And what a day! The Chesapeake Bay was very flat with light winds (6 to 10 kts) which along with temps in the mid to high 80s, made for a perfect day out on the water. For the sailing, we made our way down to Green #3 coming out of Swan Creek and then set sail and tacked back and forth between there and the Swan Point Channel. (It was Grandma's first time on a boat, so I prefer to stay relatively close to home.)
We finished with a relaxing chat while sitting in the shade on the Adirondack chairs that Osprey Point has sprinkled around the grounds. After a bit, we said our goodbyes and they headed home while we headed back to Seas The Day to collapse, exhausted at the amount of work required to keep up with an energetic young child.
I'll let the photos tell most of the story. And speaking of photos, I'm not even going to try and give proper photo credit to each photo... I received many photos from Xiaosheng and Vicky, as well as mine.
We started with our typical motor out of Swan Creek. Grandma made herself right at home on the pushpit seat to enjoy the command view those seats provide. Vicky and Mei Mei settled in and after heading out into the bay, Jim headed to the foredeck. Soon Mei Mei wanted to join him and it ended up with the whole family up front for a photoshoot!
You can see that it was simply a wonderful day.
Mei Mei, like many other kids, wanted to go below... begging actually during most of the trip. We didn't want her below for too long as that's where folks get seasick (you can't see the horizon).
Vicky found a way to get her to look out the window next to our berth, and she found great delight in monitoring the progress home - even announcing that "Captain George took a wrong turn" when I tacked and she could no longer see the Rock Hall water tower.
We eventually enticed her back up to the cockpit as we were returning to Swan Creek.
We sailed for a few hours before heading back to Osprey Point Marina where we had reserved a picnic table near the swimming pool and bathhouse. They have new gas BBQ grills and Jim took on the role of grillmaster.
Mei Mei wanted to go around the corner to the little playground they have at Osprey. The other adults were busy and telling her to wait so I offered her my hand (we had to cross a road) and surprisingly, she took it. So we started off on a trek to the playground.
She started out trying the slide, but that was pronounced "too small" and she busied herself climbing the platform in various ways and then trying the swing. I realized she was only pushing herself then slowly swinging to a stop, so I tried to coach her in how to keep a swing going.
Readers, I actually got on a swing for the first time in... oh, maybe 45 years and demonstrated. The INTENSE GROANING of the equipment told me I shouldn't do more than a few swings. She tried to follow me but she was out of sync and stopped quicker than before. I could see in her eyes something to the effect of "this old guy knows NOTHING about swinging" and was saved around that point by Vicky's phone call saying dinner was ready.
And what a picnic it was... Vicky had prepared sausages, bacon wrapped chicken and beef skewers along with a cucumber salad and some other fixings.
After eating, Jim and Mei Mei went swimming and I have to confess I headed back to Seas The Day for a brief nap. After a while, Vicky came back to the boat for her swimsuit and joined in the fun.
