Box of Goodies...

There is nothing quite like getting a surprise box from MeMe full of goodies.

MeMe is always thoughtful in her packages. Butterfly magnets for Brayden to remember his butterflies by.

Chocolate Zucchini bread and 3 loaves at that! Sarah couldn't believe it. Really! She LOVES chocolate zucchini bread. The zucchini came from PaPa & MeMe's garden in North Carolina.

Thanks MeMe for making our day. We love you.

Jason turns 40...

Jason entered his 40's on Monday. He had a memorable 40th, which I think is what you want on a milestone birthday. He went golfing in the morning with his brother and two friends and then we went to the Yankee game in the evening. What more could a guy ask for?

We had an amazing time at the Yankee game. A friend of ours who works for the Yankees got us special seats for the occasion in the Legends area. Our seats were two rows behind third base. Amazing!

Before the game you get to go to their restaurant which is below the stadium and have dinner, which included a buffet of all different kinds of foods (meat carving, Italian, seafood, sushi, ball park, salads and desserts). On the way to our seats they had all kinds of treats you could take with you - popcorn, peanuts, mini candy bars, lollipops, Twizzlers. Our kids were in heaven. Okay, so were Jason and I. Throughout the game you can order whatever food you want off their ballpark menu or you can go back into the restaurant and get more food. All of it was included with our seats, which was free thanks to our friend.

Our view. Nice.

Just got to our seats.

Jason showing Brayden where Robinson Cano is positioned. Now that Brayden has a Cano shirt he has become his favorite player.

Brayden holding out his hat to try and catch a ball.

and he did. Not with his hat though. One of the Toronto Blue Jays threw him a ball.

A-Rod on 3rd base. Not sure we will ever be closer than tonight.

Brayden wanted one of these fingers since the last time he went to the Yankee game, so tonight he was anxious to get one. He was thrilled with that and his ball.

Brayden made friends with this photographer from the NY Post. Every now and then he would give Brayden a high-five. He also got the eye of a cameraman from the YES Network and got on TV. Jason actually recorded the game at home, so we were able to see it that night. We got several messages from people while we were at the game that they saw Brayden.

Go Jeter!! Like Sarah's new glasses? Fun and funky.

Amazing and memorable night!!

Butterfly Garden...

Brayden got a butterfly garden from PaPa and MeMe for Christmas. You order the caterpillars from the company when you are ready to watch them grow and they ship them to you. We wanted it to be warm enough before we ordered them, so we got them in June and watched them grow from larvae to beautiful painted lady butterflies in a couple of weeks.

We hung the garden in the kitchen so that we could watch them each day.

After the butterflies hatched and we kept them in the garden for a week we decided it was time to set them free. He had a total of 4 hatch, but only 3 survived to be released. Unfortunately most of my pictures from setting them free turned out blurry. So bummed!

In celebration of setting them free we made butterfly cookies.

Can you tell which ones might be Brayden's? (Hint: He loves M&M's)

Afterwards we had lots of fireflies in the yard, so Sarah and Brayden started catching them and putting them in the empty butterfly garden. I think we got almost 20.

Fun summer nights.

Celebrating at the beach...

We had a great time celebrating my birthday at the beach. It was so fun to getaway even if it was just overnight. We headed to Long Branch on Sunday afternoon and started relaxing in our hotel room right away. Later we headed to dinner. Some friends of ours introduced us to Freddie's Pizzeria a couple years ago and it has become a favorite of ours. They have an amazing Italian salad and ultra thin pizza.

After dinner we headed to the beach for a walk and to scope out our spot for the next day.

Monday morning we enjoyed breakfast at our hotel and hit the beach at 9:30. The weather was gorgeous, not to hot or humid and there was a great breeze. The kids loved being in the water. Not me, a little to chilly.

This is to prove that I was really at the beach since moms usually are taking all the pictures.

Before heading home we took a walk down the boardwalk to Pier Village, which has shops and restaurants including a Red Mango frozen yogurt store. We all enjoyed a cool treat.

I couldn't ask for a better birthday. Love my family. Love the beach. Love being able to getaway.