Sailing Trip

The Langley Ward Relief Society has an annual sailing trip and that took place this past weekend. Can I just say, it was awesome! I'm so glad that I was able to go, for multiple reasons. Not only were the activities great, but I also got to know some of the other sisters in the ward better. It is great to start feeling like I have friends here who are really MY friends, and not that people are just nice to me because they are friends with my brother.


So I met up with a few people after work to carpool to the house where we stayed. It was about a two hour drive, so we stopped for dinner at the gas station. Yes, we actually stopped to eat at a gas station. Its a place called WaWa's and apparently it is a Maryland favorite. And actually, it was really good! They have a deli in there and they will make you fresh sandwiches and smoothies. When we got to the house we had a lady from the stake Relief Society presidency come and talk to us. It was a good talk, but I must admit, I was kind of distracted because there was a sliding glass door behind her out to the backyard and there were FIREFLIES everywhere!! I kept thinking about how I wanted to catch one, but after our small fireside, they had mostly all gone to bed. I have to say though, there is just something magical about fireflies that makes me feel like a little kid. Living out here is really my first experience with them and it gets me excited everytime I see them. :)

I walked down to the dock with a few girls and we sat and put our feet in. The moon was big and it was a really nice night. The water was even warmer than the air though, I think. It just made me want to go swimming, so pretty soon we all went and got our swimsuits on and went for a midnight swim. It was beautiful.

Jen Pike, her cousin Katie, and Michelle Martinez

A lot of the girls ended up sleeping outside, me included. Since I was outside, I was up with the sun in the morning. I'm not sure what time it was, but it was pretty early. A neighbor come over every morning to go crabbing off the dock, and I think he had just gotten started when I got up, so I went down and joined him and a couple other girls who were up too. The technique was to tie a chicken neck to a string, throw it in the water and then when it starts to move, you pull it in really slowly. The crab is just holding onto the meat, so when you get it in close enough, you scoop it up with a net.

Practicing the technique...

Gotcha!

Before breakfast I also went kayaking a little bit. Around 9 am we started the sailing excursions. I really didn't realize that a sailboat could be so big! I was on the small one and it held about 10 people, but they had a big one too that had 25 or so on it! As we got started on our trip, the man that took us out let me steer the boat! He taught us a thing or two about sailing, but mostly we just enjoyed relaxing in the sun while sailing around the Chesapeake Bay.

Captaining the sailboat!

April Lyman and I are wishing our feet could touch the water.

When we got back, other people had continued crabbing and there was a good haul of crabs that the neighbor was just crating up to take them and steam them for us. When he brought them back, the crab feast was incredible! Eating fresh Maryland crab, I think it would be hard for anyone to hate seafood!

I burned a little on the trip, but at least I didn't turn as red as this guy!

The feast! A delicious payout on our labors.