Nationals Picnic in the Park

This past Saturday was the Washington Nationals annual Season Ticket Holder event, the Picnic in the Park. Just so we are clear, there was no actual picnicking, plus the day started out raining...but who has time to picnic when we have players and coaches to meet, take pictures with and listen to Q and A's? Oh right, and then there were the Presidents...here is McB with George Washington. She is a little shorter than him so she had to chase him in a circle until he saw her. Piper also had a lovely chat with Abe Lincoln. Then we were off to take pictures with the players.
Here is Piper with one of the new outfielders, Michael Morse. Then we had our picture taken with Roger Bernadina and first base coach Dan Radison. The players and coaches were all really nice and friendly.

After our first set of pictures we had our 'picnic' which was great; hot dog, chips, pop at a picnic table and we were able to watch everything going on. There was a LONG line to get autographs for Stephen Strasburg, but he's going to be around for a while so we saved ourselves the stress and got back in line for more pictures. Here we are with Ryan Zimmerman. to quote Brad, "he is a really BIG dude." That is fact, we knew he was tall but he is just a really big guy, no wonder he can make those catches! Here we are with the Skipper, Jim Riggleman (I have been a fan of his since his stint with the Mariners) and Pat Listach, the third base coach.

Next we checked out the balloon guy in the Kid Zone. He asked Piper what she wanted and this is the ladybug she asked for (quite cute):


Then it was back to the photos, I am telling you, it was a blast! This is pitcher Joel Peralta and catcher Wil Nieves. Joel has a little girl about the same age as Piper and Wil is having his first baby in a few weeks so they were enchanted with Piper and she thought they were two of her favorites. She is currently looking for a new favorite catcher since Jesus Flores has been out for so long. I keep telling her to like my guy, Pudge Rodriguez but I think she is looking for someone younger that will be around a while. I can see her view, since I have been a fan of Pudge's for a long time.
our last picture was with pitcher Miguel Batista, just like all the other players, he was great and we enjoyed meeting him. In picnic's past I have always been excited to meet the players and so-so about the coaches. This time it was different, the coaches were just as exciting and it was cool to chat with them for a minute. I finally got a face to go with the back of bench coach John McLaren and the same for first base coach Dan Radison.

As we left the park we stopped at the team store, and that is where I finally got on the total home team wagon and bought my first Stephen Strasburg shirt. Here I am wearing it the next day, getting Christan Guzman's autograph before the game. Can I be more of a Nationals fan?


Despite the Nationals not winning this weekend, it was still a fun couple of days for our family. Piper talked us into getting Nationals silly bands, we watched George win the Sunday President's Race and had Brian with us. All Star Break is here and I'm sure the team will be ready to win starting Thursday. Go Nationals!