June 17, 2017 Molly turned 10!  The big double digits.  She was so excited about her birthday.  Age 9 was pretty spectacular being on this trip and we hope that we can make age 10 just as special for her.  She had a list of requests for the day.  She wanted donuts and fruit salad for breakfast, sandwiches on the boat for lunch and to go out for dinner.  She requested root beer floats in lieu of cake.  She loves a good root beer float but I feel a bit guilty because we didn’t have room in the freezer for her favorite, ice cream cake.  I told her I’d make it work but she said root beer floats were her choice.  The day was filled with phone calls and FaceTime calls from grandparents and cousins and she was lucky to have her very best friends here with her to celebrate.

We started the morning with donuts and candles and I made a big fruit salad.

We sang and Molly tore through her presents.  She’s now the proud owner of a Fuji Instax camera and a ukulele!

In the spirit of a lazy fun birthday we headed to the pool for the day.  We ended up having sandwiches and chips poolside for lunch.  The pool party continued until a big storm blew in.  We had storms forecasted all week with the strongest chance being on her birthday.  But instead of the crazy amount of rain forecasted we just had one pretty quick storm.  We all ducked under the shelter and watched it blow through.

Soon enough the rain cleared and the girls made a beeline for the pool again.  Next up, root beer floats poolside!

After a long day in the sun we all got cleaned up for dinner.  We had a nice dinner out.  Molly got a slice of key lime pie to go and we headed back to the boat.  Everyone else chose ice cream on the boat.  We ended the day with a beautiful sunset and dessert.  Happy birthday Molly!  We love you!

Ten years ago Molly was born on Father’s Day.  This year Father’s Day was the day after her birthday.

Jack and Ben didn’t have any requests for the day and we went back and forth on our plans.  We could stay in Yorktown until Monday when the Burnetts planned to head home.  Or we could travel north a bit making some progress in that direction.  Or we could head north towards Washington, D.C. and they could join us.  The water forecast Sunday and Monday wasn’t great, but mostly just a lot of wind chop.  We decided to go for it and make our way north to Kilmarnock, VA and the Burnetts decided to join us all the way to D.C.!  Kathy drove and Jack and the girls rode on the boat with us.  We ended up in a very tiny marina with a very tiny pool that was just perfect.  The kids hopped right in, the dads chilled poolside and then we all enjoyed a quiet evening.

Monday had a similar forecast.  We only had about 12 miles out on the Chesapeake before ducking into the mouth of the Potomac River.  The Potomac is 9 miles wide at the base and not so much like a river.  I learned that the water on the Potomac is all part of Maryland but when we stepped foot onto land we were in Virginia.  We were only going a few miles up and turning into Kinsale, VA for the night.  It was a welcome change to get off the wind chopped water and into the protection of trees and land around us.  We found another very tiny marina where we were the only transient boat.  The owner lived next door to the property and after a little chaos with how he wanted our lines tied, turned out to be very nice.  The marina had another great huge pool.  We broke out the noodles and all 9 of us swam.  We knew there were large storms moving in so we took advantage until the clouds moved in.  After a great afternoon in the water we had a burgers and brats cookout to end the night.

Next stop, Washington, D.C.!

Just as an aside…Other boaters ask us all the time how we have so many guests.  We love it.  We have the space.  We’re thrilled people want to come visit us and share this journey.  And yes when our friends come we have 5 kids on the boat but we make it work.  The kids bunk up.  We have plenty of floor space for them.  They play like the best of friends they are.  And it’s fun for us grown ups too.