Great days on the bay

After our brief stop in Virginia, we continued our eastward journey into Maryland and in the direction of Chesapeake Bay, where our great friends, Simon, Natalie, Lily and Ben are now living (we essentially took the opportunity to invite ourselves to stay at their place for a few days - and it was so nice to not be living in a hotel room!).

With the promise of a bbq and some aquatic adventures on the bay we made good time and arrived at a special spot on the eastern shore of the bay, right near where Simon now works (and where Christy had spent some of her summers when she was an undergrad). We were treated to a beautiful early summer day too!

After splashing around on various inflatable vessels, we took to Simon's new pride and joy - a boat that he co-owns with his boss. All of the kids were keen to try out some 'tubing' which is a bit like tobogganing behind the boat, but on an inflatable disc. Some of the older kids tried it out first, so Eli, Ben, Lily and her friend Jazz were 'boat kids'.

I'm not sure who enjoyed the first few runs first - the girls on the tube, or the kids on the boat, or the most likely candidate, the man behind the wheel - Simon was loving it! Eli and Ben were the last of the kids to get a go tubing and they were super-keen by the time their go came around - unfortunately I don't have any pics of their turn (since I was on the tube too), but you can tell from these photos how excited Eli was to have a go. Thankfully none of us came off, despite the whipping we got when the driver cut the corner a bit too much, which resulted us being launched into the air... 

After enjoying hour after hour of waterplay, I finally managed to get Eli dry and fed. He upset some of the locals (not in a serious way thankfully) when he found a big pile of very stinky crab shells - which he preceded to move from the shore to the picnic table! - but to his credit, he did move them back again when I pointed out that not everyone was likely to share his enthusiasm for collecting dead and decaying animals. Mercifully he also abandoned his plans to bring these new collectibles home with us too! 

After a spot of lunch Eli and Ben started playing on the grass - I have no idea what sort of concoction they were working on in this photo, but I do like how focused they both were on the job at hand.

For desert Eli had a marshmallow squished in between two chocolate biscuits - thanks to Natalie for finding gluten free ones! - which is a bit like a traditional snack (called smores) that is popular in the US - Eli certainly liked the combination and didn't stop at just one.

The next day we drove to a nearby town called St Michaels and we visited a maritime museum and went on a boat ride on the bay - another beautiful day on the water and the Captain even let each of the kids take the wheel (for a little while!). We had a great time visiting our friends and we were truly spoilt by the weather and hospitality - thanks again to Simon, Natalie, Lily and Ben!