Go Cubbies!

M & I are still alive!
My boards have been scheduled for later this month, and I have been studying like I've never studied before.
It's extremely stressful to have something so huge weighing on me 24/7, but M & I managed to get out of the house yesterday for a little fun in the sun.
Because he didn't give me birthday ideas, I came up with one that nearly gave me a panic attack after the purchase.
Two of the best tickets Wrigley Field has to offer.
Immediately after I clicked "purchase" I realized if the game gets rained-out, M will be left with no present from me at all, but there has been a lot of local chatter about moving the Cubs out of Wrigley and tearing it down, so I knew we had to get tickets this season if we wanted to be certain to watch them in one of the oldest stadiums in baseball history.

As it turns out, we had the best weather we've had since 2012. It was a perfectly warm and sunny day... unless you were in the shade.

We took a shuttle to Wrigleyville early in hopes of beating traffic and getting into a bar or restaurant before the game.
We ended up at Sluggers, which I highly recommend visiting if you're in that part of town.
It's a huge bar with delicious (not so nutritious) food and great service, even on game day. There was barely any standing room by the time we left, and we still had great waitstaff.

After fueling up, we walked to the field, both of us beyond excited.

I wanted to take pictures of everything to share with you, but I knew I would never be able to capture the magnitude and coolness of the history we were getting to see.
The stadium is remarkably small compared to those of other MLB teams. If you've ever been to a Mud Hens game, it was pretty much that size.

The high seats behind M are the bleachers that the local businesses installed on their rooftops, they're not technically a part of the stadium. It's like this surrounding the entire outfield!
There are large pillars every few aisles in the stadium, leaving some customers with completely obstructed views; however, that doesn't stop die-hard Cubs fans from purchasing those tickets at regular price.

The game began and the coolest concession people began roaming the aisles, making up songs, enticing us to buy "edible hand-warmers" (hot dogs) and Old Style beer.
These people, along with Carter, the guard over our section, were one of my favorite experiences of the day. You could tell that some of them had been there since they were old enough to work, and they truly love every second of Cubs baseball.

The game was fun, but when the sun went behind us and the 10th inning rolled around, M and I were freezing, and tired from a long, hard day of alcohol consuming ;-)

We stuck it out to watch our home team lose, but we both agreed that the best part of the day was being somewhere that so many baseball legends have played.

By the way, I believe Wrigley is the last field to not go to a jumbo-tron. They still have a person poking his head out of the holes in the scoreboard, and putting up numbers on the board when each team scores. It's pretty cool.

M had a smile from ear to ear all day... Mission accomplished.