The Cubs

We made it to the North East side of Chicago around 3:30. We circled around looking for parking for a while and realized that it wasn’t going to come easily or cheap. The best deal we could find was for $30, 4 blocks from the stadium. This was not our most expensive parking in the city. Ugh.

By the time we got to Wrigley Field we were all starving. So before we did anything we stopped to get something to eat.

Here:

Mirah and her dad. Waiting for dinner…

Ahhh…diner was served!

We got a couple of amazing Gyro’s and of course our first Chicago style hot dog.

This was the closets thing I have had to byrek since Albania.

After dinner we headed over to the stadium!

Karl’s cousin Darwin Barney plays for the Cubs. He was SO cool. He got us tickets to the game. He also offered to get us passes to see batting practice.

On our way over to the gate we got some sweet shirts.

It was warm when we got into the city, so I was wearing flip flogs and a light sweater…big mistake. Poor little Mirah was starting to get chilly in all the famous Chicago wind.

Something went wrong with our batting pracitce passes. IDK. But the folks at the gate were really nice to us about it. They gave Mirah this cool sticker.

Luckily there is lots going on around this cool stadium so we filled our extra time looking around.

The stadium was surrounded by shops peddling merchandise. Can you guess how much this little adable little Hello Kitty with a cub shirt is?

$50. Yeah this was the picture right before Mirah threw a fit because we were not going to let her keep it. But $50 dollars??! Why?

Eventually we got our tickets and headed into the stadium.

The stadium was actually pretty huge too. We went in an started to wander. There were more shops inside, and that was when we saw this:

That is Darwin’s number!

There was also this guy.

We went and got Mirah a certificate:

She just really wanted to hold it with her sticker.

We did find our seats at this point.

They were ROCKIN’ too!

Right behind home plate. I guess this is the team family section. There seemed to be lots of people who knew each other. Rockin hot ladies whose husbands are Pro Ball players, moms decked out in all the gear…I felt a little out of place. Everyone was super nice to us though.

The Stadium itself was super cool.

One of the funnest features is that the buildings that face the stadium have either sold their roof space for billboards or actually build bleachers on to them to sell tickets!

The one draw back to our seats were that the balcony above us kept dripping onto us. We hoped it was water, but it could be spit, beer….

We were totally loving it.

Drip.

Then the Zombie eyes appeared.

Before we knew it, she had PASSED OUT.

The game started and so did the vendors. Lots of beer. This guy was our favorite. We kept wondering about him, his story…when did her start working here…8.00 for one can of beer? Yikes. especially considering they would open the can, pour it into the cup, and HALF of it would foam out over the edge.

The night was a special breast cancer night where survivors, sufferers, and their family came to support the cause. They wore pink, and had shirt that said, “Save 2nd Base.” Pretty funny.

Our view:

Well we made it about half way. It was the fourth inning and Mirah was awake and really cold. So we I in my flip flops! So we headed over to Clark’s Club house to meet the Clark, THE Chicago Cub’s mascot.

We had to wait an inning.

Which was TOTALLY fine with us beasue it meant we could wait INSIDE.

Mirah signed the guest book.

We waited and watched the game while sitting on a bean bag together. Mirah ran around the club house with her shoes off, and playing with the other kids waiting to meet Clark.

As the fifth inning started, we all got in line.

With Mirah’s track record of meeting Santa and her poor reaction to Karl in a horse head, it wasn’t a huge surprise that she HATED Clark the Chicago Cub.

I thought it was hilarious. I know, I am the worst.