Renee arrived last night with Erik, Elisabeth, and Ethan. When Renee and I planned this trip, we decided it would be a good test to see if our entire family could actually survive living together on a 35' sailboat. Needless to say, we both had our reservations. However, last night proved to be very restfull and everyone did great.

We awoke this morning to a newspaper and donuts delivered to our slip. The kids now have a new hero... they refer to the guy who makes the early-morning delivery as "The Donutman".

After breakfast on board, we motored out so the Emilie and I could give the rest of the family a tour of the harbor and the Kalamazoo river. When we got to Lake Michigan, everyone was hot and wanted to swim, so we anchored off the beach and took a dip. I had hoped to sail up the coast a little ways so that we could take in the views of the beautiful shoreline with the huge sand dunes... but again, no wind.

So we motored back to our slip and hiked up Mt. Baldhead instead. Renee and the kids ran down the backside and I drove the car around and met them at the beach. As we were walking down the beach to find a spot, someone calls out, "Renee!". It was Jim and Rose Hutchings... Jim was Erik's baseball coach this Spring. So we spent the afternoon at the beach with friends from Grayslake. Erik especially enjoyed playing at the beach with their son Tommy.

We finished off the day with dinner in town and of course an ice cream cone followed by a walk. I could get used to this lifestyle.