We are Michael, Sara, Leah and Holly 
and we are preparing our good ship Wondertime to sail south from Washington to Mexico in 2011.
We met in the fall of 1998, and as we talked about leaving our dreary work weeks behind we fell in love and began looking for a boat. In the Spring of 1999, we found our first boat, a Hans Christian 33T named Jenny P.
We lived on board for over two years, sailed locally in Puget Sound waters and decided to leave Seattle once and for all in 2000. We spent that glorious summer sailing Jenny P up to Juneau, Alaska, meandering through the hundreds of forested islands and mountainous canals on the way.
In Juneau, reality set back in and we needed more money to pay for the boat’s loan, more than we would find working in Juneau. So, we sailed back to Seattle, ready to settle down to a few more years of work.
A year later, we said forget it. We tearfully parted with our beloved Jenny P, freed ourselves from the bank and began seeking the boat that really would free us from our 9-5 routine. We found Pelican, a 1965 Alberg 35, shortly after and a year later sailed her down the Pacific U.S. coast to Mexico where we enjoyed seven glorious months of exploring this fantastic country by water and land and enjoying the easy life on beautiful warm beaches.
In 2003 we returned to Seattle for a few more years of work, also taking the opportunity to grow our family a bit. Deciding a little more liveaboard space would be nice we purchased Rivendell, a Tayana 42, in 2004. Leah was born in January 2006 and after 9 months of living on board with her we moved onto land to spread out yet a little bit more.
Our second daughter Holly was born in November 2008. Our family complete, we dusted off our temporarily-shelved sailing dreams and started to plan how to get back to sea again. We simply knew that giving our two girls a special and wonder-filled life on the sea was what all our years together had been leading up to. It would not be easy, but nothing worth doing is.
Down in St. Helens, Oregon one winter day early in 2009, we stepped aboard a unique little ship and knew at once that Wondertime would be our next home and would carry us long distances in comfort and safety.
And the rest is still to come.
