toes in the sand

So yesterday we all had a play date with the Pacific Ocean! It was Kaden's first glimpse of this big ol playground, and we were really excited about it! Of course, we were both worried about different things...Chad scared thast the sun would "melt" kaden (for those of you that don't know chad, he wears SPF 80 even if it's 8pm), and I was worried that we would be stuck in traffic on the ride down there and he would have a horrible meltdown (one of my greatest fears, especially getting stuck on the freeway, with no way to console him).

He seemed to enjoy the beach, though we are not too sure...he made a weird little groaning sound everytime the wave crashed near our feet...not sure if he didn't like the sound, or if it reminded him to much of the "baby crack machine" near his bed where we sometimes play the ocean wave sound, and he may have thought we were getting ready for naptime. As a whole, he seemed to enjoy watching everything and soaking up the sun, or what you can soak up when you are slathered in sunscreen and you have an umbrella held over your head.



dipping his toes into the sand for the first time....







this was our first time trying out our rad hiking carrier, given to us by my work peeps! thanks everyone....he LOVED it! we changed him from carrier to carrier to make sure he got different views...







This was a neat little aquarium under the pier called Heal The Bay aquarium that was sadly closed for a school visit. We peeked in the windows and it looks super cool so I think it will be a must see for next time, and it's only 2 bucks!




Here we are with our stylish umbrella (insert sarcasm here) out in front of Bubba Gumps, where I will be sure never to take the nugget ever again, until he is of age to enjoy very loud things. I was deperately looking for a good place to change his poopy pants, and we stumbled across Bubba Gumps and thought the restroom was sure to have a changing room. It did in fact, and the bathroom was bustling with lots of people. As we waited to use the stall with a changing table, someone had turned on one of those hand dryers that have the hardcore air blower inside, and Kaden had let out a lil whimper. I bounced him up and down and consoled him, and kind of thought that might be the end of it. I was very wrong. Apparently Kaden thought that sound, as well as the powerful toilet flushers in the bathroom, sounded worse than the scariest thing he could have possibly imagined. I had already put him on the changing table and had his diaper half off when he started to scream bloody murder and his eyes grew ENORMOUS, I have never seen him so scared. I tried to console him, but there was no calming him down. Everytime the dryer would turn off, he would try to catch his breath, and then it would start again. I rushed as fast as I could to put his clothes back on, but his flailing arms and his scared eyes made me have a complete panic attack and I completely forgot how to get his clothes back on. Meanwhile, I heard some girls talking about how it must be the dryer that was scaring him, and there was a pause for a few seconds, and I scooped him up and tried to rush him out of there, but of course not without running past the three dryers that seemed to be a million times louder as we passed. poor nugget.

and here he is on the walk back to the car crashed out in the bjorn. what a day!