All-Star birthday weekend

Matt and I have started a new tradition of celebrating each other's birthday for a whole week, we affectionately call it "birthday week." As part of an early birthday celebration, Matt took me out to eat for breakfast at our favorite Saturday spot, and I quickly noticed that there were a few extra guests who joined us: my Uncle Tom, Aunt Warrine, cousins Hannah and Molly. Additionally, I saw two people with menus covering their faces sitting at the table... my parents!

Thanks again Mom and Dad for flying out to STL to help me celebrate my birthday. I had an awesome time with you both this weekend!

Adding to my surprise was a dinner party Saturday night, and two families that are friends of my Uncle and Aunt, and have become my extended family, attended the party. Matt along with my cousins entertained us into the evening by setting off a few rounds of ground fireworks... I guess in Missouri it's legal to do that?

Sunday the celebration, and slight embarrassment, continued with a dinner at Shogun's Japanese restaurant. I completely forgot that birthday's are celebrated at this restaurant with making you dance to a Japanese birthday song while wearing a headband, yep, I'm stylin'. Thanks to Hannah and Molly for setting me up!

One of our final stops this weekend was to downtown St. Louis, I had to show my parents just how close I am to Busch Stadium, this pic was taken from the roof at my workplace parking garage.

My parents and I also toured the Arch and it's history museum. Here we are pictured at the Arch's base.

Even though Matt and my parents are not huge baseball followers, we had to stroll through Keiner Plaza dedicated to All-Star weekend.

Here's my Dad and I under one of the 10 mini arches located in the Plaza and around the city - one arch for every world series title by the Cardinals.

I must say that just living and working in a huge baseball city has started to rub off on me. Perhaps All-Star weekend has officially made me a Redbird fan; now I just need a Pujols jersey!

It was a great birthday weekend. Thank you to everyone for getting together and making this weekend so special!

Oh, and go Cards!