Where on Earth do I begin?!?!

We had the most amazing 10 days...let me start first by saying that we LOVED being with Robert and Kim for a week...it's never long enough, but we made the most of every moment!!

I don't think it's even possible to cover how great our trip was on this blog...but I will try!

We (Bob, me, Connor, Jake, Kate, Robert, Kim, Wes, and Mandy) started our vacation with Pat and Chip at their cottage on the Northern Neck in Virginia.

Let's see...how can I sum it up?

fishing

boatingfishingtubingfishingwatching beautiful sunsetsfishingswimmingfishing eating great food fishingand no tv...it was heaven!

Every morning Chip, Bob, Connor, and different others on different days, would get up at 5 am to go fishing...some mornings they caught a lot...others, not so much...but from what I'm told...if you love fishing, it doesn't matter if you catch anything (fyi...it totally matters to me)! Every morning there was a big breakfast around nine or ten (thank you, Pat and Chip!) and then lots more fishing off the dock...and then at around 7pm...another fishing trip...look what the first evening fishing trip brought in...Can you say Holy Moly?!

It's a cottage tradition to "kiss the fish"...and the Wills don't like to break with tradition...

Did I mention that fishing makes you VERY tired? :-)
After breakfast we would head out to Shark Tooth Island and go tubing...I'll let you decide if you think the kids (little and big) enjoyed tubing!

We were fortunate to have great weather...well, except for when we were on Shark Tooth Island and the storm hit...unfortunately, it was the only time we asked Chip to drop us off and he had returned home...the rain was blowing so hard, and then it started hailing...we headed to the water to escape the pain!!

(I, of course, endured the rain and hail to get this very important picture!)

By the time Chip came back for us (I called and sent out an SOS) the storm was over...on the island...but not at the cottage, so we had to wait on the boat until it passed...watching lightning across the bay (there was no lightning when we were in the water, by the way) was pretty scary...Mandy was practically hyperventilating thinking about the movie "the Perfect Storm"...we got a kick out of her!! :-) Once we waited out the storm, we headed back to the cottage...then it was nice out...but it was a good thing we went back...another storm hit a little while later...I can speak for all of us when I say that it was an experience none of us would like to repeat! We are a happy group when the sun is shining down on us! When we weren't fishing or outside, we spent a lot of time playing cards and sitting around laughing...it was a wonderful time together.

Thank you, Pat and Chip for a WONDERFUL vacation!!

On Saturday evening, Wes and Mandy headed home and the rest of my family headed to the beach house...to be continued....