My Summertime Companion

I don't leave home without it.

If you are a baseball mom—or soccer, lacrosse, or you name the sport—you may already be acquainted with the power of the rolling cooler. But this post is my homage to what has become one of my most useful, and therefor valuable, possessions. This model, purchased at Stop & Shop for about $30, is my favorite because it has a hard plastic interior and is easy to clean. The styles that have a soft, vinyl inside always get smelly and moldy after one season. This is my third summer hauling this puppy around and she's still growing strong!

Below is my masterlist of items to include in your cooler; I promise it will increase your popularity!

• food and water are the no brainers, but here are some specifics. The beverages should back on the bottom, with loose ice. All sandwiches should be packed in plastic containers, not baggies to avoid the soggy factor. Recycled chinese food containers fit in this cooler perfectly!
• the top, zippered compartment fits lots of snacks easily; just don't then put heavy things on top or instead of having chips, you'll have bits of chips.
• other essentials: sunscreen, bug spray, purelle, wet ones, napkins, plasticware, salt.
• individual gatorade powder packets
• sewing kit (I have used mine to fix a button that popped off a uniform; and not once, but twice, have used the needles to extract sunflower seed shells that got stuck too far up in a ball player's gum (ouch!) because dental floss wasn't working. And yes, the needles were sterilized in between times!
• a stack of paper napkins; twice in one weekend these were used to solve bloody nose crises.
• wash cloths serve myriad purposes; the most important for my family is when the ice in the cooler starts to melt, you have an instant sweat relief rag during really hot summer games.
• bottle opener/cork screw: more valuable for the beach or post game activities.

And best of all, whenever I head out with my partner in tow, I hear the old Bud Lite commercial theme song in my head...except I change "Mr." to "Mrs."