28 November 2010 | Annapolis
22 November 2010 | Wintergreen, VA
20 November 2010 | Wilmington, NC
19 November 2010 | Wilmington NC
17 October 2010 | St. John
17 October 2010 | St. John
09 October 2010 | Morristown, NJ
06 October 2010 | Fort Sumter
The Land Yacht
04 April 2011
So, here's a switch.....
After realizing that the coming year will have Matt travelling for most of it, we've decided to hold off on the boat and lease an RV. It arrives on May 15 and we are so excited. We have always planned to do a land tour, we just thought we'd be retired. Ha!
So, we have a new blog: www.RVPuzzled.com where you can follow along on our mis-adventures and we will tend to this site again once the land tour is complete.
Winter in Sunny Jacksonville
01 February 2011
This is just a quick update... so, no pictures. Mostly wanted to say that
A) We really suck at blogging and will need to become better at it before actually leaving for this trip around the world....
B) Wendy is hard at work orchestrating the great summer 2011 adventure. We plan to explore every inch of coastline from Florida to Nova Scotia.... by car, tent, bike, boat. Whatever it takes. The only plans set in stone right now are that we have our little rustic cabin all lined up for the month of July in Acadia and we will be sailing the Chesapeake for the month of June.
C) We still haven't found "the boat" but that's ok, because we also haven't found all "the money".
D) Jacksonville has turned out to be a really great spot to camp out for the winter. It's not that we don't have any great adventures to blog about. It's that we have been so busy having fun that we haven't had time for much else. A few of the best things about Jax so far:
We live ON the beach. It's just awesome.
The weather rocks.
There is a nature preserve down the road with great hiking.
The food.
The beach.
The food by the beach.
New friends.
The bad: There is no Trader Joe's.... but I'm trying to let that one go.
New York, New York
09 December 2010
There is nothing so wonderful as NYC during Christmas! We spent a magical day at Rockefeller Center, Times Square and peeking in the shop windows of 5th avenue. And we are headed back for more holiday fun tomorrow.
The children topped off the day by choosing a new stuffed friend from the Build a Bear Workshop. I have no idea how we will fit our collection of 100+ stuffed animals on the boat, but each and every one is important and very much loved.
Santa Claus is coming to town....
06 December 2010
Here is a pic of the kids mailing another letter to Santa. At the ripe ages of nearly 8 and recently 9, Ethan and Kirsten have decided they believe in Santa Claus. Noah thinks the whole thing is RI-DI-CU-LAUS! Good thing he is an easy going kid and loves his sibs enough to keep his mouth shut and not ruin the fun.
So, our apartment has become North Pole, South. The kids have decorated every wall with paper ornaments and snowflakes. They have written a hundred letters and emails to Santa... emailing Santa...how times have changed!!
And being the good mom I am, I have responded (on Santa's behalf of course) to each and every one. Kirsten wants every Zooble ever made, art stuff and a catamaran. Ethan would like to be scooped up in the night and brought to the North Pole for elf training. He promises to do a really good job and not tell anyone the secrets of the speedy sled and all the magic.
It has been a long week of creative letter writing on both sides of the Christmas coin. Hanukkah may last 8 nights, but it seems Christmas lasts a whole month!
Party, Party, Party
04 December 2010
We took off to New York to celebrate our cousins Bat Mitzvah. The kids (barely) made it through a very long morning at temple. It was early, conservative and mostly in Hebrew.....a trifecta of difficulty for our free spirited unschooled kids! But, the party was well worth the wait and the good behavior.
WOW!! What a party!! Every type of food one could imagine and what seemd to be a never ending train of desserts. We counted 36 in all!! The kids took over the stage and danced all night long.
It was fabulous, over the top, crazy...all of that. And we felt so fortunate to be there with our family and friends and celebrate Samantha.
Here is a pic of our crew with their cousins. Don't they clean up well?
Happy Hanukkah
01 December 2010
Today is really Dec 8. I back dated this blog entry because so much has happened in the past week and I am super behind and I like to read things in order and I thought maybe someone out there reading this might feel the same. So, it seems fitting that on the last night of Hanukkah, I get around to writing about the first night....
We made our menorah this year out of LEGOs. It was Noah's idea some months ago as we discussed making a trip south to the storage unit to get out our holiday stuff. He declared that we should get rid of everything in storage and learn to live with what we have "cuz we already have more junk than we can fit on the boat".
He speaks the truth.
So, he made a beautiful LEGO menorah and we ordered in Hanukkah dinner. Because let's be honest....no one really enjoys shredding 100 pounds of potatoes, frying them in 12 batches and then living in an aprtment that smells of greasy latkes for a month!
The kids opened their first night of gifts and spent the evening playing dreidel and stuffing their faces with gelt.