the July 4th that never was

If there was a theme to this year's Independence Day, it was "it totally doesn't seem like the 4th!". And it's really true, it didn't. Due to Hurricane Arthur, we saw no fireworks and had no barbecue. Alex didn't even wear a "my first fourth of july" bib or anything. We were quite unpatriotic. Sorry America.

But, as always, it was Jason to the rescue. His 37th birthday on July 6th gave us a good excuse to salvage the long weekend and travel to Long Island (on the actual 4th, in the pouring rain) with our good friends Berg and Karen. Jason's parents have an awesome pool and live about 5 minutes from a number of great beaches, especially the ones on the bay side that are great for kids. So off we went and in no particular order, here are some highlights with Jason, Ashton, Alex, Berg, Karen, Aunt Lizzie and her son Owen (my nephew! and godson! age 2! already!), and Uncle Chris. And of course, Grandma and Grandpa, who basically fought over who got to hold Alex :)

Ashton and Owen were the best of friends, sharing a boogie board ride, a wagon, a beach, Uncle Chris and a drink.

Jason and Berg were also the best of friends (but then, they always are) and acted completely their age with cannonball splash contests.

The best part was that Jason got to spend so much time with the boys. I can't even describe how this video makes me feel (he is so big!!) and Ashton swam his little heart out trying to keep up with Daddy. 

At one point, I said, "Ashton, show me your hands! They are all wrinkled from the pool!" which prompted a cascade effect of his favorite question lately: "How come?" 

"Because the water makes your skin soft."

"How come?" 

"Umm, because it gets in all the teeny tiny holes in your skin. I think."

"How come?"

etc. etc. I can't remember what I made up that finally satisfied him. But he spent most of the weekend with hands like this.

Oh, and we put Alex in the pool for the first time too! In his teeny bathing suit and teeny rash guard.

It was so fun to see him float around. He loved it (but it helped that the water temp was like 85 ;) )

Jason had his favorite birthday Fudgy the Whale cake from Carvel:

And the next night, and perhaps best of all, we got to go on a date. With live music and a view of the harbor and everything. 

It was gorgeous. The very first time I went home to Long Island with him was for his 30th birthday 7 years ago so we toasted to that too. Did I ever tell you that story? Jason invited me down even though we weren't in an official relationship yet. He was having a big party and we had had a fun couple of months so far so I went. The day of, his parents and a couple friends were really busy getting the house ready. Naturally, I wanted to be helpful, so when his dad came home from the store with all kinds of food, ice, etc. to unload, I picked up the cake to bring it inside. 

Well. Their front stoop has three steps up and my flip flop caught on one and I tripped. And dropped the cake. Stupid steps. Luckily, no one saw, but the cake was layered so the whole top part had slid halfway off from the force of hitting the ground. I distinctly remember freaking out.

I ran inside where Jason's friend Evan was prepping mint for mojitos and told him what happened. We opened the box and I thought we did a pretty good job of fixing it. The frosting was broken in some parts but I mean, you could tell it was a birthday cake so I took a deep breath and left it on the counter. 

BIG mistake. It was July. And hot. By the time Jason's mom went to get the cake to put the candles on it (hours later), the frosting had softened and the whole cake had slid into this lopsided pile. She carried it out on the platter while everyone sang and at the end someone said, "What happened to the cake??" To which someone else yelled, "Jason's girlfriend dropped it!" I wanted to die. There I was, standing in front of about 35 people I had never met and responsible for ruining the very thing that birthday parties are usually centered around.

Jason's mom managed to salvage some pieces before the whole thing went in the trash. I could not stop apologizing. She looked at me and said, "So what, who cares?" and laughed. To this day it is one of our favorite stories. One of those,"not funny to me at the time but now it is" kind of stories. She will still say that she knew from that very first trip down that I would marry Jason.

Anyway I digress, but I think I was just about done. Here are a couple more of my favorite pictures from the weekend. 

After the rainy 4th it was definitely feeling like summer. Watching Ashton swim all around on his own was just crazy - he is going to be 3 in less than a month! Three. Threeeeeee. It's beyond. So that is coming up August 3rd but for the purposes of this post, happy birthday America and happy birthday Jason! I'd drop your cake again in a heartbeat.