Dave swims across the Chesapeake Bay!

Dave did the bay swim on Sunday morning and we all went to support him. He had to leave early in the morning so Nanny and Papa rode with me and the kids out to the eastern shore finish line. The Chesapeake Bay swim spans the 4.4 miles of the bay under the bay bridge. The race starts from the shores of Sandy Point State Park, which is about 5 miles northeast of Annapolis. The course extends eastward between the two spans of the William Preston Lane, Jr., Memorial Bridge (U.S. Highway 50) and finishes at a small sandy beach on Kent Island immediately south of the Bridge eastern-shore causeway adjacent to Hemingway's Restaurant. It's one of America's premier open water swim challenges according to the bay swim website. Charlotte made a sign to show how proud she was of her daddy.

It was a nice day but super hot and humid. I'm getting ready to rub both kids down with plenty of sunscreen. We timed it pretty well so that we didn't have to wait long before Dave arrived at the finish line. Otherwise, there's not much to see as far as swimming until the finish.

How do you like this for a family shot? Dave is trying to get sandwich out of his braces, AJ is ready for a nap and Charlotte is acting like a normal 3 year old when you ask her to smile for the camera. I'm sweating buckets from the heat and holding both kids! Dave was still in the corral for all the swimmers where they were serving lots of food and drinks. He finished 49th out of 750 swimmers and it took him 1 hr and 43 minutes. Not too shabby considering he wasn't able to train much. He said he'd like to train harder and finish in the top 10 some day. He felt great for the first three miles but then hit a wall for the last mile. He said he got passed by at least 20 people in the last mile which was frustrating.

View of the bay and bridge as the first wave of swimmers arrive at the finish line.

Papa and Charlotte watching for Dave.

Nanny trying to keep AJ from walking right into the water. He loved watching all the people, boats and helicopters.

I stood at the finish line trying to get a picture of Dave. I thought for sure this was him because I knew he was wearing a pink cap (all second heat swimmers wore pink and first heat wore green) and his wetsuit was sleeveless, all black, and had some royal blue. In the end, I missed him entirely. Oh well, better luck next time. We're so proud of you, lovie!