Braves, BBQ, and Charity

Austin Lee
October 16, 2023

Hello Friends and Family,

After arriving home from Raleigh, NC on Saturday night, we were home for two days to wash clothes and re-pack for the next adventure. But, we managed to pack quite a bit into those two days.

Mills started looking at himself in the mirror. - Atlanta, GA | 10/1/2023

According to everything we have read, Mills doesn’t know that he’s looking at himself, but he clearly knows there is another person staring back at him. He loves to grin and babble at this mystery person.

Mills’ First Atlanta Braves Game

I’ve been to so many Braves games in my life I have lost count. I was even a season ticket holder way back in 2007 when Courtney and I met. I have been to opening day games, rivalry games, playoff games, and even a World Series.

Nothing compares to the feeling of taking Mills to his first game. We kicked things off in the most Atlanta way possible by sitting in traffic and then standing in line.

Mills met Mr. Hammer from the Home Depot Tool Race before we even got into the stadium. - Atlanta, GA | 10/1/2023

Unlike every other Braves game we decided to buy tickets without an assigned seat and just see what happened. So we got there early to snag some pictures in the more expensive seats.

Austin and Mills along the First Baseline. - Atlanta, GA | 10/1/2023

This was the last home game of the regular season for the Braves and they had a Kids focused giveaway. The first several thousand kids who came through the gate received a “Blooper” action figure.

Courtney with Mills in the Ergobaby Carrier and Mills’ Blooper action figure. - Atlanta, GA | 10/1/2023

Even Dad got a souvenir at the game. There were so many different giveaways. I’m pretty sure they went into their storage rooms and said, “Let’s get rid of all this junk!”

Souvenir bat mug at the Terrapin Brewing kiosk. - Atlanta, GA | 10/1/2022

There is a breastfeeding room inside the stadium, so Courtney took Mills to have a bottle in a quiet place. I’m trying to convince Courtney to write one edition of our newsletter solely about this experience.

While the room was nice and the attendants were kind, the other women in the room certainly didn’t make Courtney feel welcome as a bottle feeding mom.

Courtney’s close high school friend Lisa has season tickets at the ballpark, so we spent the 6th inning with her. - Atlanta, GA | 10/1/2023

After a quick stop to hang out with Lisa and a pause for the 7th inning stretch it was time for us to head home to beat the traffic and for Mills to get a decent nap.

Courtney and Mills after the game. - Atlanta, GA | 10/1/2023

A selfie in front of Truist Park with Austin, Courtney, and Mills. - Atlanta, GA | 10/1/2023

One cool thing the Braves do is provide families with a certificate when their child attends their first game.

Mill’s certificate for attending his first home game. - Atlanta, GA | 10/1/2023

BBQ and The Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta

After a good night’s sleep, it was time to start prepping for our next adventure trip. Next week you’ll hear all about the homecoming tailgate I organized and catered, but it all started 5 days before at 6 in the morning.

Courtney and Mills looking at 16lbs of pork shoulder getting prepped for the pit. - Atlanta, GA | 10/2/2023

After getting the meat seasoned it was time to fire up the pit and get that meat smoked.

My trusty Traeger pellet smoker getting fired up. - Atlanta, GA | 10/2/2023

As many of you know I’ve loved BBQ as long as I can remember. I’ll never forget Anthony Averette inviting me to help him and some other men at our church cook whole hog BBQ for a fundraiser when I was 15 years old.

He never taught me how to make his famous eastern North Carolina BBQ sauce…so if anyone knows how to get in touch with him, I’d love to see if he wouldn’t mind sharing it with me now!

Once we got cleaned up, Mills and I had a meeting with Megan Anderson, the Executive Director of the Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta. Courtney and I are long time supporters thanks to an invitation to a gala event from our friend Tex 10 years ago.

Four years ago I was asked to join their board of directors, a role I was more than willing to step into. One of their missions is to make sure that every child in Atlanta has a bed to sleep in, which of course has extra special resonance now.

Austin and Mills in front of the Furniture Bank warehouse. - Atlanta, GA 10/2/2023

Austin and Mills on a couch in the Furniture Bank warehouse. - Atlanta, GA | 10/2/2023

Mills enjoyed his first visit to the furniture bank and asks you to donate furniture and money so every little boy and girl like him can sleep in a bed.

The rest of the day was spent prepping for our trip to Mars Hill, NC, napping, and of course finishing up the pulled pork.

Mills taking a nap after a hard morning of smoking some pork and a meeting at the furniture bank. - Atlanta, GA | 10/2/2023

The only picture I got of the cook from the entire day was the water from the ice bath draining into the sink at 1:30am the next morning. - Atlanta, GA | 10/3/2023

I finally climbed into bed at 3am on 10/3 after resting and pulling the pork. I separated the pork into 3lb vacuum sealed packages and quickly cooled them in an ice chest before placing them in the freezer.

I was up with Mills just a few hours later. The next adventure started later that day when we packed the car and left for Mars Hill, NC.

Until our next Adventure,

Austin, Courtney, Mills, and Willow

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