Well, we really meant to keep the blog going after we got back, but this whole work thing sure gets in the way of getting anything done! :) It's been two months since our last post - yikes!!! Not sure if anyone is still checking, but here goes...

I now have 44 school days completed with only 136 more to go - but who's counting!!! Our district is furloughing us for two days this year and I think I am the only one on staff happy about it - two less days to figure out! Actually, I love my class and things seem to be going well. I meet with my principal tomorrow morning to get the results of my first formal observation with her, so I guess I'll find out then how things are really going! Parent conferences were the week before last and all went great. My only real complaint is the amount of time the combo class takes to plan on a weekly basis. I leave the boat at 6:30 every morning, get to school no later than 7:15 (traffic was only really bad on that first day of school!), and don't leave to come home until about 5:15. Home by about 6:00, have a great dinner that Glen has cooked (he's such a sweetie!), then work on grading while watching Judge Judy. Most of my Sundays have been spent reading teacher manuals and planning lessons. Not exactly the type of schedule we have been used to! I am off for the Thanksgiving week, so we are anxiously looking forward to getting away and going out to San Clemente Island and Catalina.

What's the captain been up to while I'm having all this school fun? Well, he has completely redone all the outside wood on the boat. He did a fantastic job and it really looks beautiful. He's been trying to check off at least a couple of things from the "Needs Attention" list each week as well as all the varnishing work. We are so pleased that after the fourth trip to Washington State and back, our Ham/SSB radio is now operational! The radar antenna has been replaced and the display unit is now in the shop, but we're hoping that will be fixed and reinstalled soon. All of the hatches and portholes now have new gaskets and with all the rain the last couple of weeks, we only had a couple of minor leaks - Yay!!! Glen has also started sanding and varnishing some of the inside wood that had been water damaged. I think he is as tired of sanding and varnishing as I am of reading manuals! The payoff for both has been great though, so we're trying to stay positive.

Saturdays have been our play days and we have been trying to make the best of them. The picture with this post is of a Christine and Scott Brown from Arizona. Glen and Scott went to high school together, surfed, and then joined the Nay together. It was Scott's brother Bill who we visited with while on the big island of Hawaii in the Hilo area. We had a great visit with Scott and Christine this weekend and it was a great excuse to take the boat out for a harbor putt. Glen hadn't seen Scott in over 40 years, but the two of them were yakking away like they were still in school. Christine is a sweetie and we had a lot in common. She has the big 5-0 coming up just a few months after mine, so we had to laugh at both of our old farts having such younger women.

A few weeks ago, Ron and Robin came down on a Friday morning and while I was working, the three amigos sailed the boat up to Oceanside Harbor. It was Harbor Days and a very fun weekend. Darlene and Larry came to visit and Wyatt had a great time fishing off the dock by our boat. We totally cracked up when Poppa Larry tied the rod to Wyatt with a line so he couldn't drop it in the water. Andy and Arlene came over and we got to see Fred and Jeanette as well. It was so nice to get in some visiting time! Glen and I sailed home on Sunday and it made reading all my manuals much more enjoyable with the beautiful view and lots of dolphins coming by to play in the bow wake.

Last Saturday, we took a drive up to Julian for apple pie. The town itself was packed, but the drive was gorgeous. We highly recommend Dudley's apple/caramel/walnut pie - yum!!!

A few updates about our cruising friends... Alan and Kristen (Charisma) made it home safely to Napa, Frank and Barb (Destiny) are now in Australia, John and Renee (Scarlet O'Hara) are in Indonesia, and Kathi and Jeff (Bold Spirit) are leaving New Caledonia to head back to Fiji. Jamie and Christine (Morning Light) have sold the boat and bought an RV, so they are now looking forward to land yachting. It's been fun to keep up with all of the friends we made out on the water, and we are so jealous of those who were able to continue on with their trips. We sure hope we'll be back out there in 5 or 6 years!

We hope everyone has a fun Halloween. Amazingly, we have no plans! Kind of feels good - no pressure for finding a costume or doing tons of decorating! :) Hard to believe this time last year we were in the Kiribati - how time flies!!