Opening Day Is Tomorrow!

I love Opening Day in Cincinnati, and this year I'm celebrating for an entire week! Sheila here. I started my celebration with my friends at Findlay Market, who kindly give us the Opening Day Parade every year. Http://www.findlaymarketparade.com/

United Dairy Farmers sponsored a Homemade Ice Cream Sundae eating contest Saturday, and how those little kids chowed down on that ice cream, I don't know! It was so cold outside Saturday, and the contest was in the shade!

But Tyler Malsbary and Pyramid Clay clean their bowls first, and that was good for 4 tickets to Opening Day, free Homemade brand ice cream for a year, and the silver scoop plaque. It was hard to be the judge! I had to tell those freezing kids to keep going when they still had ice cream in their bowls. I followed it up with a little girls lunch with my daughter Katie and her friend at Silverglades Deli.

My little slugger and I headed down to the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum on Monday. It's such a great place! Eric showed remarkable patience with me while I immersed myself in the new Johnny Bench exhibit. He did like the part of the display which included some of the great toys created in Johnny's name back in the 70's. I saw a ball and bat set I'm sure my brother owned, batting practice game, and so much other cool stuff. You can also see Johnny's third grade report card, high school yearbook, and his mom's membership card for the Johnny Bench fan club, not to mention his Gold Gloves, game worn uniforms, and lots of photos and video. It's really incredible for any fan of the Big Red Machine.

Eric's favorite part of the museum at Great American Ballpark was the Strike Zone. Good thing we went on a day when the museum wasn't busy because I had a hard time getting him out of there. He threw and threw the baseball's for a chance to hear the ump say "strike three, you're out!" and he heard it several times. He also enjoy climbing around and trying on jerseys in the Kids Clubhouse. There are many opportunities for fan interaction in the exhibits, so be sure to check out sometime with your family. http://mlb.mlb.com/cin/hof/index.jsp

I can't wait for tomorrow's parade and the chance to finally see our Cincinnati Reds back on the field. It may be Cincinnati's UNofficial holiday, but Opening Day is officially one of my favorite days of the year!