Saint George Island, MD

Next we drove 8 hours down to Piney Point, Maryland to stay at a beach house with Dave's entire family. The house they usually rent is too small for the whole group, so his mom found one big enough to accomadate 27 people. It was on Saint George Island, which has a very narrow stretch of land connecting it to the mainland. I imagine it wouldn't take much to get flooded, since the water went right up to the road. It's actually on the Potomac River, right where it meets the Chesapeake Bay. We could just barely see Virginia on the other side.

We got to meet a couple new cousins - here's Mary/Brian's son Kai, 19 months old.

And Thomas/Angie's new baby Teresa, 1 month

We introduced Levi to everyone. He was so good! He took super long naps (I was worried because he will usually only sleep in his own bed), and even let other people hold him. Good job, baby!


My boys pretty much lived in the water for a whole week.


And it was even warm enough for Dave to get in.

I love this picture Dave's mom posted on Facebook of Christine and Dave on the kayak. They went out to see a bunch of dolphins.

Allison

Chicken fight!


Dave and his youngest sister, Elizabeth.

Mary and Kai

Christine, Celestial and Dave

They got 2 bushels of Maryland Blue Crabs while we were there. That's a lot of crabs!

The boys got to help put the squirmy crabs into the pot.

Occasionally they'd escape and try to crawl away, which added to the excitement.

Steamed with lots of Old Bay, of course.

Dave reminded the boys how to eat them (it's been a couple of years), and then they took off!

One night Spencer & Tyler stayed up 'till 11:00 eating crabs! Dave's sisters said they were very thorough and really cleaned them out.

We stayed up way too late every night, so Dave & I took turns getting up with Levi at 6:00. Here's a sunrise on one of my early days.

Fishing off the pier with grandma

We were in the big house right in front, which had awesome views out of all the windows.

When they weren't swimming, they were playing games with their cousins. Here they are with Luke, 7.

Spencer mostly hung out with the big cousins, Andrew and Noah. They're a few years older, but they all got along great. They even stayed up 'till 1:00 in the morning playing Scrabble one night. And there were several very lengthy games of Risk.

Levi and Christine

Alicia's son Blaize came halfway through the week.

Jumping off the pier.

It was Dallin's idea, but it took him a while to build up enough courage. After that he spent the rest of the time doing it.

Crystal and Kat, who celebrated her birthday there.

Patrick

Crystal with Trinity and Kevin

The water was constantly changing. Sometimes it was totally smooth. Other times there were big waves. It probably had something to do with the tide.



Brian and Kai

What a fun week! I kept my boys covered in sunscreen, but each day they got tanner and more freckley - is that a word?

Then on Saturday we drove a couple hours to my brother's house and stayed with them for a few days. Tyler, Dallin and Brennan all got sick Sunday morning with fevers, but luckily it only lasted 24 hours. They felt well enough to go swimming with their cousins Monday, and then we flew home Tuesday.