I've decided to narrow this post down to 10 things instead of the million I had to keep the interest of time. Because ain't nobody got time for that! And quite possibly because that's all I had. But we'll go with the latter!

Before I list what I've learned, I must say that I'm not generalizing or making fun of the people of NJ, this is purely from my perspective (and humor) with no intention of offending or stereotyping anyone. 

Ok, now that that is out of the way. This first week has been QUITE interesting. I always try to keep an open mind when visiting new places, although last season in Canada was an entirely mind-blowing experience. I love seeing new places and meeting new people. You wouldn't think that other states could possibly be THAT different, but trust me, every state I've been just reminds me of how naive I am. Ways of life everywhere are different than the good ol' blooming city of Las Vegas.

Also, I apologize for my lack of pictures this post because I'm literally always driving when I remember to take some, or I Snapchat them and forget to save it. I'm a mess, I know.

1. SO MANY COPS! - If you follow me on Snapchat, then you've already seen and heard about this, but there are literally a million cops. I could say that I have seen more cops in this city in one week, than 1 year in Las Vegas. That says something. Every corner, every street, there is a little white (or big white) cop car waiting to get ya! Do they need to meet their quota or something, because this is crazy!

2. EVERYONE (almost) SPEEDS - Ironic? UM HELL YES. If you're asking why in the world people would speed in a place where cops are like Dunkin' Donut shops around here (coincidence? I think not) I couldn't answer that for you. So naturally, I try to go the speed limit, if not, a max of 5 over. Back in Vegas, my dad would call me Danica Patrick. If you don't know who that is, she's a nascar driver - pretty famous and pretty fast. I don't exactly ever go the speed limit back home, well because....I have no reason or excuse. I'm just a faster driver and always have been. But after seeing how many cops sit around here, I made it a priority to NEVER speed. I mean ever. But when I do that, when I drive like a normal person that is, I find myself the "bus" of the trail of cars. By that, I mean that I'm the one everyone is annoyed with because I'm going "so slow". I haven't had anyone honk at me yet, thank goodness, but people sure like to kiss my butt if you know what I mean. I'll leave it at that.

3. EVERY MILE IS BASICALLY A NEW SPEED LIMIT - I am not exaggerating. The "highways" aren't the same as those in Vegas or California, at least not where we are. They are mainly 2 lanes surrounded by the beautiful green stuff they call trees. Those don't exist in Las Vegas so I'm constantly smelling and staring at them. Forgive my weirdness. One minute, you will be going 35mph, the next minute 45, then 40, then 50. It's a constant change. No wonder there are so many cops. You'll pass by 3 speed limit signs before you even realize you are going 20mph over. The struggle is real y'all.

4. ROAD KILL - First, I must say RIP to the deer and opossum. 1 week out, I saw 4 deer, 2 opossums, and 1 squirrel (or small rodent) resting on the side of the road. Incredibly sad. Signs are posted everywhere to watch out, but the truth is that it is inevitable. "Deer are suicidal" as Ryan likes to say, which isn't far from the realization that they will jump out in front of you going 40, 45, and 50 mph. Its a sad sad reality for these little guys, but I get it. They are hungry, they think they are fast enough, and to be frank, they aren't very smart. RIP.

Click through to read the rest of the things I've learned so far!

Week 1: Arrival

I've arrived in Sussex County, New Jersey. Well actually we are staying in Vernon and the team plays near Augusta. There are basically a few different towns we drive through everyday so it gets a little confusing. We are staying at a ski resort, or "mega resort" as they like to call it, and it's pretty awesome. We got our own one bedroom condo style thingy and in the summer months, the resort is a pretty intense mountain biking trail with weekend competitions and such. Living the dream? You could say that. Again, if you haven't read the blog, my husband plays baseball and I am fortunate enough to get to travel with him during the season. And no, I'm not trying to rub it in. We are just so blessed. Typically, players stay with host families or bunk up with other players in apartments (all depends on the city/team) but I do have to say having a wife is a major perk! *wink wink* because we scored with this place! Praise the Lord. 

We are just about 30 minutes from the field, which is a hefty drive when I have to take him to the field and then go back for the game. I have a rule though, because each day is different. 3-4 hours until game time means I can drive home, relax, get ready, etc. Anything under 3 hours I need to hit up the donut shop and surf the web until game time. Some days Ryan needs to be there early, or workout before, in which I'll workout with him or take him to the field and drive back. In other cases, he only needs to be there 2 hours early before the game and then I'll bring my laptop and find a Dunkin' Donuts to hang out at (Starbucks are rare in these parts).

If you follow me on snapchat (minsuepin) you would have seen that its been pretty darn wet and rainy for the time that I've been here. The last 3 games have gotten banged (baseball term for cancelled because of poor weather) so its been movies on top of movies at the condo, which hey, is totally fine with me. On the 30 min drive to the field, its basically forest the whole way, with the occasional ranch, houses, and run down/abandoned barns, or "murder barns" as we like to call them. This city (or collection of towns) are partners with nature. Their words, not mine. This whole state, from what I've observed, is super in-tune with nature and consists of a ton of major trails and hikes. None of which I have been able to do because of the darn rain! But I'm hopeful it'll lighten up soon.

I'm working on a "Things I've Learned My First Week in NJ" post that'll be up within the next few days. It'll describe NJ a little bit better than this post but it's hilarious if I don't say so myself. You'll be surprised how different and IRONIC this place is. I haven't been to NYC yet, but that's on my list the next coming off day.

Stay tuned! Happy hump day and happy baseball!

Summer Baseball Awaits

UPDATE: I just realized I never posted this. Better late than never! It'll probably make a lot more sense now reading the blog with me always referencing this post and it never be there..Ooops! 


Hi guys! We found out where we were going for baseball this summer and if you don't follow me on Instagram or Facebook, then you are out of the loop! Just kidding.

Its NEW JERSEY baby. All the way across the US of A y'all. We actually new just about a month ago, but knowing how baseball is (very very unpredictable) I decided to wait to be sure. As sure as you can with these things. We are super excited to be living on the east coast. For me, it'll be the first time in the east so it should be very interesting. 

We loved Canada last season. We made friendships that are going to last forever, experienced an entire new culture, and Ryan loved playing for that team (they treated their players so good).

But if you know something about baseball, trades are pretty much unavoidable, along with releases unfortunately, and Ryan signed with the Sussex County Minors in New Jersey for the upcoming season. Check out their website for stats, games, live feeds, etc. Goooooooooo minors! And go hottie #3!

Goodbye

If you don't follow me on Facebook, Insta, or Snapchat (minsuepin), then you won't know that I only post snaps of my dogs. I have a problem...but if you like seeing super cute dogs and an occational picture of me, go follow! Lol anyways I have been sleeping alone with my pups for the past week. They are huge bed and blanket hogs and Homer likes to wake up in the middle of the night to walk around to then only plop down on a body part to go back to sleep. That dog is weird. Really weird. But I love having someone sleeping next to me, preferably my husband ;) but the dogs make a good substitute.

Ryan has drove cross-country to New Jersey (if you haven't read in a while, we are playing there for the season!). 36 hours y'all. Thankfully his dad went with him because let's be honest, there was NO way I could be a copilot on that trip. I fall asleep in the car to California only 4 hours away so just imagine us going across the U.S.! Within 30 minutes of driving, I would be passed out. Smart choice, honey.

Man, I have one good looking family. Baxter is so black you can never take a proper picture of him. 

Ryan's first exhibition game was today, (still going now, c'mon Minors!) and I still have no idea when I'm going out there to be with my hubby. We bought my plane ticket for a week and a half from now, but realized that I could go up there earlier so we are figuring out our living situation and then I should be headed out. Let me tell you trying to get ready to leave for almost 4 months is HARD. I have to think long term (in this case - summer long term) in clothes, shoes, beauty products, children, house, family, and pretty much everything else. It's been a little chaotic. 

It's a difficult process but so worth it to be so fortunate enough to travel all summer on pretty much a baseball watching vacation. 

God is good y'all! 

Home Sweet Home

Ah what a cliché of a title but it's true. I've been home for a week now, and I'm amazed at how fast I fall right back into my normal routine, with a few twists. I can't believe the summer is gone already. I've learned so much, grown so much as a person/wife, and met lifelong friends, all while experiencing a new country/culture/lifestyle. It's bazaar to think about. And I SURVIVED.

It almost makes me tear up just to think about the amazing life God has given me. I'm not a crier, but if I was, I would. Who gets to say they can travel (and not work, which let me say is a blessing in itself...lol) all over the place for hardly what people spend on vacations. Sometimes, I just have to step outside of myself and take it all in.



A few words to describe my experience:
-Awkward (only at first)
-Amazing
-Interesting
-Thought Provoking
-Adventurous
-Exciting

A few words to describe the people I met:
-Fun
-Weird
-Kind-hearted
-Intelligent
-Patient
-Loving
-Motherly (for my amazing host mom)

Now don't get me wrong, the first month was a HUGE lifestyle/mind change that I was having a hard time adjusting to. But it just takes time to unwind and feel comfortable...at least for me and in that time, I found myself and who I wanted to be (more than I already knew). Being home, I see certain things I do differently, and can pin point what I like and don't like. Ex. laundry being of that list I STILL CAN'T STAND. It may seem easy to some people, and believe me, I know HOW to do laundry, but I would rather go through my whole closet and wear ridiculous outfits than do a load of laundry...and I don't think that's changing.  

Anyways, I just am so grateful for this summer and opportunity and pray we are somewhere just as amazing next year. Who knows, maybe we'll be back in Canada, or maybe somewhere on the east coast. All I know is that wherever we are, I'll have my rockin' hot hubby next to me, God watching over me, and a blessed life I couldn't ask anything more of.

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things P.2

If you missed part one of the iPhone dump and recap of life, scroll down.

Brazilian Pavilion Folklorama - Every year for 2 week, Winnipeg holds Folklorama. Basically, it's a culture festival full of shows, food, activities from each country around the world. It's completely separate, you can choose whichever country you want to "visit", and they're in various buildings around the entire city. We picked Brazil and did not regret it for a minute. We played the drums and other native Brazilian instruments and watched an amazing show full of singing, dancing, and martial arts sorry no pictures of the show because it was too bright. 



This picture doesn't have anything to do with this post, but just your typical wife harping her husband to take a picture with her once in a while. I love it so why not.

Fort White Bison Prairie - Now let me just put this out there, I'm all for nature and a nice bike ride and loved every minute of it, but there were times where I regretted this day all together. Here's why. So Rachel, fellow baseball wife, and I planned to go to IKEA to get a few things before I leave, and she asked if I wanted to take a bike ride with her beforehand to see the Bison prairie. She said it was about a 2 hour ride total, and definitely worth it for the scenery. I said yes. So we ride out of the driveway with 30+ year old bikes and head out. Mind you, the back tire of my bike was already flat when I got to the house and we pumped it completely full. The bike seat was as hard as a rock but I'm a trooper and really wanted to see these bison. We're riding and hitting miles 2-3 so fast I didn't even realize how far we went. It was beautiful, guys and we ran into these man-made teepees which I then tried to make a fire. Failed.

Then we reached the bison and wow. Just amazing to be so close to these animals.

So here is where it gets pretty funny. Which, I had no picture of, but it's worth the reading. So this guy on a golf cart comes along the path and says that the gate down the ways is going to close in 30 minutes. Rachel and I are racing to get through it before it closes, otherwise we just added another couple of miles on top of what we already rode, until we got back home. Well, as we are riding my bike starts to sink, feel TERRIBLE, and make this squeaking duck sound. I get off and feel the back tire and it is completely flat. I've been riding on basically the tire rim. There's still a few miles left to get home so I have to suck it up, actually my butt has to suck it up, and get home in one piece. I can't describe how it feels to ride on a flat tire and sit on pretty much a rock of a seat, but I made it home alive. Although my butt would completely disagree, the sight of Canada at the prairie was absolutely gorgeous.

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things P.1

Oh that pun kills me. If you didn't know, my husband plays baseball.

So I haven't been writing, much less even thinking about blogging until today. It's Sunday, and I'm making my usual coffee in the afternoon, yes I usually don't wake up until noon...or later, and I realize that I'm am one lazy person. Not only did I pay good money to create my blog and keep it going, but I don't even share what I'm doing in the Slurpee capital of the world. Major fail on my part. So hopefully, I've gotten the motivation I need to start blogging again on a regular basis. Hopefully being the emphasis here.

I thought I'd begin my new beginning with a MAJOR iPhone dump. Broken into 2 parts of course, because there are way too many pictures for one blog post. Ain't no body got time for dat. Enjoy the endless amount of pictures coming your way! You can totally pretend you're doing this stuff with me...I won't judge.

All Star Game 2014 - 6 players from the Winnipeg Goldeyes were chosen, one being my husband. What an honor. Even though he was hurt and couldn't play, it was AMAZING to see the best of the best get down in the all american sport. GOD, YOU ARE GOOD. 



Gimli Beach, Manitoba - on a day when the boys were on the road, my sweet host sister and her bf took me to Gimli, which is a beach town a little outside of Winnipeg. The views were breath taking and the water was surprisingly not as cold as I would have imagined in Canada.



We ate the BEST fish and chips I've ever had at Kris'. It was a 30 min wait and well worth it

And of course we had to Tim Tebow the gigantic viking statue.

Then we hit the local shops in town and found some awesome hand sanitizers for all your personal needs.

Gotta love Canadians. They're hilariously dry.

Downtown Showcase Thingy - A few days ago, the wives and I headed downtown for some art/activity show thing (I still don't know what it was called) to spend some time together. Let me just say that it was probably one of the funnest things I've done here and it was totally spur the moment and odd amusement. In each alley way (yes you read that right) there was a different showcase/activity/art piece that locals made to, well, show off. 12 in total and some were dull and boring and other were making giant bubbles with strings, swinging in singing hammocks, star gazing, and enjoying mother nature.







I'm starting to get what Canadians think is "fun" that ends up being just plain hysterical to me.

Country Night Baseball - Last Wednesday was "country" night so I borrowed the cutest white boots and hat from my host sister and dressed for the occasion. I was not going in this alone so I made my partner in crime (another wife) dress up with me. She loved it even though she hadn't said so.



*the cow is one of the workers that totally makes this picture seem more authentic. Just saying. 

Sorry that was extremely long. Get some popcorn because Part 2 is coming up!

Grand Beach, Winnipeg

We spent Saturday at the beach in Winnipeg because long story short Ryan slid into 3rd 2 weeks ago, the player stepped on his hand with cleats, and fractured the bone that connects his ring finger to his palm. Tough luck is pretty much what we said. So with that being the prime of our problems, he's out for 4 weeks and got to stay home when the team went on the road this weekend.

The whole time we've been here, I've only heard about how wonderful Grand Beach is and that it is world renown for it's sand. We went, and I hate to break it to every Canadian I've spoken to, but it's really not that great. Unfortunately, we went on Saturday so it was PACKED. But the weather was great, and the water wasn't unbearably cold for once. We're used to the freezers of the California Pacific. Let me just mention that the road to the beach (which was supposedly a highway) was dirt. Literally, dirt people.



But for a day off with my boo (we don't get many), our little packed lunches + laying on the beach for 2 hours = one heck of a good day.

Day: Whatever. Who's keeping track anyways

The boys have left. FOR 11 DAYS! It's been about a week now, and luckily, I have friends to keep me busy...somedays. The first day the boys left, us wives (there's 5 in total that I know of, 3 of which are living here all summer) got together for a day out. We drove to a diner out in the country, all thanks to Hannah's amazing host daughter Krissy, that sat right next to a river. It was a beaut! Strap us in for smokey dogs and burgers galore!



Doesn't look like much on the outside, but inside was so awesome!



And the back outside was even more awesome...no filter necessary





After that, I spent the next few days finishing season one and two of the show Suits. #HarveyisHawt



And can I just take a second to appreciate what these men do in real life and in my life.

The life of a baseball wife isn't the most glamorous, and it can be a bit boring when they're on the road for weeks at a time. Thinking about it though, it is extremely rewarding and you visit some incredible places along the way. I can't say I want to pack up my things and move to Canada, BUT we've been able to find some gems in the Slurpee Capital of the world.

Day 17: Hail Storms and North Dakota #PinedaCan14

Why am I just now realizing (again) that blogging is just the perfect outlet to express (most of) myself? I don't know the answer to that, but what I do know is that it has been so therapeutic to sit in my room, by myself, and just be in the thoughts of the world. Ok, now I'm sounding like a yoga instructor not that that's a bad thing of course. 

I'm in day 17 on the Pineda trip to Canada for the summer. Thus far, I've experience a lot in the past week. As you know, I went on the road with the boys to the Dakotas. Sioux Falls first, which was awesome (you can read about that here) and then Fargo, which was awesome in the sense that I got to travel and see it, but not so much in the sense that the weather was terrible and I almost got strep throat. Yeah, it wasn't fun, but thankfully I came back with just a sore throat and nothing more.

Fargo was cool. We stayed at a HoJo, but before you say anything, it was cheap and I wasn't there for long. If you don't know what "hotel" the Howard Johnson is, be thankful. The downtown was nice to walk around and had a great atmosphere with cool billboard signs, too!

 



A Town for Misfits is exactly my kind of town. Figuratively speaking, of course. 

While in Fargo, I experienced my first hail storm. It was unlike anything I've ever seen before and let me tell you, scary as heck! The hail were the size of GOLF BALLS! Yes, golf balls and after it cleared, ALL of the cars in the parking lot were dented. Poor guys.



I couldn't believe how loud it sounded when the hail was hitting the windows. It. Was. Crazy.

The Fargo-Moorhead Redhawk's field was pretty cool too! Especially cool, because of this



So anyone could get a kids meal with a hot dog, chips, and drink for only $2.50! Now that's my kind of deal. It rained though, A LOT, and it was cold and dreary. We managed to get a few smiles in before the storm came though! Look at this adorable face.



But honestly, I am glad to come back to Winnipeg where I can sprawl my white legs out and wear summer clothes. I'm not a cold/rain/any weather but hot person so it's nice to return to some sun. Well that rounds up my road trip to the Dakota's. We are back in Sunnyville Winnipeg for a week before the Goldeyes head off again. I won't be going with them next week so I will need to find a hobby that takes up A LOT of time. Especially, since I already finished Orange is the New Black season 2 in just 2 days. I'm not ashamed. I. Am. Not. Ashamed.