On the count down...

Okay,  we are on the final count down.  We have less than two weeks before we depart.  I can't believe it is finally here and the anxiety is now setting in.  Many sleepless nights worrying about if we have crossed the T's and dotted the I's.  Chris has been working so hard on getting the boat ready.  When we bought the boat we never would have thought it would have been so much work.  We really thought that we could just turn the boat around and go back out.  But as anyone who has owned a boat in the past knows that it is NEVER that easy.  A lot of what we have been working on is stuff that we wanted to have added to the boat and other things that we knew needed to be fixed... we just never thought it would take so long to line up all the marine technicians to get these things accomplished.  We now have our new name on the boat and business cards are on order....

We are basically taking it down to the wire with a scuba compressor inspection, generator inspection and a refrigerator repair lined up for next monday and hopefully it doesn't require us to order parts to get our refrigerator and freezer up and running efficiently.  Yes as of right now my fridge does NOT work on the boat.... Ugh.. can anyone say, aseptic packaging... :@) yum!


We have been having so much fun on the weekends taking out friends and family and also getting our sailing practice in with the kids.  We also met a new family that saw us anchored out on Angel island last weekend.  We had just got the new name on our boat applied and I was joking with Chris that he needs to behave himself because now people can hunt us down.  Low and behold we were contacted by them.  They are planning on leaving next year and wanted to pick our brain for ideas and contractors.  It was a real eye opener to be on the other end of that call and be the one that people were asking us questions... We ended up anchoring at treasure island with them and hosted dinner on our boat while the kids played on the beach.  It was so fun talking to them.  The kids had a great time  and then we had a movie night on the boat.

Homeschooling is getting better day by day.  We are constantly making changes to the calvert program that we are using.  The older kids are really beginning to get in a grove and are able to sit down and teach themselves a lot of the material.  It is really hard to have a routine right now.  We are living between two places and so our materials are scattered.  We will aim to live on the boat starting Wednesday 10/1 so hopefully the kids will be able to get up and just start their instructions.  Mykaela has been a tremendous help with Amaia.  She has taken over teaching her and it has really helped to free my time up for Alexia and Alina.  So far Tristan is flying through the review and getting all of the tests correct so I am letting him continue what he is doing until he gives me a shout...  Alina has really taken off with her reading and writing.  I am so proud of her.  She truly loves to write and comes up with some really cute stories.

I believe I have almost everything on the boat and organized... for the most part.  I have the kitchen finally done after I receive my last Amazon shipment of Lock&Lock containers for the dry goods.  Our provisioning is 80% complete.... need the fresh goods/ root vegetables and flour/sugar and black beans.   I have gone thru all the kids clothing and sorted/folded and organized them.  I have gone thru all of our medical supplies and will be picking up the last of the pharmaceuticals this week.  We still need to go thru our ditch bags (these are the OH SHIT bags for when we need to abandon ship)  Hopefully they will never be pulled out.  We have all our radio equipment up and running, Satalitte phone should arrive in a few days from Seattle, and lifeboat is repacked and certified.

We have tested all the paddle boards and kayaks, now we need to go thru the dive gear and the wetsuits to make sure we all have a functioning mask.  I believe we have all the toys/games on the boat that we are bringing... Tristan said today that if he could only bring one thing on the trip with us it would be his kindle... boy I tell you that is music to my ears.  I can't tell you how nice it is to wake up and either see your kids laying in bed reading their kindles or out on the paddle boats going to the beach.  Im really looking forward to this part of the trip.  And yes we are the geeks that have purchased their own crew shirts for our trip.  I actually am very proud of them and wear them often....  Tristan and I were wearing ours the other day when someone asked if that cartoon was still running... others ask us if we are a traveling circus family... it is fun to see the looks we get and the questions that are asked.  It is definitely a conversation starter while you are waiting in line.

We are planning on leaving between 10/7 and 10/10.  We are starting to watch for the weather window now to see what day would work best for our path and direction.  We are planning on going out under the gate and turning left towards Catalina Island.  We are planning on going straight there.  It should take us about 2 to 3 days to get to the beginning of the Channel Islands.  We will tootle around there for a few days and then we would like to be in San Diego on 10/17.

My fear and anxiety is starting to kick in.... I really need to get some sleep and to start thinking of the trip in small sections.  Kind of like when I am running and I set little goals for myself.  Right now I am only telling myself we are going to Catalina Island.... I can do that... One small step at a time.  We can always turn around if we need to or stay put somewhere.... I wake up at night with shortness of breath and feel like I am going to implode... I tell my self I just need to do this... I can do this, be brave, be strong, be courageous... I am like Pocahontas riding the colors of the wind... Right?  UGH!
Others have done it...  all that crap...

Here we go... JUST DOING IT!

May there be fair winds and smooth sails!


H