In a locked-down, global pandemic world, we were faced with a choice. Keep staying home (as we have done for months and months) or take a risk and fly to see our families. We chose life on the edge.
So we packed up our masks, our anti-bacterial wipes and gel and boarded a plane for Virginia.
It was one of the fastest, easiest flights we've ever taken. No more than 50% full, it took off early and landed early, and not a single middle seat was taken. The airport was also laughably empty.
So we made it! We rented a huge yellow Jeep Wrangler and drove right down to see my family in the Northern Neck.
And it was a fantastic decision every way you look at it. The mental break from being in the house, apart from family and the joy of being on the water was more needed than we knew. Jon took all of the kids on wave runner rides, slowly they got more and more comfortable with the natural water of the river.
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| Graham and Grammy keeping the birds happy |
Lucky for us, my brother and his family coordinated their visit with us, so we had a full visit with our nieces! And look at how perfect they are!
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I challenge you to find a moment where Aubrey isn't smiling ear to ear
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| Everly is a natural born lie detector. She'll see right through you. |
We caught the biggest crabs in memory, and after several years of manhandling the crabs like barbarians, we got the hang of picking good, whole-lump crabmeat.
At the end of the week Uncle Robbie took the big kids tubing on the waverunner. They have been skiddish in years past, but this year everyone was very brave - even excited to get tossed into the water! We've come a long way!!
Not to be outdone, I got up on skis, proving to myself that I'm not quite too old to participate in river adventure.
We snuck in a trip to Pirate Beach, where the kids used the boat as a diving board and attempted to catch minnows and crabs. One nice side effect of the COVID pandemic is that we had the beach to ourselves.
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| We love having adventurous little swimmers |
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| Our growing family (missing Chris). Not even a pandemic can keep us apart |
