Yankees Game

So Joe got tickets to a Yankees game back on June 19. Me, Joe, and his parents drove down to visit Yankee Stadium one last time. We had great seats, 12 rows from the field. We had the option of a personal waiter. It was nice. Only one thing....I could not relax. See my sister can attest to this. When I was younger I had several emergency room visits because I had been to some baseball games and was hit in the head with a ball a couple times. One time I was in the parking lot! A foul ball bounced on the pavement and got me in the face. My husband was delighted when he heard of my bad luck. He couldn't wait to get a ball. Was even pissed that he forgot his brand new birthday glove. So you can imagine my thoughts when we sat down and this sign was on the seat in front of me.

Here is the happy couple. How cute do I look?Here are the in laws
This is the new Yankee Stadium
And here is a video of my father in law. I can't stop watching it! He's playing the air guitar in between innings

It was a great day. Great weather. Great company. It was nice to go with Joe to a game again. Seems that and the casino were all we did when we were dating.

talk about annoying!

Those in laws! Am I right? Always bothering you telling you what to do. Like my father in law. Bugging me to no end "were are the birthday party pictures? blah, blah blah..." Well here they are. Quit bothering me!

(I'm just kidding...I have the best in laws ever. Every day I am thankful I married into such a great family.)

So here they are. The pictures!!!

Julia was so proud she wanted to make sure she got to hold the sign. And note in this picture she is fine. Joe told his mom (a way to get her to Auntie Kate's without her suspecting) that her grandchild was hurt and calling out for her. Nice huh? Can you imagine the car ride over?
SURPRISE!!!
Wooooohooooo! Come people show some spirit
Lena watching everyone

Papa and his princess
the BFFs
Enjoying the good food.
Megs and her man
For years the MIL has been bragging about the cakes that Auntie Ann makes for our family. It was only fitting that she make the cake for the party. And can I say this one tasted the best by far. It was soooooo good.


Julia and her godmother

Proud Mama. She doesn't look like she's old enough to have a 39 year old daughterRob and his 2 favorite girls
Bubbie and Mema
Helping Mema with all those candles
Aunt Pat and Uncle Glenn
The happy couple
Josephine, Auntie May, Uncle Irish
Here's Belski/Laurito clan

Auntie Kara doing a puzzle with Julia
Auntie Leenie and Uncle Pete

Aunt Jan all the way from Italy

And that's that. It was a fun day. Thank you thank you all the Aunts for all your help. You went above and beyond and it was greatly appreciated. Especially Auntie Kate for opening up your home.

Perfect Day

Today we spent the day on Rob and Kara's boat. The weather was perfect. I was a little leery at first because I get sick if someone else drives the car let alone a boat. It ended up being an awesome day. We left in Rocky Hill, down by the ferry, and went all the way down to the Sound.

Pat and Rob getting the boat ready.

How cute is she? Julia was so excited for her first boat ride.
When Uncle Rob is around we don't exist.
Look at how Julia looks in this picture. At some points she was so excited and other times she looked like this. Concentrating on what was up ahead.
We stopped at Harbor Park in Midldetown for lunch.
The Goodspeed Opera houseAll of us

Rob taking a snooze. On the way back to Rocky Hill I fell asleep for an hour. It was so relaxing.

That was my favorite place to sit on the boat. When you take of the front of the boat lifts up. Julia love it.

This is the house I'm getting. Feel free to drop in and visit anytime.

Julia driving. At one point Rob let go of the wheel and she drove it herself. Of course we were only going 2 mph.

We decided to go visit Auntie Leenie and Uncle Pete. (we were in the neighborhood!) Everyone but Ed had already left for home but we got pampered just the same. We all had some ice cream, prego even had a burger. It was nice just pulling up to the beach. I could get used to that.

Julia, Joe and Kara decided they had enough so they decided to go home via the Laurito mobile. At this point we had been on the boat 7 hours. This is everyone waving goodbye to Pat, Rob, and I.

And this is the view of the sun setting on our ride home. So relaxing.

Thanks to Kara, Rob, and Pat for a perfect day. We had a blast! I'll leave you with this video. Rob hooked a tube on the back of the boat and we all took turns riding on it.

Happy Fourth of July!

Today was a great day! We went to Auntie Leenie's beach house and enjoyed the day. Julia was so excited to see her cousins and play in the sand. Here are some pictures.

Julia playing Polly Pockets
Molly, Julia, Korin, and Abby in the boat. Abby looks less than thrilled to be there.
Julia swimming.Jumped through hoops to get Annie to smile and she just wanted the sand.Korin made Molly and Julia into mermaids.
Then I made Korin into a mermaid.

Peter with his surf board.

Karla and Abby

Patrick and Tyler.

Julia and Abby playing Polly Pockets.

And here I saved the best for last. This is a video of Uncle Pete pushing all the kids in the boat.

Thank you Auntie Eileen for opening up your home and letting us intrude on your relaxation time. We had lots of fun and the cake was good too!

an Ahhhh Haaaa moment

"Never take advice from someone you wouldn't trade places with."

I love it! I love it because I tend to weigh my options before making a decision. In doing that I talk to several people to get their opinions. So much so that I forget what I really want and I end up choosing what other people would want.

Let's look at this emotionally. When I look back with regret I see that I was just trying to live up to everyone else's over embellished life scenarios. It could be a relationship, or a friendship, or just the type of person someone is. They seem to have something you want. You're a smidge jealous so you listen. You take the advice and you follow it thinking you can get there too. It doesn't work out for you. You wonder why because it worked for so and so. But then if you look at it with different eyes and you see through the facade. You see that what you wanted never existed. It was just an embellishment. Then you realize they didn't get to that place by following their own advice.

Honestly, in looking at their lives with these new eyes, I don't want it. I like the shoes I'm in. I like the place I'm at. I like the person I am.

I can count on one hand the people I would trade places with. And once I looked at it that way I see that they also happen to be people that have characteristics that I aspire to have.

I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense. It does to me and I guess that's all that matters.

Thanks for the advice. You know who you are. And the characteristic I take from you is self respect.