Another birthday

That time of year again. Every birthday is a good birthday ... that in and of itself implies I'm getting up there! Who says that when they're young!?

In keeping with our tradition of 'birthday person picks the restaurant,' I chose The Liberty House, a restaurant located in Liberty Park that overlooks the Hudson R. and lower Manhattan. You can clearly see the new Freedom Tower from here.

Before dinner pics:

Don & I ... its about 100 degrees still.

Tommy & Carolyn

Carolyn & Bryan

During & after dinner pics:

We had a nice table with a view - sushi man in the back!

The family and the skyline at night.

We had a really nice evening. We dropped Bryan off in Hoboken to meet his friends and then finished the evening with a game of euchre with Tommy & Carolyn when we got home.

We're in red

Guess you'll just have to take my word for it - we're in there somewhere. 

Verizon Corporate Classic - taken: July 18, 2013 (one of the hottest days of the summer)

Zac Brown Band on July 19th

Lucky for us Carolyn couldn't use her tickets to see the Zac Brown Band so Don and I took them. We cruised down the Parkway to the PNC Arts Center, and found a great spot on the lawn under a clear night sky. It was a perfect way to spend my summer birthday.

Don checking out the crowd, waiting for Zac

Zac Brown Band on stage way down there and on the screens

We weren't exactly Zac Brown Band fans, in fact we didn't know any of their songs, but apparently they are quite popular and the thousands of people all around us knew every word! :)  It was a really fun evening and now I'll have to download a little Zac Brown. "Wishing I was knee deep in the water somewhere ..."

Verizon Classic in 100 degree heat

Carolyn signed up for the Verizon Classic 5k corporate run in Morristown on Thursday night, along with Don and Tommy. Tommy couldn't make it so I tagged along. Since the weather was stinking hot on race day, the race was reduced to 2.2 miles and it was downgraded to no longer a race but a come-out-and-do-whatever. I walked it with my friend, Denise (Carolyn's internship manager), while Don, Carolyn and Denise's boyfriend, Jim, ran it. We were all sweating bullets before we even started and were soaked when we finished!

As part of the Verizon team we got running tees and swag bags with another t-shirt and a few other things. There were 5000 participants raising money for the Jersey Battered Women's Center. The route was through the streets of Morristown, which blocked off many homes. Many people came out of their homes to cheer on the racers and had their garden hoses set up to spray out onto the street over the runners. I have never participated in a run before and found it amazing how kind and supportive everyone was ... even to us walkers. It was a fun evening.

July Birthday Babies Beach Bash - again

Once again the July birthday babies and spouses met on the beach for our annual birthday celebration. We are reducing in numbers due to July babies moving away and so sadly, one who passed away last Oct. and another travelling.

It was my second and last year as co-chair - a very easy job requiring a few emails and getting down to the beach early on the day to reserve a couple of picnic tables - and as I arrived at the beach early Sunday to meet Susan, my co-chair, we noticed a unique phenomenon ...

... actually pretty funny. Looked like some late-night pranksters stacked all the beach chairs in one tall stack! This would usually be at least four shorter stacks.

July birthday babies: Nick, Susan, Me, Tracey, Bob, Susan, Dave, Eileen

Keeping to the shade on a very hot day! Marian, Dave, Tracey, Paul, Don

Great friends in a great community. So lucky.

Twenty-one years old!

Our little girl turned 21 yesterday. A much anticipated day by her, with countdowns on her phone and in the kitchen, that arrived while we were in a hotel room in Fayetteville, NC with a 10-hour day of driving ahead of us. Not exactly the celebration she had in mind!

We organized an interesting day for her, beginning with her first gift - a birthday crown, which she wore all day - only while in the car and almost outside of the car once but caught her reflection in the car next to us in horror. I decided we'd pass the day by giving her 21 gifts. This worked out to one gift every 30 minutes. So I set my phone timer to 30 minutes and repeated it all day. Carolyn got gift cards for $21, a few clothing items, a few gifts of cash ($21), a couple of bottles of wine, and lots of small gifts just for fun. It actually made the trip quite fun. That and the texts with good wishes from friends, and an email and card from Nana. You're never alone with a smartphone. We got home just as the gifts ran out; perfect timing.

Today, when she came home there was a beautiful bouquet of flowers waiting for her from Tommy. They really are nice - pretty from every angle. She was thrilled. Very thoughtful.

I baked her a cake after work tonight, which she ended up decorating!

Our beautiful 21 year old!

The cake as iced & decorated by Carolyn

We're very proud of you, Carolyn! We wish you a life of happiness, good health and enough wealth to buy the handbags you love! :)