Santa is a Navy fan

This weekend we drove to Philadelphia and my dad, my brother, his girlfriend, Rick and I all bundled up in our warmest gear and went to the 109th playing of the Army-Navy football game. Wow- what an amazing experience. And, though the game was pretty good, I don't think it was the best part.

We had to get there two and a half hours early to see the Brigade of Naval Academy Midshipmen and the Corp of West Point Cadets march onto the field. My dad is a 1969 Naval Academy graduate, so that was especially nostalgic for him.

Then there were the fly-overs.

The Army Airborn parachuters all landed on the 50 yard line- very impressive.

The Navy SEAL parachuters brought the flag to the stadium.

That's Air Force 1. Yep, President Bush was there too.

There he is waving to me on his way in.

Bill the Goat and the Army Mule get rowdy.

President Bush officiated the coin toss.

Santa, obviously a Navy fan, was sitting a couple of rows ahead of us.

President Bush sat on the Army side during the first half of the game (because, they were the home team), but at half time he came over the winning side.

And, of course, the best part...

My brother supplied a pretty terrific post-game taligait barbeque.

Not to be left out of the fun, Will stayed in Bedford and went with Grandma, his friends Jamie and Ava, and their mom to breakfast with Santa. By all reports, it was a lot of fun. Good thing it was over in time for Santa to make it to the game.