The long, holiday weekend was a perfect opportunity to take Uncle James out for a way, way, way overdue birthday dinner. So, later Saturday afternoon we picked up James and headed over to Mastro’s in Beverly Hills, a first for him. I tried to get Violet to pose for a pic with the boys but she wasn’t a fan of the flash.

Ethan ordered a coke and got the perfect bottle – one that says “Mom”! He was super excited although you can’t tell from this photo. This is the only photo that I could get where he was actually looking at the camera though.

Since Brian is not a fan of seafood taking James was a perfect excuse for me to order the famous seafood tower for the first time. We decided to make it a small one so we could save room for butter cake though. Hey, priorities! We had oysters, shrimp cocktail (look at the size of those shrimp!), and a couple of crab claws. Brian chose a gorgeous heirloom tomato salad to enjoy while we feasted on the seafood.

While we waited for the main course to arrive we took a few more photos. Mastro’s is very dark so they aren’t great but the memories are.

Dinner finally arrived and I barely got a few pics before everyone dove in. The food, wine and company was wonderful though.

And, finally, the grand finale – dessert…

Overall, I would say James had a great birthday dinner. We were all so stuffed we could hardly make it down the stairs and out to the valet. Good thing we don’t eat like this every day. Although, I sense that this is a weekend filled with food…