Well, since I am nowhere near Atlanta, it's impossible for me to attend the Braves Fanfest, so I went to the second best thing - the Orioles FanFest in Baltimore. Thanks to Fernando Lunar (who was a Brave for part of last season), Mike Bordick, Brook Fordyce, Jerry Hairston, Ryan Kohlmeier (sp?), Jeff Conine, BJ Ryan, Chris Richard, Mike Trombley, Chuck McElroy, Sean Douglas, and Mark Nussbeck, I had the BEST time. I was at the FanFest from 8AM-8PM. When we walked into the Convention Center, I picked up a schedule and almost cried when I saw that I'd have to go through basically the whole day before the reason I had came would be there (Fernando). He was scheduled to be signing at 6:15 PM. So, I started the day off by looking in the store, browsing the booths, visiting the BaySox (their AA team) and just enjoying the baseball surroundings. At 9:30, I saw that Brook Fordyce was at the Photo Session and I really wanted to see the guy who was taking all the playing time away from Fernando, so I went down to the lower floor and stood in line for a picture with him. He was SO cute! And so nice. I walked up to him and he's like, "Hey, how you doing?" I almost fainted, lol. While I was waiting in line, I saw my best friend, Kristen. So we hung out for the next several hours. So after getting my pic with Brook, Kristen and I moved onto looking at the booths again, and getting all the free stuff that they were giving out :) She convinced her dad to buy her a Sidney Ponson jersey, and so I bought a "Lunar 51" jersey. We wanted to get Jeff Conine's autograph, but his line was too long. So when he was done signing, my cousin and I followed him. He walked into the Mens bathroom and so we waited until he came out and got some pics of him. He was shocked that we had followed him all the way to the bathroom. So we walked around for some more, looking at all of the awesome baseball stuff. I was ecstatic, considering I had been going through baseball withdrawl for a couple months. At 11, Mike Hargrove (the manager) had a photo session, so I got a pic with him. While we were waiting in line, we watched Brook doing a Fan Forum, where players sit in chairs on the stage and answer questions. It was awesome. Right after that, my cousin and I waited in line to get Chuck McElroy and Mike Trombley's autograph. They also let us get pics with them. At 12, we got pics at the photo session with The Bird (The O's mascot). Then, we found out where the room was that the players come in and out of, like to eat and talk and get away from the fans for awhile. So we waited outside of that door. I saw Brook Fordyce walk out, and he was leaving becauce he had his coat on, but I asked him if I could get another pic with him and if he would sign my ball. So, he did because he's such a sweetheart. Anyways, overall, I got pics at the photo session with Brook, The Bird, the manager, Mike Bordick, and BJ Ryan. I got autographs from Mike Bordick (I waited for an hour and a half in his autograph line, then I got his auto again when I saw him walking into the player's room), Chuck, Trombley, Jerry Hairston (He is FINE! But I also met his wife :( ), Ryan Kohlmeier (another cutie and a totally nice guy), and Jose Mercedes. It wasn't in the photo booth, but right outside of the player's room, I got pics with Jerry Hairston and Ryan Kohlmeier. They are such sweethearts, I have definitly become a bigger O's fan! But now the best part - Fernando Lunar. I was so worried that this cutie was not going to remember me, but I was wrong. When he came into the building, around 5:45, he recognized me immediatly and said Hey. We asked for a pic but he had to go eat before he had his signing session. So while he was in the players room, I made friends with a security guard. Every ten minutes he'd go in and see what Fernando was doing. The first time he said that he was eating, the second time he was yaking. Then the guard went in the asked Fernando if he knew me and Ferny told him that he'd known me for a long time. I was SO happy! So when he came back out, he talked to me for awhile and I walked with him and his security guard to his table where he was signing. He took my card and he's like, "Where's this from? Atlanta?" I was like, "Yeah" because that was the only card I had of him. He handed it back to me, then went to the bathroom and then to his table. I waited for about a half an hour in line. He kept looking up at me while I was in line and laughing. I was like, "OMG, that't SO cute!" Anyhows, when it was my turn, he signed my card, I got a pic with him, he told me something to tell a friend of mine, and we said bye. (We actually ended up saying 'Bye' 5 times.) About 45 minutes later, we were waiting in the lobby (the room where the players room is) for my dad because we didn't know where he was. Fernando came walking down the steps from his session and started walking into the room. He saw me, so he turned around and came over to talk. We talked for at least 20 minutes (and 20 minutes seems like 20 hours when you're talking to a pro athlete, lol). I told him I was worried that he wouldn't remember me and he was like, "Nah, of course I would." I asked him if he still had the Braves license plate on the front of his car and he was like, "Yep." I told him his hair looked different, because it was curlier and longer and put his hand through his hair and goes, "Yeah, I like it like this, what u think?" I told him it looked really cute. Then he asked what I thought of his earring, because he had gotten a gold earring in his left ear, I told him it looked cool. We talked about anything and everything for awhile, then we said bye (for the second time) and I went downstairs looking for my dad. I didn't see him so I came back up to the lobby and Fernando was still there, talking to some old guy. Then he walked outside and you could tell how lonely he was, so I went out and talked to him some more. We said bye for the 3rd time, and I went back inside and downstairs looking for my dad. Didn't find him again, so when I came back up Ferny was still in the lobby, same as last time-we talked, said bye (4th time). Went back downstairs and finally found my dad. Came back up, Ferny was still there. So he gave me a card of him to send to his friend, and we said goodbye for the last time, and I left. Ah, I love him :)
This is the cutest pic that I took at FanFest...
Here's Fernando at FanFest again, What a Cutie!
Below are some pics of Fernando from an O's game and their blown up versions.
