5 Lil' Bausons Jumping on the Bed

Welcome to the Bauson Family Blog!

Hey there, I'm Marisa; wife to John. Mother to: Manny, Christian, and Jackson. I am also the author of this blog.

Lover of Starbucks, make up, chuck taylors, flip flops, purses, music, movies, and books.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

I apologize for the length of this blog, but so much happened today and I want to document all of it.

The day didn't start out so great. John woke me up at seven in the morning. Awesome, we were extremely behind schedule. I had wanted to get up at six so that we could drop Christian off at John's mom's house by seven. Next time we'll remember to set the alarm.

I got dressed Speedy Gonzales fast; clothes, hair, makeup, all done in thirty minutes. I think it's a record. While I was getting ready, John was dressing the kids in the clothing that we put out the night before. When he was finished, he ran through our cupboards, grabbeds snacks and water, and tossed them into a bag.

We were in the car, all buckled up, and backing out of the driveway by 7:45; definitely a record.

John and I briefly discussed dragging Christian along. If we didn't spend the next thirty minutes driving to San Mateo and back we wouldn't be behind schedule. In the end we decided that we didn't feel comfortable navigating the zoo that was sure to be waiting for us in the city with a two year old who had a tendency to tune us out. We assuaged the guilt of ditching him by reminding ourselves that, 1) he probably won't remember the experience, and 2) the Giants will be winning more World Series in the future, we'll bring him next time.

We reached the Millbrae Bart by 8:15 a.m. and spent the next fifteen to twenty minutes finding parking. On the third level there is a section reserved for Bart employees. The first time we drove by we decided not to park there, getting a ticket was not high on our priority list. However, on our way back from finding zero parking on the upper levels we relented and figured that the ticket would be worth it.

What was waiting for us beyond the parking garage had us floored....

Hundreds of people waiting in line to get tickets...tickets! I looked down onto the train platform, expecting to see the same display. It was completely empty. The fact that everyone was on the terminal level waiting in line left me a little weary. I wasn't sure how we would get our tickets, hop on the train, and get to San Francisco in time to see the parade.

(We later heard that the line wait in Millbrae was two hours.)

We made our way onto the terminal, searching for the end of the line. The front of the line was somewhat orderly. It was a completely different story on the other side of the terminal. It looked like people were merely standing around chatting. Everyone was pointed in different directions. We asked a Bart police officer where the end of the line was, he shrugged.

John suggested we jump ship and trudge on over to the Bart at Tanforan in San Bruno. He believed that the reason the Millbrae Bart was so insane was because it was also a Caltrain station, and Caltrain was running free until noon. I agreed, and we made the journey back to the parking garage, and loaded up the kids. It was another ten to fifteen minutes until we made it outside.

On the way to Tanforan the airport came into view, and John came up with the idea to jump onto the Bart at the airport. He wasn't sure if he wanted to pay the steep parking at that point, and decided we would make our way to Tanforan as originally planned. If it was packed there, we would go with plan C, and take the airport Bart.

What met us at Tanforan made our jaws drop. The line went out of the Bart station and into the parking garage, snaking it's way up onto the second level. Tanforan was a no go.

At this point I was getting discouraged and was cursing our lack of foresight. However John is stubborn, and was determined to get into the city.

We plowed on through and reached the airport. I sort of felt like we were breaking the rules. Like not waiting in those horrendous lines was cheating. John felt no such guilt.

Once we found our way into the section of the parking garage where Bart was located we were surrounded by travelers. No Giants orange to be seen. I kept asking John if what we were doing was legal. He assured me it was. My fears were snuffed at the ticket dispenser as the names of Clark, and Lincecum stared back at me, looks like John wasn't the only fan to have this idea.

It was 10:30 by the time we planted our butts onto a Bart seat.

It was after eleven by the time we reached street level (after three hours of travel). The air was saturated with the smell of cannabis. I'm surprised we didn't get a contact high. Later in the day beer and urine added to the bouquet.

We received a text from a friend (who had no trouble reaching the city from the east bay) stating that the parade had finished on Montgomery. Luckily we got off on Civic. Before rushing to see the parade, John decided to grab something to eat (smart move).

We ran, okay well walked really fast, to the Civic center. We were lucky enough to have made it into a side street just as cable cars were passing. We learned from the screams of the fans surrounding us that Bruce Bochy and the rest of the coaching staff had made it's way to where we were standing.

I couldn't see much, so I soaked in the scenery. It was the first time that day I was able to breathe and soak in the experience.

The entire side street was filled with people. I was impressed by the ingenuity of the fans surrounding me. Whether a high wall, or a ledge on a windowsill, or a tiny post planted into the ground, if it added elevation, and a spot for footing, no matter how small, someone had taken up residency on it.

The atmosphere was humming with energy. Everyone was smiling, and talking to the stranger next to them, commemorating this historic event. A woman next to me offered me the shade of her panda umbrella. So while I couldn't see a damn thing, I was so happy to be there.

After watching we went to the Civic center to try and catch a glimpse of the actual ceremony. People were perched in the trees and standing on top of the porta-potties. I braved one porta-potty because Manny said he had to pee. While inside, looking at the urine soaked seat I almost gagged. Just as Manny was about to pee, someone jumped on top of the porta-potty. The ceiling caved in a good foot. Manny decided he no longer had to pee, and we ran -literally- away.

Overall the experience was amazing. Of course there were some idiots, like the douchebag who decided to jump on the moving truck, or the person who used the elevator as a urinal, but for the most part everyone was jovial and polite.

Jackson got many compliments. I guess a newborn in a Giants onesie is note worthy. We got several comments about how lucky he is that he only had to wait three months to see the Giants win the World Series...not that he'll remember it.

The day was long, and it was time to go. The trip home didn't take nearly as long, which I'm thankful for, I don't know if I could handle another three hour journey.

I asked Manny if he had fun, he said "yes". I asked him what his favorite part was, he said "the train". I guess he didn't really understand all that happened today. Hopefully when he's older he'll be able to look at this blog, and the pictures we took and understand how lucky he was to be present for such an amazing day.

Labels: let's go giants

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