Best Birthdy Gift - Period.

Da Bears!!!

My lovely wife got me pretty much the best birthday gift a guy could ever dream of...Bears tickets. We went with some friends of ours, Paul and Nicole. We left Champaign about 1pm after our babysitter showed up. We got in to Soldier Field about 3:30 or 4:00. After dropping $45 for parking, we pulled in to our slot to do some serious tailgating.

Here is Jenn and Nicole. Yes, it was very cold. We all wore many layers and coveralls. As did the ridiculous amount of people that joined us for brats, chili and all the fixins...

We hung out with all these people that gradually got more drunk as the afternoon wore on, but we kinda expected it...
We all ate like kings off of Paul's portable gas grill that he brought. We headed in around 5:30. It was about 2 hours before game time, but Paul and I both like to get in to parks early so that we aren't rushing around. This also gave us ample opportunity to walk around and see the sights of the stadium that they updated a couple of years back. I was able to sneak down close to the field and enjoy the sights and sounds...

The following picture was actually pretty meaningful to me. This was the first time that I had seen the field in person. I've grown up watching the Bears with my family. As early as I can remember, they've been on the tube, especially the '85 Super Bowl team. I was quite overwhelmed being this close to the field for the first time, it was almost surreal...

I walked over and was able to see the NFL network preparing and getting things ready for their show (Deion Sanders, Warren Sapp among others are the commentators...

After I was kicked out of the area by a disgruntled employee, we walked over and Jenn got me a Bears hat. Paul and I hoped to get some autographs, so we convinced a security guard to let us go down to the tunnel where the team comes out. We were able to be down there for about 15 minutes with all the other consumed fans...
Probably one of the coolest things that happened the whole night was right after this picture was taken, Robbie Gould, the Bears kicker came running out. We yelled at him, "Robbie, Robbie!" But all he did was turn around, take off his wrist bands and throw them up to the crowd. One hit Paul in the chest, but a little kid grabbed it. The other one landed right in front of me. I was able to snag it. It was a nice keep sake. Especially since Robbie kicked the tying field goal as time expired to send the game into overtime and then kicked the game winning field goal to beat a solid Saints team. Quite a night for him too!

We grabbed a few more pictures before heading up to our seats. They were high up, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves...


Paul and Nicole and Us
The team storming out of the tunnel...

Our seats...they were a great bird's eye view...and very cold...the wind chill got ya pretty good if you weren't prepared...
Lots of "Ta Da!" as they come out of the tunnel...
Notice the ice on the ground behind us...and the snow...this is called FUN! Paul and I figured that if everyone in the stadium bought one drink, they would make about half a million bucks. We bought about 10 hot chocolates just between us...and some guys in front of us easily consumed 4 beers each...

Robbie Gould is congratulated by Greg Olsen after booting a 35-yard field goal in overtime to beat the Saints 27-24 Thursday night.

It was a solid win for the Bears, and it kept them in the playoff hunt. We left the stadium around 10:45 pm, got to our vehicle and had surprisingly very little trouble getting out of the area. We headed to the Marriott for the night (I had points saved up so we got a free room). Woke up the next morning, went shopping for a few hours and then headed home in the afternoon. What a great time. Thanks Babe! I love you!