Take Me Out to the Ball Game . . .

And then take me to an Indian Restaurant.

And then take me to the beach.

OK, Kaden.  Sounds like a plan.

On May 31st, Bruce and Joy invited us to go to the Kinston Indians' baseball game with them.  We had BBQ, hush puppies, fried chicken, and ice cream sandwiches before the game thanks to Edward Jones Investment Group.

Doesn't Kaden look thrilled to be there?

It was miserably hot outside, but once the sun started to go down it wasn't as bad.  There are a lot of reasons I love living in the south.  The summer heat isn't one of them.  Usually, we don't start in on the massive heat waves until July and August, but this year we started temperatures in the high 90s at the end of May.  Nice.  Thus, I chopped all of my hair off in a heat-induced fit of passion the next day.

We also celebrated Chad's birthday with his family early this year.  His birthday isn't until the 12th of June, but Chad's mom is flying to Denver to help his sister, Meredith, who is expecting her second baby.  We went to Dale's, a very yummy Indian restaurant in G-Vegas.  Kaden tried his first coconut korma, tandoori chicken, tikka masala, and basmati rice, and gladly accepted repeat bites of every dish offered to him.  After dinner, we drove back home and had slices of Joy's deliciously perfect homemade carrot cake.  So good.  Don't think Kaden didn't enjoy a lick or two of cream cheese icing along with the rest of us.

Here's Kaden, taking a ride in one of Daddy's presents--a new wheelbarrow!

 With a curry-filled belly after dinner:

 Playing outside the restaurant before we drove home:

 Flying with Uncle Tyler:

We took Kaden to the beach for a few hours on Saturday.  Chad had a golf tournament in the morning, and I worked on the yard while Kaden napped.  When Chad came home, and Kaden awoke from his snooze, we jumped in the car and headed for Atlantic Beach.  Lauren's mom is always so nice to let us use her beach cottage while we are there.  Kaden enjoyed his first "real" trip to the beach.  This time he could actually play in the water.

Here he is skim boarding:

Do not let my glowing appearance frighten you.  Every tan has to start somewhere, mine just starts off much whiter than most people's.  Let us remember also, for a moment, that my poor skin saw little to no sunlight last summer, as I was hibernating in air-conditioned buildings due to a condition called pregnancy.  (I bet you feel guilty about judging my pasty complexion now, don't you?  Nothing like playing the pregnancy card to get yourself some pity.) 

Kaden started off the trip with a befuddled look of concern on his face, as he often does when we go to a new place.  He is a very observant child, and he just sort of quietly takes in new surroundings.  He warmed up a bit towards the end though, and I think he had a lot of fun.  He tried to ingest two seashells, but luckily Uncle Tyler and Aunt Lauren caught this before he choked to death.  He wasn't too interested in eating the sand.  Mostly he just held out his fingers and looked at me with an expression that seemed to be asking, "Why aren't you wiping this mess off of me?"  We didn't get to the beach until his afternoon nap time, so he did surprisingly well staying content with a missed nap--I guess that is the beauty of distraction.   

He passed out almost immediately on the car ride home, and slept for about an hour before he realized he was hungry and still had sand in his hair.  Then he wasn't too happy. 

I love the ocean so much, and I can't wait to go back for another, hopefully longer, visit!