the teeny tiny part of our summer not spent out west

We didn't spend much time at home this summer.

I'm sure we'll be making up for that next year :). 

We still did a couple of things worth remembering though.

Like baseball. And baseball. And then some more baseball.

A boy (maybe 10 or 11 years old?) sitting in front of us asked a player to throw him a game ball. Then he turned around and gave it to Jaden! So nice!!!

So we had to do some baseball at home, thanks to a dollar store bat and thrift store kid sized glove :)

 Jaden got to have his own personal water safety class! I think we got in 4 or 5 lessons with Dallin Gordon before we left for most of the summer. Jaden is SUPER cautious in the water--clings to me like CRAZY.  It took quite awhile to warm up to the idea of mom not being in the pool--accompanied with lots of screams and tears--but he progressed a lot! Other than just getting comfortable in the pool away from someone's neck :), he learned how to blow bubbles, get his ear wet, monkey crawl across the side, and lift himself up out of the pool. Now he loves swimming!

One of our favorite drives around here is going across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel! It's 17 miles and has two spots where you drive in a tunnel under the water! We tagged along with Steve down to North Carolina for a quick business trip. While Steve worked, Jaden and I played in the pool at the hotel and met a friend for lunch. Our outing went south when Jaden fell off a high stool at the restaurant, hit his head and threw up all over. I kept getting told to take him to insta care, but I was pretty sure his throwing up wasn't head injury related--just him not being able to cope with the traumatic experience. That's a pretty common response from him. He just works himself up to the point of puking. Anyway, I didn't take him, so I guess we'll have something to blame any future mental problems on...

That kind of made the trip end on a slightly sour note, but it was still fun to get away! (Like we needed any more "getaways"...I guess we just can't sit still for too long!)

Waffle House in Norfolk