Perfect day

We took Phoebe to her first Cubs game today …Her second Major League Baseball game overall …

And like the Twins game a few weeks ago, it couldn’t have been smoother or sweeter … Believe me -- no matter how much I love the Cubs and my treks to Wrigley -- with all the chaos and party ‘tude at Wrigley, I had more than my share of doubts about whether we were shattering our innocent little Pheebs for life with this trip …

But we moved ahead anyway …

In fact, it was almost as though she couldn’t wait to get their herself. Phoebe was up at the crack of dawn this morning and managed to drag Kates out of bed after her by 6. I managed to lay in bed until a little after 6:30, though not comfortably …

We dressed in our Cubs blue -- Phoebe too! We stuffed a backpack with Phoebe’s toys, formula, diapers and spare outfits, plus our rain gear, snacks and water bottles … And we left the house at 10 a.m., about a half hour behind our targeted time. But if that was the only snag we hit today, I was fine with it …

For the first time in my years of going to Cubs games, we decided to forego the train rides today and drive it -- A screaming Phoebe on a crowded train, we thought, could be catastrophic. Instead we took it at our own pace, calm, cool and collected in our cozy little Forrester … Construction was minimal and only at the Addison exit did we run into traffic delays …

It took us about 90 minutes to get to Wrigleyville. We found parking on the street about a mile from the park, and decided to hike it the rest of the way. We slipped Pheebs into the Baby Bjorn and tracked to the stadium … A mile-walk has rarely felt better. And we got the added joy of passersby pointing and admiring Phoebe all the way. At one intersection, a little Hispanic man, between directing cars into his personal parking lot, looked at Phoebe dressed in her Cubs outfit and then looked at me and signed “OK.” “That-a-way, start ‘em off early,” the man said to us.

By arriving after the first pitch, we also avoided the wall-to-wall crowds on the streets and outside the stadium … Once inside Wrigley, we made our restroom stops, purchased our food, got our bearings and then hiked the four flights of ramps -- passing more admirers -- to our seats in the upper deck, section 532, on the first base side. The same seats we had during that whirlwind night-game experience last season.

We slipped into our seats sometime during the bottom of the third inning; the score was still at 0-0. I didn’t get my scorecard today … But I didn’t care. I was soaking up the sights and sounds today and enjoying this one with Phoebe …

Then, the scoring began in the fourth -- with a bang. Derrek Lee knocked in Alfonso Soriano with a single, and then Aramis Ramirez smashed a three-run home run to the left field bleachers. The crowd burst into a roar, and Pheebs burst into a scared cry that was adorable and heart-breaking at the same time. She recovered quickly though; she’s a trooper …

After the Cubs added one more in the fifth, Kates took Phoebe to Wrigley’s nursing station for a feeding and diaper-changing. In the meantime, I watched Mark DeRosa hit a home run of his own in the sixth inning …

Kates and Phoebe returned just in time for the seventh inning stretch. One of my faves, Fred Willard was the guest of honor today …

And then the scoring continued. The Cubs put up more runs in the eighth on another three-run shot by Aramis Ramirez. And that time, Phoebe didn’t cry …

It also was about this time that a dark cloud rolled over Wrigley out of nowhere and started dropping buckets of rain over the field. Luckily, we were protected by the roof and didn’t share any part of it … And still, it moved out as fast as it moved in. Despite all the forecasts of storms today, that was the closest we got to any of it.

The sun came out again for the ninth; Phoebe was in my lap, and she was all smiles … The Cubs finished off the Nationals, 9-2, there were fist bumps and high-fives all around -- a dude next to us even gave Phoebe a celebratory fist bump.

... Then came the moment I’d been waiting for all summer. Celebrating a Cubs win with Phoebe at Wrigley and singing “Go Cubs Go” as it got blasted over the P.A. … My eyes welled up a little.

… When it was over, we snapped a few more pictures and took our time exiting the stadium. In fact we were among the last to leave only as the ushers started clearing the stragglers out of their seats. Then a couple pictures outside the stadium and we started our mile-hike back to the car -- with a stop for mango blast Smoothies at a Dunkin Donuts along the way …

The iPod had been playing some impressive tunes all day, and as we pulled into our garage Clay Aiken’s “Perfect Day” was playing … Cheesy? Say what you want … But it was a pretty awesome day.