Staley Da Bear

Yesterday we took a family day and headed out to Bourbonnais Illinois to see the Bears at their training camp. Jason goes every year to watch the Bears practice and he wanted to bring us along this year. It was originally supposed to start at three in the afternoon, but because of the much needed rain we had the night before, practice was moved to eight thirty in the morning. That meant we had to leave by seven o'clock in the morning if we wanted to get there on time. I was not thrilled, I am so bad about getting up in the morning. But, it was planned, and the girls were looking forward to it so there was no turning back. It was more fun than I had anticipated. It helped having Jason up and ready to help out with getting the girls fed and dressed in the morning. We brought the baby to grandma, which she loved. We got there on time and headed over to were the Bears come out to practice to try and get some autographs. Much to our surprise Brian Urlacher come out and headed over to give us and a few others his autograph! He always tries to sneak in and out of training camp to avoid the fans, so we were very lucky to say the least. Jason has been going to this camp for 6 years and has never come close to getting his autograph. It's probably because of his beautiful girls that he had with him! So, that was cool.

After sitting there and watching them train for a little while Staley Da Bear(the Bears mascot) came around for all the kids.

(here he is visiting with a sick girl at the University of Chicago Childrens hospital )

Anna and Mary were very happy to see him, and went up for a closer look. After watching him with the other kids for a while Staley noticed Mary and Anna watching him and went over to them. I yelled over to the girls to go give him a hug, and Anna backed away very unsure about the whole thing. Mary went right up and did it. Then, when Anna got scared and came over by Jason and I, Staley began to act as though he were crying. Anna didn't seem to care much, but I was sad for him so I went to give him a hug to show Anna how much better it made him feel. She wouldn't budge. So, after a little while he left to go talk to some other kids. When he was out of site was when Anna worked up the courage to want to hug him. She felt bad that she made him feel bad. Jason took her and they looked around for him, but they couldn't find him. He wasn't around for the rest of the time of the practice, and when that was over we went over to try and get some more autographs. Anna didn't care too much about the players (or the big football guys as she says.) She wanted to see that darned bear, and made quite a fuss over it. One of the security ladies overheard her, and then herself went looking for Staley. Turns out he was already gone, and wasn't coming back till the night practice, and there was no way we were waiting around till then. Jason told Anna that he would bring her next year, but she still felt bad that she didn't get the chance to hug him.

So, I am starting to wonder if this is how it is going to be at Disney. Will she never work up the courage to go up to her favorite characters to give them hugs until they are gone? Are we going to have every security guard, or worker looking for Mickey, or Goofy, or Cinderella? I reminded Anna about how bad she felt when she was told the bear was gone, and that she wouldn't get another chance until next year to give him a hug. Then went on to tell her that when we go to Disney, she should remember that she might only get one chance to do this, and she had better take the chance when she has it so that she won't miss out and feel bad about it later. Oh, what a hard life lesson to be learned.