Day 1 of the Baseball Odyssey

Day 1 - We left about 9 am from Austin with the goal of reaching Norman by early afternoon so Rick could stock up on OU wear and then get to our hotel in OKC and make it to Bricktown ballpark by 5ish so we could get the Mickey Mantle bobble heads. Everything was going well until about 30 miles outside of Norman this happened.

It was a pretty scary moment but luckily Rick was paying attention and we were able to get over to the side of the road safely. Of course once at the side of the road we weren't sure what to do with the kids. Do we leave them in the car or make them sit on the side of the hill in 105 degree weather?(we left them in the car.) Rick meanwhile got the spare tire and all the parts. Things seemed to be fine until he came to the realization that the jack tools that Ford gives you won't work (I don't know the proper terms but the attachment used to jack the car up was too short to fit under the truck and let Rick jack up the tire). I spent a miserable 15 minutes on the phone with roadside assistance while Rick tried to figure out what to do. He finally opted to try and flag someone down. Lucky for us, it only took a few minutes before a nice couple on their way to Wal-Mart stopped to help out. They had the proper tools and the spare tire was on in no time. They also escorted us on the back roads to Wal-Mart so we could air up the tire. At this point we are way behind schedule and opt to go straight to OKC and check in to the hotel. When we got to the Sheraton the front desk didn't have my reservation. I made our reservation via priceline; I tried the name your own price, which was great b/c we got a fabulous deal but crappy when the hotel doesn't have your reservation. I was on the phone for about 45 minutes while I went from one customer service rep to another only to have the final one tell me that she had to put me on hold while she called the hotel. I told her I was standing the lobby and could hand my phone to the front desk but she insisted that she had to call from her phone.
We finally get checked in, quickly freshened up, and then divided up so Rick and JT can get to the ballpark, claim our tickets and hopefully get a bobble head. Zach and I were close behind but it was slow going with Zach as he was tired and there was only so long I could carry 40lbs of Zach. It all sounds perfect until you factor in the 105+ degree weather at the ballpark. We missed getting bobbleheads but lucky for JT and Zach the couple sitting behind us offered the boys their bobble heads. Zach broke his the next morning and JT broke his as soon as we got home (he wanted to see Mickey Mantles bat).
Our view from our seats. We were about 15 rows back from home plate.
A very tired, sweaty, and stinky family. We opted to leave after 6 innings and head back to the hotel via the river walk that OKC has recently built. Along the way, we found a kids water park (the one that has the water shooting up from the ground) and the boys got to cool down.