Fourth of July weekend is a weekend to celebrate the birth of America...to proudly wave the stars and stripes, go to parades and family gatherings and of course, to watch fireworks. Since last year, it's been an extra special weekend for me--as July 2nd is my son Christian's birthday--and on Saturday he turned one.

I still can't believe Chris grew from a little tiny dot who slept all the time to now climbing up the stairs and eating meatballs and saying "Da-Da" all day! He got so big so fast.

Not too many people can say that the birth of their child was captured on national TV. Last year at this time, we were still filming "My Big Friggin' Wedding," and the birth of Baby Meatballs episode is one that will forever be cherished. One day, Chris will be able to watch it and see how happy he made me when he arrived in this world. I'm still a beaming father, and seeing how much he's changed in the past year is remarkable. I loved every minute of it.

Saturday, we all got together to share a few hours in celebration for my little boy (or should I say big boy) for coffee and cake--gelato cake to be exact--at my friend Giorgio's caffe, Sotto Zero in North Arlington. He made a wonderful cake with Christian's favorite character, Mickey Mouse featuring chocolate and vanilla with chocolate crunch in the middle and red icing.

More ended up on Christian's face and fingers than in his mouth, but it was his party and he was allowed to be a bit messy. He was obsessed with Giorgio's little penguin and kept pointing to all the ice cream and gelato photos on the walls. Chris loves strawberries and was trying his hardest to pull one out of a picture of a bowl of fruit which he thought was real.

Giorgio wasn't present for the festivities--he was actually at Corrado's introducing his new retail line now available in their freezer case, but that did not prevent me and my cousins from tasting some of his new specialties. We kept his counter girl busy with our own little sampling session--the mascarpone with cognac fig flavor was intense!!! Sotto Zero was a great venue for our little get-together, and if you haven't been there yet, what are you waiting for?

It's summertime and there's nothing more refreshing and delicious than gelato--especially these gourmet varieties. A big thanks to my paisan Giorgio for letting the Meatball Family invade his shop...hopefully Chris didn't leave any icing fingerprints on the walls!

And once again, a very happy first birthday to Christian Dean, I can't express enough how blessed I am to have you in my life. Da-Da loves you!


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