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Countdown to cruising: 4 days to go

Jun 25th, 2011
by Sara.
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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: 6 days to go

Jun 23rd, 2011
by Sara.
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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

Jun 22nd, 2011
by Sara.
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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.

Countdown to cruising: 8 days to go

Jun 21st, 2011
by Sara.
1 comment

Refrigeration installed.

Last trip to Target complete.

More stuff sold via Craigslist.

Another carload donated to the thrift shop.

Picnic with girls at the park.

First day of Summer.

One more week to go.

Time to celebrate.

Countdown to cruising: 10 days to go

Jun 19th, 2011
by Sara.
2 comments

Michael finally wrapped the last spreader boot...standing rigging wire replacement is DONE!

Our race to be “ready” to leave the dock has officially begun. With only 10 days left to go we are literally making sure every last minute counts so we get our last few Must Dos done. While the list sounds basic: finish refrigeration install, pack spare parts and tools aboard, finish moving stuff from our big to our small storage unit, pack Leah’s old clothes up for Holly to wear over the next two years, sell camping gear, shop for and pile provisions onboard, decide which skeins of yarn to bring aboard from my two-crate stash, find room for 50 lbs of books, restock our first aid kit and ditch bag… well actually that sounds like quite a lot for the next 10 days. Which explains why for the past week we’ve been working non-stop from the time we wake up to the time we drop into our bunk late at night.

This part sucks, folks. I’m not going to sugar-coat it. While we have tiny flashes of excitement here and there that we are actually going to be cruising in 10 days, mostly we are just really anxious for this last part to be done with. We’ll leave with many many things undone but at least we’ll leave knowing we’ve given it our best shot at getting stuff accomplished while having access to our car and familiar stores while we can. After all, at this point the only thing that has to happen is making sure all the stuff piled on the dock is piled on the boat. All the rest will continue underway.

Even so, my lists of things to do/buy/sort/store/get is constantly running through my head and there are many moments each day where I feel like I’m teetering on the finest of edges between calm and completely losing it. I’m getting very good at focusing on what I’m doing, each minute at a time. Truly living in the now. Otherwise I find myself bouncing around between 20 things, and not getting any of them done. One of which is making sure our girls are fed and relatively happy: since they’ve been given pretty much free reign to our DVD collection and streaming Netflix for the next week I think they are doing fine.

Yesterday, Michael finished putting up the very last of our 22 new standing rigging wires, a huge job we are happy to have behind us. He’s putting the finishing touches on installing new shelves in our engine room which will house most of our tools and many spare parts. Nearly all of our mementos are sorted, crated and stacked neatly in our 5×5 storage unit. Our last unneeded valuables are getting sold via Craigslist and many more items have been donated to our favorite local thrift shop. Final doctors appointments and immunizations are done, summer clothes are onboard and folded away, our mail forwarding cued up with USPS. We officially sold our trusty Subaru today to a friend  (Thank You Angela!!) and will hand it off the night before we cast off.

Sometimes, when you look ahead too much and can’t stop thinking about how far you have to go, all you need to really do is look back and see how far you’ve come. Then you realize, you’re practically there.

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