Ahoy, it's Father's Day!

Tonight we had our monthly dinner with my Michael's family. It was a splendid affair where I got to meet my nephew, Logan, and dazzle my niece, Savannah, by surprising her with a birthday gift that was not three months late. Other highlights included another delicious salad made by Josiah, Slip-n-slide fun provided by Chris and Meredith, and vomit in the lawn spewed by Nina (after drinking too much ginger ale/rainbow sherbet punch). Never a dull moment with this crowd, let me tell you!

My Michael, our kids, and his dad getting ready to go on the boat.

After the dinner, we took Michael's dad home to Baltimore where he lives on a boat. It's kind of funny. I've overheard my kids having conversations with their friends about their grandpa living on a boat and the friends never believe it. I guess to a kid, it seems too good to be true.

All hands on deck! (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

Anyway, Skip lives on the Lady Maryland and currently she's docked in the Inner Harbor. We drove right to it and got to climb aboard for a little tour. My father-in-law is the cook on the boat, so we saw the little galley where he prepares the meals. The most amazing part was seeing his bunk. He shares the "room" with five other people. Let me tell you, I thought Maia and Marlee's room was small until I saw this space. Talk about tight quarters!

Me and the kiddies outside Grandpa Skip's "bedroom door"--see his head popping out? He was getting ready to come back up to join us!

The children all loved seeing "Grandpa's boat" and you could tell he was happy to show them where and how he lives. I must confess I was a little nervous with my kids being so curious and looking over the sides every two seconds. That water is pretty murky and I didn't relish the thought of jumping in after one of them! All that fretting was in vain because we all climbed safely back ashore without so much as a drop of water on us.

My Teensy was happy to pose like she was steering the boat. Maia and Mason were too worried that they'd actually be steering and make us crash! Mackenna was too busy making us chase her all over the deck to make sure she didn't trip on some rope or something and then go careening over the edge!

And don't worry, Michael's had a good Father's Day, complete with breakfast in bed and some new games for the Wii (for some reason, Mario Party 8 just wasn't satiating his video game hunger).