I’m a sucker for aerial shots, so for me this is the most interactive and interesting way to do some mundane research.

site:twitter.com location cityname

Obviously, replace cityname with the location you want to find users from.

Examples:

Reno
Salt Lake City
Las Vegas
Phoenix