My dad and I finally celebrated his April birthday on Wednesday night — and we took our four-year-old shih tzu/bichon frise mix, Cooper, with us. For my dad’s birthday, I bought us all tickets to Bark at the Park night at the Reading Phillies. The Reading Phillies are the AA farm team for our hometown Philadelphia Phillies, and many of our current players came through the team, including Jimmy Rollins, Carlos Ruiz, Cole Hamels and Ryan Madsen. My dad enjoys heading up to the stadium, which is a little over an hour from our town, because it has more of a cozy feel to it, there are tons of activities, games and prize competitions happening constantly and more access to all the amenities. It was a perfect evening for a ball game. It was cool and pleasant. Cooper was a bit out of his element, with all the sights, sounds and, particularly, smells; but he seemed to have a good time — watching all of the fans from the comfort of my lap or my dad’s. As the game went into extra innings, we headed home. Cooper, who was getting tired by the end of the game, snoozed in my lap the entire ride home, worn out from the excitement of his first baseball game. — Kimberly Krol, special issues editor, eFlyer USA editor