Knittin' on the dock of the bay

Watching the ti-ide roll in. Ok, enough singing, for now at least. Yesterday Sarah and I got to spend a mostly-gorgeous day knitting and socializing with our family, celebrating our cousin Lisa's 40th birthday. The boys and I piled into my parents van, picked Sarah up on the way down to Shady Side, a small town on the west shore of the Chesapeake Bay, south-ish of Annapolis. My uncle's family has owned a tiny cottage on the water for as long as I can remember, but the extended family has long since outgrown that space for gatherings. The community clubhouse served as a wonderful meeting place for the 40ish people who came to celebrate Lisa's birthday. Sarah and I knit on our respective socks during the hour+ drive, while the boys played their gameboys in the back seat. We arrived to ominous weather, and barely made it inside between rain showers. The lights flickered, the bay was choppy, and it was completely overcast. All the boats in the marina were bobbing and rocking like crazy.

Dillon and Lucas joined with our cousins Adam and Alex, who are both 4.5, in kicking some beachballs around the large open space, while Sarah and I knitted and watched the water through the immense wall of windows.










When the storm broke for a bit, we hustled outside to take a few pictures of our socks with the bay as a backdrop.

After a few more sporatic downpours, the rain broke for good and the sun came out. Dillon learned how to pick crabs, which he enjoyed, but then gave up and grabbed a hotdog. Lucas wasn't at all interested in eating the crabmeat, and wanted to know if we had gloves for him to wear so he wouldn't get messy. He gave up and had a burger and sat with my Mom and the other non-crustacean eaters.

The sun had dried a lot of the rain up by then, so a bunch of us went for a walk down to the pier (in the first picture up top), and then to the "little beach", a small sandy area where the kids could wade. The water was pretty cold, but that didn't stop any of them from shucking of their shoes, socks, and in Alyssa's case, her pants. She's about 18 months old, so she waded in her shirt and diaper, and was the only one who wasn't ready to leave by the time the grownups were. Her parents now have high hopes for her on their trip to a DE beach this summer. She was totally adorable, they all were.

We headed out around 8:30, dropped Sarah off, and came home. The boys were pooped, I was pooped, and we all slept in this morning.

To make this a bit more knitting related, check out my progress on my Marigold sock! That was at the beginning of the party, and I got another 2 inches done, and am going to start the heel today. I also have an "order" for a pair of pink socks from a friend who saw this sock and liked it, and I'm planning to make Alyssa a pair of socks soon too - she has 4" feet, so I'm looking forward to the instant gratification that will bring. :)