The time here just gets better and better. The weather has been lovely. We had one pretty chilly day with a high in the 50's, but mainly it has been 70- 80 degrees and sunny.

The dolphins play several days a week right behind our boat. They seem to choose times when Robert is out of town for business . I think they like to keep me company.

Robert is still travelling way too much with his job, but Maggie and I find lots of cool things to do while he's away. Bike riding and taking long walks are our two favorites. Of course, we nap and people watch, too.

Easter vacation was an interesting week here. The marina was very busy with spring breakers going out on the fishing boats and lots of people at the shops and restaurants here.

Jennifer (our oldest daughter) and Gretchen (our 17 month old granddaughter) came for a visit. They arrived on Thursday and stayed until Monday. We had so much fun!!

We carried Gretchen to the beach.She loved playing in the sand and she actually put her feet in the ocean-- it was very chilly though.

We went for a bike ride around the island-- sightseeing, stopping along the way for liquid refreshment and good food. We played at the park and just had a ball outside every day.

Gretchen liked the pelicans-- she calls them "ducks". She and grandma colored many pictures, read lots of books and snuggled alot.

Jennifer and I had great fun trying to bathe Gretchen in the shower on the boat. It is large enough, but by the time you fit in two adults and an infant, it was an interesting venture to say the least.

Papa Robert stayed busy with the technical stuff-- he was the "TV" and Netflix guy-- Gretchen loves curious George! He also carried us out to dinner / lunch many times -- we all ate like little pigs!! Gretchen's favorite restaurant is Nachos-- one of our faves, too.

Papa and I were sad to see the girls leave on Monday, but papa had to travel last week. Back to Charlotte, NC for business and also mixed in some pleasure. He stayed with our friends Jim and Lisa Sherman instead of the hotel thing and had a great visit with them. He also got a haircut at Carmen's ( our friend and hairdresser from our Charlotte days) . He had lunch with Mark Smith--another of our friends there. Wish I could have gone with him, but plane tickets are too costly.

We are starting to do some prep for our trip back to NC the end of April. I have been cooking and freezing some individual meals. Robert is still fixing last minute items-- most recently, fixed the fridge and freezer-- it seems to be working ok, but still not optimally.

We are doing a trial run this week of living without shore power. So far we have been without shore power for 60 hours. Our solar panels and wind generator are performing very well. Our battery charge has remained stable, currently at 13 volts. We are very encouraged-- guess those high dollar batteries we installed are finally paying off!

There are still many loose ends to tie up prior to our departure, but we're hacking away at it , a little every day.
Saving time for fun and friends, though!!! You know what they say about all work and no play!