On our first big trip of the season, we got to the second and third professional games ever played in a beautiful, brand new stadium. Getting to this new venue about three hours from home was my top bucket list item for the season. Our family bought in. We got all the hats and shirts and other souvenirs. The new branding and merchandise matched the quality of the new stadium. We loved everything about the North Augusta, SC/Augusta, GA area and fully intended on making another trip or two during the season, but the rest of the baseball world came calling...

I unexpectedly had a high school umpiring assignment cancelled on April 5th. In our local market of Charlotte, NC opening the season at home was the Kannapolis Intimidators at Intimidators Stadium. Yes, the stadium is getting old and outdated (new stadium scheduled to open in 2020). However, I considered myself lucky that my family and I could attend any opening day at a ballpark. The weather was extremely cool that night with temperatures being below 50 degrees by end of game. As cold as we were, I knew we would miss that temperature later in the season in July and August. Opening Day featured post game fireworks. Needing to get home for an early work day, we watched those fireworks from the parking lot. One of my better memories for the season is this video showing my daughter standing up in the back of our truck watching the fireworks, stretching taller, like she was trying to catch them like a falling snow flake.