Birthdays, Tailgate, and Baseball Game

Imagine this: It's going to be the hottest day of the year. What do you want to do? How about to go stand in a parking lot for a few hours and then go watch a baseball game for another few hours? Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Well, it's what I did this past Saturday and it ended up being super fun!

Tailgating folks crowded under the tents trying to avoid getting heat stroke:

The temperature officially got up to 102F (~39C) degrees that day but I'd imagine that it was hotter in the parking lot because of the heat radiating up from the asphalt. No matter though! It was my sister's birthday after all and I wanted to go to another of my cousin Bobby's tailgate parties. You might remember last year when I went to one of his famous Eagles' tailgates. This is basically the same setup but it's hot out instead of cold.

The bar-trailer with Andy serving up beer on tap and about 700 bottles of ice-cold water:

I spent the whole time sweating all over the place. It was better when I was in the shade but just when I thought that I'd pass out, my sister's friend Denise brought five plastic tubs and some ice so that people could cool off by putting their feet in them. It was surprisingly refreshing and very nice of her. After a while, I guess that dipping her feet wasn't enough for Tracy who decided to turn one of the tubs into her own kiddie pool:

We hung out in the parking lot for about three hours eating my cousin's prime-rib sandwiches and other treats. The Phillies game started around 4pm and they just happened to be playing against my other "hometown" team, the San Diego Padres. It was the first time that I had been to the "new" baseball stadium, Citizen's Bank Park. This is my sister, brother-in-law, and me headed up to the nose-bleed seats on the escalator:

The stadium is one of the newer style ballparks that looks old-fashioned but is super modern where all the seats have a good view and there are plenty of luxury boxes. Our seats were up pretty high on the third-base side but the view was very good and they were in the shade! Woo-hoo! It was nice to watch the game out of the sun.

My cousin got seats together for everyone who went to the tailgate so that everyone could sit together. From (top) left to (bottom) right, my dad, Ginny, Ginny's friends who I met that day, Tom, and Denise (who brought the plastic tubs and ice I mentioned above):

We managed to hang out until the top of the eighth inning when we just couldn't take the heat anymore. My sister decided that she wanted to eat some french fries for her birthday so we took off and headed to a restaurant over near her house that serves really great fries and adult beverages and has COLD air conditioning:

These next two photos are sort of random but since July is birthday month for both my brother and sister I thought I'd throw them in here. This one is a photo of Jackie and her birthday cake (we actually celebrated the day after the game above)...

...and a picture of my brother on his birthday earlier in the month:

Even though the day was hotter than what is reasonable, I had a great time spending the day at the tailgate and game with family and friends. I think that I prefer the heat of the summer-time tailgates to the cold of the winter ones. Regardless, happy belated birthday to Kevin and Jackie! Cheers!