We spent today not doing a lick of work, but rather saying see-you-later to many family and friends who stopped by our dock to say hello and tour our little home. It was a good day for sure.
departure
Countdown to cruising: 4 days to go
A few months ago I came across the blog of another family of four getting ready to go cruising. Like us, they have two daughters less than three years apart in age. Like us, they are planning on cruising their sailboat in Mexico this winter. Not only that, the parents also cruised as a couple in Mexico before their kids were born as we did. Always excited to keep tabs on other soon-to-be-cruising families I bookmarked their blog to keep up on their pre-departure activities. We soon had “met” online and were looking forward to possibly meeting up in Mexico this winter.
However, this family is getting their boat to Mexico a little differently than we are: it’s already there. A really good idea, I’m thinking at this point in time. Not only that, they had lived in Washington D.C. for the past 10 years or so. In order to get to their boat, they sold just about everything they owned, including their house, packed everything up in a small trailer pulled by their Ford Escort wagon and have been traveling for the past month cross country, visiting friends and family on their way westward, and then southward, as they get closer to their new floating home.
When I read that they would be passing through Washington, I got in touch and told them we’d love to have them stop by if it was in the cards. Indeed it was; yesterday they emailed that they would be passing through Olympia today and so we made plans to have them visit us onboard Wondertime.
This is what we love about cruising folks: just minutes after we’d invited this delightful family aboard we were all, adults and kids alike, talking like old friends. Leah gave their girls a tour of our boat as they were a little mystified by what life afloat is like. I think they like it because all four girls were busy playing right away with squeals of joy floating up from below.
After only two hours or so of getting to know each other, Leah and Frances especially (both 5-and-a-HALF) were fast friends. When it was time for the Del Viento crew to hit the road again, they reluctantly hugged each other good-bye.
“See you in Mexico!” the girls called out to each other as our new friends drove away.
Countdown to cruising: 5 days to go
It’s 12:30 am and we are about to drop into bed. But first, a few things we’ve learned today:
- when you are too exhausted to cook, you can bake a store-bought pizza in a tiny boat oven provided it’s cut in half
- just because you give Visio drawing of mast tangs you need made to a local metal shop doesn’t mean that they are actually going to make your parts to match said drawings
- don’t go to Costco on payday Friday
- when word gets out that you are getting rid of loads of junk as it can’t all possibly fit on your boat, your neighbors will start hanging around chit chatting a lot more (“Hey, you taking that with you?”)
- but we don’t mind, giving away free stuff is just as fun as ever.
Countdown to cruising: 6 days to go
Where's the baby?
P.S. Our family was featured today in Three Sheets Northwest Cruising Class of 2011 series. Check it out for a great writeup by Deborah Bach of how we got where we are today!
Countdown to cruising: 7 days to go
Yesterday, Leah began cutting strips of paper (orange, “because the Mexican flag has orange in it”). She asked for a hole punch and some ribbon to string them on. I asked her what she was making and she told me:
“Departure flags. No, wait: friendship flags.”
I’ve asked her how she feels about leaving Olympia next week. Is she excited? A little sad? Leah just shrugs. She is unable to put into words how she feels about what is ahead, and what we are leaving behind. So she creates.
I know how she feels. I am excited. And a little sad too. Along with all the busyness of getting ready, it’s an incredibly emotional time. For our children, this is the biggest change they’ve had to face so far. For Michael and I, well, it’s certainly up there with our biggest too. We are all feeling the enormity of it in our own ways. Tension runs high between all of us. The sibling bickering has reached epic levels. Then five minutes later laughing fits erupt. Then someone falls down and the crying starts. And on and on.
After Leah strung up her bright orange friendship flags, we hung them across the cabin. She ended up with so many that they have barely an inch between them. A fitting reminder of how many good friends both in Olympia and all over the Northwest we have made here over the years, not to mention so many treasured family members. We’ve been so excited about our upcoming trip that it hasn’t fully hit until now what we are going to have to give up to make the journey. It’s a lot, really.
