With enough warm and wind blocking layers, winter sailing in the Pacific Northwest is quite enjoyable! Here's a fun and short video of some sailing we did last weekend with our friend Sandy. I used iMovie and our new toy...a GoPro!
Click here to watch the video.

We are doing it! We are going to leave and take a year off! I'm excited and nervous at the same time. There are so many details to work out! I can breathe easy knowing that all the hard work we put in now will be well worth it. We will be sailing in the Caribbean about a year from now; enjoying the blue water, warm white sand, green islands, music, food, people, and each other.

I'm super inspired today, so I made this video. Life is good.

Watch the video here...

Blue Water Bound from The Hoods on Vimeo.

Relaxing at anchor in Pt. Townsend

Hanging out with the skipper while crossing the Straight of Juan de Fuca

Watching the sunset on Sucia Island

Enjoying the passage through the Straight of Juan de Fuca and the view of Mt. Baker

Rowing to shore on Sucia Island

Swimming off the boat

Picking up some balloons that were floating in the water

Read aloud to each other. It takes you to a different place. The ancient Greeks put great faith in the power of literature, posting a sign above their library doors descrbing itself as a healing place for the soul.

Make reading dates, turn off the TV and spend some quality time reading a book together. Snuggle up in bed, in a double hammock, in the cockpit or on the bow, on a blanket in the grass or on a park bench.

"What makes lovemaking and reading resemble each other most is that within both of them times and spaces open, different from measurable time and space."
-- Italo Calvino

"The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention...A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words." -- Rachel Naomi Remen

"Life will go on as long as there is someone to sing, to dance, to tell stories and to listen." --Oren Lyons

"The pleasure of all reading is doubled when one lives with another who shares the same books." -- Katherine Mansfield

"To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting." -- Edmund Burke

"The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." -- Dr. Seuss

Here are a few books we've loved reading together:
An Embarrassment of Mangos by Ann Vanderhoof
Motion of the Ocean by Janna Cawrse Esarey
The Voyager's Handbook: The Essential Guide to Bluewater Cruising by Beth Leonard

69 flights of stairs
1,311 steps
788 feet of vertical elevation

I will be participating in the Big Climb on March 25th. The Big Climb is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) Washington/Alaska Chapter's largest fundraiser. All proceeds go towards LLS' mission to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, and myeloma and to improve the quality of life for patients and their families.
Jamie's Big Climb Page
Please help me reach my goal to raise $150 by going to my Big Climb Page and making a donation by clicking the 'donate' button with my name above the thermometer. Our efforts will help make a big difference in the fight against blood cancers.

Life is good! I'm filled with bliss spending time at our beautiful home, being outside in the wind and water or on a nearby mountain top, being surrounded by first-class friends and famiy, or being all by myself in stillness. Now...after a surprise one week snow break, I'm ready to get back into the classroom and be with my wonderful first graders!