It seems like ages since a post has been posted to our posting site. Maybe it seems that way because it has been ages! I guess it is the shock of being back that has kept anyone from writing.

The last several months have involved a few transitions. Most have not gone as well as we hoped. The kids started back in their Homeschool co-op at the beginning of September. After a few speed bumps the daily school routine has finally settled in to some sort of normalcy. All three are playing soccer, which of course is great but necessitates far more driving than we anticipated. I guess the whole 'living on a schedule complete with a color coded calendar' way of life is taking a whole lot of getting used to. Funny as it was pretty dang easy to huck the schedule off the side of the boat when we started down our cruising road. It seems it didn't sink, it just caught a ride back to Seattle and waited patiently for our return.

We have been living aboard at Shilshole Bay Marina since 1 September. It is home to about 1,400 boats and a fair number of other live-aboards. It is quite lovely, with grand sunsets and views of the Olympic Mountains. It is also dang cold. Seattle itself is of course colder than we have grown accustomed to. Shilshole is usually 5-10 degrees colder with its breeze blowing across the 56 degree water. The day we moved out here it rained and didn't get above 60. Once we settled into the slip the oxygen tent went up for the first time, the space heater came out and it will not be put away. Why we didn't dig out the flannel sheets when we were at the storage unit in August is a very good question!

Our goal remains to stay aboard until gainful employment is found. Some goals may be better off left un-achieved. We do like being on the boat, it is just quite different doing it in this environment after having had the great tropical outdoors to escape to whenever we felt like it. Now before leaving the boat one needs a dock key, the dog, and (gasp!!) socks, shoes, and even a coat! Curse this foul weather!!

We had the crew of Solange come down and stay aboard with us last weekend before they flew off to resume their cruising. Solange has waited patiently for them in Grenada where it is warm. High 5 also remains in Grenada and will be rejoined by her crew in November. They both aim to sail west along a similar route as ours and are all looking forward to warm water, bright sunshine, new cultures, cold beer, fresh seafood, ...To say we are jealous would be a grand understatement. Isn't one of the 10 commandments, "thou shall not covet thy buddies cruising agenda?" If so we are in a world of hurt!

I do not mean to sound ungrateful. Just honest. We know oh so well that we have been tremendously blessed to have done what we just did. We just want to do it longer! We left knowing that we would return. We just didn't have a clue as to how much our travels would change us and how difficult the re-entry would be. The trick now is to hold onto those changes and implement them into our life shoreside. Life is just too precious and too fun to not enjoy every bit and to make the best of the lessons one learns along the way. To steal a Jefferson quote, revised by our friend Steve aboard Uliad (Uliad.net), 'wisdom lets one travel, and then perhaps be more happy.'

Did I mention it is cold here??