40th Celebration

Phil just turned 40!!!!  For anyone who knows him knows that throwing a party for him was a no-no but I didn't want to just let it pass without celebrating a milestone birthday!  So, in early October I started looking at Broncos tickets to see if I could get any close by.  I got an awesome deal at scorebig.com for the Broncos vs. Bengals in Cincinnati.  I purchased them, booked a hotel and then we gave them to him waaaaayyy early because the game was November 4 even though Phil's birthday wasn't until December. He was surprised and we began the countdown until we could go!  We left early afternoon on Saturday and drove to about an hour from Cincinnati to our hotel. We went out to eat, worked out and enjoyed the quiet of just the two of us!  Sunday morning we got up and ate an awesome breakfast at the hotel and then got ready to head out to the game.  Here we are in the lobby getting ready to leave. 

Here is Phil all dressed in his Broncos gear at the parking garage in Cincinnati.  For someone who does NOT like attention, this was not the outfit to wear!  He has had these pants for 20 years now and people behind us were reading them outloud and talking about how big of a fan he must be.

We hiked to the stadium and got there plenty early.  Lots of Colts jerseys there because of so many fans there to see Peyton Manning.  We were not far from the top of the stadium but it really didn't seem that far away and we could see the whole field really well! Here we are settled in and watching them warm up on the field.

As people filled in around us, we were surprised at all of the Broncos fans there.  We were surrounded by Bengals fans, including some VERY intoxicated college students beside us that were a bit chatty and some guys behind us who were very nice to us.  We also had some not-so-nice fans nearby...but it was all good since we won! HA! Here is the meeting of the captains for the coin toss.

Peyton warming up his arm just before kickoff, along with Stokely (14).

Halftime show was the University of Kentucky band.,.they were fairly good, but got boo'd...I guess because the University of Cincinnati is right there.

It was awesome to cheer for them live at the game.  Tricia was probably more vocal than Phil and the ladies in front of them didn't like it so much...but that's okay! Being at the game is such a different feeling from sitting at home in front of the tv.  Loved it!

Our Broncos gave us a bit of worry as the Bengals were making a come-back but they held on and clinched the win! 

As you can see, we stayed awhile after the game was over (the stands are nearly empty), but we figured why fight the huge crowd and we waited until all of the Broncos went to the locker room before leaving.  We were impressed to see Peyton Manning being the last one to the locker room and stopping at the tunnel to throw off his wristbands and towel to the crowds that were waiting for him to come through (both Colts and Broncos jerseys).

We were surprised at the time we made coming home and we actually made it home by about 9:30 PM. We had both taken the following day off assuming we would be home super late!  We had a blast celebrating a little early for Phil's 40th!  What a perfect way to spend it...next time we want to take the boys...they will LOVE it!  Happy 40th Phil!