How did we get here ?

Mark and MC in Regetta on Chestermere, Calgary 1995

As the days slip by, NO not ‘slip’, that sounds much too serene, it’s more like; as the days tumble one on top of the other and as our D- day approaches, I sometimes find myself at 3:00am pondering: how did we get here ? I am amazed really that this is actually happening ! WOW! After all this talk and planning, I think some of our friends never actually believed this was more than just a pipe dream.

I know now,more than ever, that it really is about the journey, not the destination. Our journey started when we made the committed to this decision, that we were going to TRY to do this crazy thing, this sailing adventure. 

This was about the time, no, this was exactly the time when “The lists” started to materialize. If you are thinking about doing a trip like this, I think it's safe to say that you should be prepared to have endless lists that will follow you, everyday, until you leave. 

 Another thing that helped me get organized was to have my calendar always at hand where I could jot down each task for each month as they came up and I gave myself deadlines for each of the things that needed to get done.

Oh, and I would also recommend to invest in a good paper shredding machine! After 20 years of accumulating personal files and tax documents, ours has been getting quite the workout, AND the shredded paper makes great filler for the boxes that I am now packing for storage !

So, it's time to come clean: you might of guessed already that I am a wee bit  “Type A”, and personally, I LOVE lists and I NEED them to get things done: “To do”,”To learn”, “To sell”, “To store”, “To buy”, “To prepare” ,”To ship” ,“To pack” it goes one and on... As you can imagine,a big part of the prep time was spent trying to organize our material “things” !  If only we’d had less things to begin with, it would have been a whole lot easier, but isn’t it always that way ?  I hope that we have learned THIS time and that from now on,  we will learn to live with less, now that we have (almost) gotten rid of everything!

Not sure who's house this is….not mine thankfully

I love that the more stuff you get rid off , the lighter and freer you feel. There is a resistance at first (at least there was for me), but the more you get rid of stuff, the easier it gets. I think I’ve said this before, but it's so true !

With only one month to go it feels like we still have a huge amount of stuff and by the 11th hour we will just have to let everything go, very fast and I am sure that it will feel good, no, it will feel GREAT actually ! 

I think the universe heard our plea under all the weight of all this stuff & things just started happening recently, as they do,they just started falling into place somehow.

Like yesterday: getting a phone call soliciting for clothe donations for cerebral palsy "Great timing !  I happen to have three GIANT bags full of very good clothing ! Yes I will leave them on my doorstep on Tuesday, for sure !”

I also learned through a friend about an organization here in Calgary that is helping young men and women to have a fresh new start at a new life, so happy that we can help in some small way by putting boxes together (sheets, dishes, towels etc...) for them. And hearing that a young lady we know, who has been working with Matthew for years, has been  looking for a place to live ! House rental solved !

Still, during the last month it really seems that for each item that I cross off my list, AT LEAST 3 new items appear. My New Mantra: “One step at a time, we WILL get there, everything that needs to get done WILL get done”, breathe, repeat.

Even I have to admit that sometimes my 'to do' list looks a little bit odd, and random.

Case in point; this week’s list:

• -Find out what’s the best cut of chicken to learn how to do stitches on! 
• -Phone 'Clem' from Caribbean Cargo to find out if it’s too cold for him to pick up our 200 lbs “barrel" for shipment ASAP.
• -Get a Psych Assessment. This is for Matthew !  (for funding for when we get back)
• -Meet a guy about a 16 foot  trailer....
• -Go over Matthew’s Speech goals and Individual Program Plan
• -Call Australia !! Tell them we’re moving ! (FYI : This has to do some registered savings still sitting in Australia)
• -Buy grade 6 Math text book !
• -Re-Learn how to speak Spanish  ! (Thank Goodnes for “Duolingo” !)

There is another indication of what we’ve been up to: I went through our  “GOOGLE search history" from this last month and here are just a few examples of what  I found:

-Do people with disabilities need to sign their passport ?  

-How much does it cost to call from Canada to St Lucia?

-What is the depth of the entrance into the Rio Dulce in Guatemala ?

-What is the “Canadian Iroquois Confederacy” ? (Grade 6 social studies)

 

-What are the top 5 drinks you can make with rum ?

-The attributes of a new debit-credit card vs a traditional credit card...

-How to make bread with a pressure cooker ?

-What are the actual lyrics to "the Love Boat” theme ?

-Where can I buy “Sticky Back” (sail repair material) in Calgary ?

-“5 products that will make you look younger over night”  (Ooops... how did THAT get in there?)

-How to rewire cabin lights to energy saving LED lights ?

Of course not all of these are serious searches, ahem, and I am quite certain that one could go sailing without doing everything that We, okay, “I”,  felt we had to do!  We have had quite a bit of time to plan and execute these things, (some would argue maybe a little bit too much time!) Had we had less time, we still would have gotten here, we did get to do a lot more than is necessary. I know that, of course I know that…

Seriously, you can't go wrong with these guys : 

Mahina’s OFFSHORE CRUISING COMPANION :
http://www.mahina.com/books.html 

This has been an excellent help to getting ourselves organised. 
They have included a very detailed and practical list  (yay another list !) of what to do if you want to prepare an offshore sailing trip. This was a great starting point for us; all we did was to add and build upon this list, adapting to it for our family’s individual needs. 

Still after all this, and with little over one month left before we go: I am left at 3:00 am thinking back at the journey we have been on getting ready for this adventure. In some ways,we have been preparing ourselves for the last twenty years.

Soon enough we hope that our blog will be filled with pictures and stories about the places we visit, but for now, I have to rely on the archives. I will leave you with a "collage" from the last twenties years, of the boats we have sailed &people we have learned from (so you can blame them!)

 

Mark crewing for Bill at a Regatta in 1993 

Mark and Jackson on Mark's Hobie, 16 Gull Lake in 1994

Mark and MC at Rottnest Island, WA on Board teaching vessel Charade in 1996

Ian Calvert- Southern Cross Sailing School- Our fabulous instructor 1996

Our 24' Endevour Gremlin II, Perth Australia 1996

MC at the helm of the Beneteau, Whitsundays 1998

Lady Jacqueline in Whitsundays, Australia 1998

Our wedding day, on board Cowrie Dancer, WA, 1998
(Notice MC is keeping a lookout at the boats' heading)

MC on deck, Cowrie Dancer Jan 1998

FlyBye, Lagoon 440 BVIs 2011

Bavaria 39, in BVIs 2010

Aquila, Bavaria 42, BVIs 2011

MC (and crew mates) on board Teaching Vessel Mahina Tiare III,
South Pacific, Fall  2011

Mark (with John Neal on Left) on Board Teaching Vessel Mahina Tiare III, New Zealand 2011

Jeanneau 42, in Nanaimo BC May 2012

Bill (with Meg)  trying to corrupt the next generation!
Chestermere Lake Fall 2012

Orion Sky (DS16), MC's best teacher, on the Gatineau River 2013

Mule Run

Happy New Year ! We just got back from a ten day trip down to St Lucia.This trip, in essence  was just a “mule run” that is: to bring more things to the boat in preparation for departure, again we brought our maximum quota; 8 bags, and the waterline of the boat keeps going down, down, down...

The water line on Amelie IV keeps getting lower and lower as we continue bring more things aboard.  

Like many other travelers this holiday season, our trip was not without trials and tribulations ! To make a long story short: we had very tight connections because of delays and subsequently, not all of our luggage made it !  Only 5 out of the 8 bags were waiting for us on the carousel when we landed!  One of the bags which was MIA held all of my bathing suits and clothe (of course!)  We  were also a wee bit concerned about the other stuff that was missing: sailing gear and school material  which was worth a lot of money and would be a real pain to replace. So all we could do was to cross our fingers that they would be found and sent to us with the next flight 

(which was two days later). We were a bit distracted  and disturbed by all this when we hailed our taxi at Hewanorra Airport.

But on the 1 1/2 hour drive down to Marigot Bay, Albert, our driver, informed us that there had been enormous rain storms in St Lucia over the last few weeks and that on Christmas Eve six people had lost their lives because of land slides. We saw with our own eyes that the main road had sections which had been washed away and Albert told us that many of the islanders were still struggling to recover. This made our worries about our luggage seem so very trivial !!! Over the next few days we were happy to see many of the ‘yachties’ had arranged for donation drop off areas for clothe, money and water donations to help. 

Once back on board and after seeing the arrival of 2014,we sailed up to Rodney Bay where Amelie will stay until our return in March. 

We made a short video of our sail up to give you a taste of it all. It can be found on our youtube channel. It was blowing 25 knots with waves of about 7-8 feet. Some people who saw the video on FB commented that it looked like we were just flying. I will tell you it sure felt like we were, (Meg says its better than any Walt Disney Ride she went on!) but in actuality the boat was only going about 8 knots which is only about 15km/h!  

We hung out in the Bay for a week,  setting up the boat, putting stuff away and making lists of what is still needed (the list is getting shorter!) and the rest of the time was just spent “liming” as they say. Mark set up the Spinnaker Pole with a swing and hammock out over the water which was a fun place to watch the sunset from.  

Matthew spent most of his time swimming (he is becoming a bit of a legend in the Bay because he is in the water as soon as he gets up in the morning and we have to pull him out when the sun goes down). Meghan kept busy by writing stories, watching season four of “Downton Abbey” and making friendship bracelets which she gave to everyone, including Malakai: a wise and lovely Rastaman who sells jewelry on shore, he loved it of course! 

We got a chance to meet up with some boating friends which we had met last December. It is great to see what a tight community there exists amongst yachties. We are definitely not alone !  There is a “Net” (radio information sharing/forum) which is accessible through the SSB  (Single Side Band) radio all over the Caribbean. We met Dennis, a weatherman and  the facilitator of this Net (and some of the other “FOD” gang (Friends Of Dennis) one night as we enjoyed a great curry at Jambe de Bois Restaurant on Pigeon Island. What a great bunch of people !

Mark enjoyed putting together a short video while we were down there. a rather typical day of our ten day trip. This video can also be found on our private Youtube channel.

The day before we had to leave, MC was thrilled to participate in the weekly women’s therapy group- aka MANGO TANGO-(lunch and DRINKS with fellow boating women) and, as always, she loved the companionship and the great story swapping of some very funny, interesting and wise bunch of ladies, well, as Marsha, one of the original Mango Tango-ers likes to say: “There are no ladies here, only women !” 

Since sailing is still a “mostly male dominated” activity,  it is absolutely refreshing  to hear the perspective and advice of the women who have “been there" and who "have done that”!  They have lived with their husbands on board their boat, some for 20 years, some having circumnavigated the globe, and they have made it !  They are still married !!!  They are strong and proud and have found a way to be happy !  They inspire and encourage MC to no limit !

Of of the Mango Tango lunches where M-C got to meet a bunch of inspiring sailing women, Rodney Bay, St Lucia

Matthew's often abandoned shoes

Oh, and here is a totally unrelated but funny 'Matthew story'; On our last night, MC was with Matthew and Meghan trying to cross a very busy road. There are no cross walks, no traffic lights, and after waiting patiently for what seemed like an ETERNITY there was finally a break in traffic and she grabbed both kids by the hands and trotted across. When they got to the other side of the road MC looked down and saw that Matthew was barefoot !  She looked to the other side of the busy road and there she saw, sitting perfectly side by side, his two crocs ! She had to wait a little bit longer before she was able to retrieve them again !

Matthew loves to sit here

Meg having the time of her life !

In closing I would like to take the time to praise our children who have been such great travellers. They have learned to accept that not everything goes the way we planned and that's Ok. They have shown tremendous flexibility and maturity in accepting the challenges we have faced so far. We are very lucky and grateful to them for being so easy going, for helping us to reach our goal and for making every day SO DARN MUCH FUN !!!

UPDATE: By the way, our 3 lost pieces of luggage DID arrive safely to us about 4 days after we got there !

Ditch Bag

So over the last few months, I have been putting together what is often called a “Ditch Bag” this is not to be confused with “Douche Bag”, which is entirely a different thing. The “Douche Bag” is the person who will get you in the circumstances where you might need a “Ditch Bag” Ha! 

The content of our ditch bag

Seriously though; If you don't already know ; a "Ditch Bag" is one (or 2 or 3) bags that are part of the abandon ship drill which are always "at the ready" stored in a specific easy-to-access place on board. In other words: If you have to ditch the boat in an emergency situation, then hopefully you have assigned a specific person to grab this specific bag(s) during your safety briefing before heading out !  And hopefully the person you assigned, remembers to do this while you are getting the life raft ready !

So what goes in this “Ditch Bag"?  Well, that's an interesting question.This has been on my mind quite a bit, and one can get oneself in quite the philosophical state of mind if one thinks about it for too long. But I digress, there are definitely some basics that you should have:

First of all: Hopefully you remembers that you are in a marine environment and that most things aren’t designed to float, so you need to make sure that the Ditch Bag ITSELF can float and that it has a tether so that is can be tied to the life raft.

Then you need to fill it with things you and the rest of the crew would need to survive: 

In our two ditch bags, which are being assembled as I write this, we have put : 

A Small First Aide Kit & Sunscreen 

A whistle

Flares (IMPORTANT: Make sure you don’t drop your lit flare in your raft or YOU will be the "DDB" (Designated Douche Bag) for the rest of the time you are floating in a half sunk raft waiting for rescue)

A mirror (yes they DO work very well to signal distant ships or airplanes, not just in the movies...)

A waterproof flashlight, extra batteries

Some floating rope

Any prescribed medication

Sea sickness meds

A Handheld VHF radio (extra Batteries)

and OF COURSE : an EPIRB !!!!  

Ours EPIRB looks something like this 
(I affectionally call him “Eddy the EPIRB”)

What’s that ?  You want to know what a EPIRB is ?  Oh ! It’s just the most AMAZING invention. One which has so far helped rescue over 20 000 people in the last 32 years !  

Have a look here: http://www.epirb.com

To the above list we have ALSO added :

-Hats (or head scarves), Sunglasses, Dry socks and Undies 

-One toothbrush and one comb

 (Who says families can’t share?!)

-A leatherman tool

-Some patch/repair kits and a pump for the raft (for when you drop the leatherman tool and make a hole in the raft!)

So, is that it ?    

Dudes, come on ! Have you not seen the movie "Life of Pi"  ? 

Obviously, you’re gonna need some water and food !!!  And, unlike Pi, you probably wont be able to rely on killing a Mahi Mahi with your bare hands or for flying fish to land in your liferaft !  But on the other hand you probably won’t have to worry about feeding a full grown tiger either.

So, for the all important food and water :

We have some containers of water but check this out :  

A hand operated water maker

We also have a hand operated  WATER MAKER...which will turn sea water into fresh (drinkable) water !! 
(Pi would of loved that one)

-Food survival rations 

-A Fish line and Hooks

-One of those collapsible camping water jugs. 

Our sea survival instructor said that if this type of jug is filled to 80% capacity it becomes neutrally buoyant (so that you can have it tethered to the raft and  trailing behind, almost as a sea anchor.)

-Hard Candies (for when things get really ugly- no one will know about the existence of these except me and anyone who reads this blog.... hehe)

But is that all that one needs to survive ? Maybe not. This is where one can start getting philosophical.

As I was assembling things for the Ditch Bag I found myself day dreaming as I was walking down the aisles of the Shoppers Drug Mart. I was imagining Mark, the kids and I floating for days in a life raft, and I wondered: What would we need ? What would make this more bearable, what would the kids need to help them deal with it all??  Let me tell you; it puts you in a very strange state of mind giving yourself permission to think these thoughts “out loud” in your mind.

In such dire conditions as being stuck in a life raft with your family: It is so important to keep your mind active and in a positive state.That is why in training we were told that everyone in the raft must be assigned a task from day one: there is the Minister of Communications (Radio, EPIRB), the Minister of Internal Affairs (makes sure all is well with the Life Raft), a Minister of Food and Water etc...

In an emergency, the last thing you want is to be the one that looses his or her cool and end up looking like one of these guys:

But how else to keep our sanity ? Well again in Pi’s example I’ve decide to include: a small notebook/pencil and to this I added some waterproof playing cards, a “hacky sack” (ball) and some dice. Oh, and a harmonica! You never know, we might end up composing a masterpiece while we are out there !  

I thought about bringing a book too but I got stuck on the question of which book?  I would want something inspiring, encouraging, something that would  be nourishing to the soul and I just can’t come up with THE book. Which book would YOU bring ? Have you got any suggestions for me ?   If you have any  suggestions, I would be happy to hear from you.

So, that is all for now, if you are wondering what to get us for Christmas; think of a water proof flashlight that does not sink, or an energy bar with a really long shelf life, and be assured that we will most probably NEVER get to use it !   

Thanks for reading, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!!

Survival at Sea !

The question we most frequently get from people sounds something like this:  "But aren’t you afraid ?"

My answer to this is: Hell Yeah ! Most absolutely !  I think if I was not afraid of setting out into the ocean people should be worried !!!  I have read a few books written by women who talk about this subject and the common theme that keeps coming up is that they were afraid mostly because they did not feel that they were prepared for an emergency. That, if the worst happened, they would not know what to do !  I am glad to say that I feel the same way. It's the same with anything, if you head out into the mountains, if you decide to learn how to fly, or if you decide that you want to become a bullfighter !  One needs to face the facts and ask themselves: what is out there and what do I need to learn to protect myself ?

(This was sent to me recenlty, and although I still AM affraid of storms the sentiment is a good one I think)

You can’t imagine my ELATION when I found out that there was going to be a course offered on safety at sea and in my very own home town too !  

During two days of the course I sat in complete and absolute fascination as our excellent instructor taught us everything about life rafts, flares, the design of lifejackets, survival techniques, the medical aspects of survival at sea, weather, search and rescue techniques, storm tactics and so much more! 

I have to say that we were in very capable hands. Our instructor; Captain Eric Hill  from Maritime Helicopter Tactics, and Canadian Forces Maritime Warfare Centre, has a great deal of experience in marine rescue. Not only a rescuer,but also as the offshore training skipper for the Royal Canadian Navy, he holds a commercial endorsement for sailing vessels to 200 t and is a qualified RYA/CYA radar, diesel, and commercial Yachtmaster instructor. As Canada’s only Yachtmaster Instructor, he is an endorsed ISAF Sea Survival instructor for offshore racing and is a qualified Advanced Medical First Responder. So there, how’s that for credentials ?!? What was really great about this course was that Eric had many personal stories and experiences to share which made everything so much easier to relate to.  

But my favorite and best part of ALL was that we had plenty of hands on practice!   We got to jump in the pool, fully dressed in our foul weather gear to swim a few length  and experience putting on lifejackets (PFDs) and inflating them while in the water. We then got to practice getting into the life raft from the water, still fully dressed in what was now some very heavy clothe. I swear I gained 20 pounds in water alone!  

It may sound easy, but I assure you that it was NOT! Nevertheless, I am happy to say that I made it into the raft, before getting too exhausted !  Then the life raft was flipped over (did you know that as many as 50% of life rafts are deployed upside down?) and we each took turns to “right” it (flip it over). 

The next day, we all got a chance to set off a flare in the parking lot of the college where the course was given. It was quite a sight to see, 6-8 of us at a time, holding our flares up high, this even garnered the attention of a couple of the security guards from the college who come to investigate !  Flares can be quite dangerous as you can imagine and Eric gave us all some great safety tips such as; "It can take a couple of seconds after pulling the tab before your flare sets off, what ever you do, DO NOT TURN THE FLARE AND LOOK AT IT !”

This is the visual that comes to mind when I heard captain Eric say: What ever you do, DO NOT TURN THE FLARE AND LOOK AT IT !”

Funny enough, it DID take my flare a few seconds before it went “Bang”, and it was all I could do to keep my self control to NOT look at it ! We heard more than a few stories of panicked sailors who had never set off flares before, and in an emergency, with shaky fingers, dropped them on deck or worse, in the life raft !  

MC holding up a flare in Survival at Sea training, Calgary

The class all holding our flares

I came out of the course absolutely electric with energy and eager to share all that I had learned with my captain and crew. I can tell you that on Amelie there will ALWAYS be a safety briefing before any departure and EVERYONE, including the kids, will know how to : start the engine drive the boat, set off a flare safely, use the radio, put on and inflate their own life jackets ! (Did you know that self inflating life jackets do not always self inflate? You didn’t ?  Then.. You are welcome my friend).

Now this from the RYA (Royal Yachting Association):

“Cruising is one of the safest leisure sporting activities, and 99.9% of those afloat will never use their life raft. However, if you are part of the unlucky 0.1% your chances of survival will be greatly increased if you understand how to use the equipment and how to help yourself. It is a well-proven fact that, in the event of an emergency at sea, people with training are more likely to survive.”

Mark and I have a firm belief that in this, and all ventures in life, one must be self sufficient and self reliant and this course just helps me feel even better about how we are getting prepared. I hope that we will never be in that 0.1 % but if we ever are another thing I learned in this course is to “NEVER TO ATTACH ANYTHING FROM THE HELICOPTER TO THE BOAT” as our instructor liked to repeat. Haha ! I got another funny cartoon visual from that one! People can really loose their minds in an emergency I guess ! 

Anyways, for the sailors out there if you are looking for where to book this excellent course here is the website:

                                          www.seasurvival.ca

So .......Why are we doing this ?

Why ?  It seems like a fair question to me...

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  Mark Twain

   

Here we are living in a great (albeit cold at times) country, in a very comfortable home, surrounded by friends and family. Mark has a very good job working with great people, the kids are in the best schools we could ever dream of and have many wonderful opportunities in our city. Many times a year we have a chance to enjoy live theatre, live music, to eat in nice restaurants and there are endless opportunities for picturesque hikes in the nearby Rocky Mountains. 

We have a cool little cottage where we spend summers surrounded by friends, family and nature. I have a fridge that delivers ice into my cup when ever I want it. We have amazing machines which will wash and dry our dirty clothe for us and toilets that flush upon pressing a handle once (wow!) When I go to bed at night I am filled with gratitude for my comfortable bed and pillows and the knowledge that, with stores nearby that are filled with an abundance of food, it will be easy to plan a meal tomorrow. We are so very, very lucky. 

So...why are we doing this trip again?

While it's true we have become VERY comfortable, maybe, just maybe we have become a little bit too comfortable. It would be SO EASY to just keep going, keep putting in the hours in our everyday lives, and one day wake up; kids grown up, and feeling old. But you see, we have this unexplainable itch that just won’t go away.

When Mark and I first started going out together, over twenty years ago now, one of the thing we found that we had in common and that we both felt very strongly about was that life was an adventure, meant to be lived to the fullest and meant to be lived NOW !!! 

In the early years we had the opportunity to travel and live abroad and we both felt energized by all that we could see and learn around us. The world was just so cool and just so darn amazing ! 

Then came a series of big, life changing events which some would describe as tragedies. These became a renewed form of “wake up call” for Mark and I. Years of sadness and struggle followed where life as we knew it seemed to loose most of its beauty and colour. 

After that came years of resignation; not living but just trying to survive, learning to deal with all sorts of obstacles and challenges thrown in our path.

 And then, quite out of nowhere, came a memory. A memory of a dream that we once shared when we were still newlyweds, living in Australia; that of taking our sailing experiences and making a real trip out of it all ! This distant memory, quite faint at first, was to become more focussed and, through discussion over time, became fully re-ignited! This all in spite of the hand that we had been dealt in defiance of what we had resigned ourselves had become our new life path so the question became: why would we NOT pursue this dream?  What WAS actually standing in our way ?  And how were we going to surmount these obstacles to be able to actually achieve this worthwhile venture.

The defining moment in our lives when we realized that we  actually COULD do this; we COULD plan a sailing trip with our children and we could make our dream a reality, is one I will never forget. We started to make plans and started to work hard to make it happen. It was an energizing time for us as we started to look towards the future with excitement and renewed optimism. We were lucky in that we came across very few naysayers. Everyone of our friends and our family; including my dear mom,our brothers and sisters,cousins, aunts and uncles have been very supportive and share in our excitement. Yes, we ARE very lucky to have so many amazing and loving people in our lives !

Now that our dream is coming closer to becoming a reality; we can say that we look forward to spending time together, quality time with our children, even as they enter their teen years ! Mark is looking forward to having more time to be better involved in the childrens everyday lives and to see first hand, everyday, evidence of who they are becoming as they grow. 

We look forward to teaching them, not just about the different cultures and sites to see but also about LIFE. What life looks like for others and what we have in common with all people. We want to teach them about over coming challenges (internal and external) and to learn about themselves; who they are, how to find strength within themselves and help them to figure out who they want to become as citizen of the world in the 21st century.

I supposed also that trip is an unconventional way of teaching our kids that life is not easy and sometimes it just downright SUCKS, but it never ceases to be something to be in AWE of, it never ceases to be worth living regardless of what happens AND that the best gifts life has to offer can sometimes come disguised in the form of something scary or unwanted at first.

And YES!  We ARE looking forward to getting out of our cushy comfort zone, out of our comfortable beds and endless rows of supermarket choices to get out there and re-learn how to live for the moment, to be self reliant & self sufficient, to challenge ourselves, to reconnect with nature and all it has to offer; the good & the bad. To turn and face fear, look it straight in the eye and then follow through with the knowledge that we are prepared and we can DO THIS! 

                    

quote from John Burroughs

One of Mark’s favourite (borrowed) expressions that he often uses is: “ Go to the beach when you are young!”  and I know without a doubt that his mom and dad would be very proud of him (and us all) in pursuing this dream, now.

I am so happy that my dad, whom I had a chance to share this dream with before he passed, was giving me the thumbs up too. Even with the potential of getting sea sick, this is the kind of thing he would have loved to try. I just know.

Amelie is back in the water and looking fine !

Amelie IV in the BVIs

After spending nearly 7 months out on the hard and getting pampered by a fine crew in St Lucia, Amelie had her big splash down on Tuesday Nov 12th  !

Captain Mark went down on Sunday with the boys to get her ready and he says that she is looking REALLY good, with a newly painted bottom, new bumper and shiny clean decks !

Mark picked a great time to get down there as the temperatures in town here plummeted to nearly

 - 30 C with windchill! When he called he said it was hot; "almost too hot!" at 29 C. His comment was followed by a long silence, with nearly 60 degrees of difference between us there was no sympathy from the crew up here !

The boys sound like they are working hard with a list of projects on the go. It is quite wonderful actually that between the four of them there are 2 mechanical engineers, one electrician and one telecommunication expert. I’d say that Amelie is in excellent hands. (Mark, if you are reading this, I look forward to seeing if anyone can fix the ice machine, no pressure though)....Hehe! 

Other than this, there is not much more of an update except to say that MC is STILL keeping busy with digitizing all of her school resources. It has been a great journey back in time to re-read (as she types) all of that stuff ! It really helps to get her back into teaching mode ! She has found a great place in town where she has been able to procure herself with all of the material she needs for science, even the coveted microscope! She is really looking forward to sharing all this stuff with the family. She had almost forgotten how much fun science is !

Oh, and in October, we took a little break from all the madness ( home renovations, work, school etc...) to grant a special little lady her lifetime wish to see Disney World. Mark stayed home with Matthew while the girls went out to meet Mickey.

Meg and MC go to Disney World

 Having never had any desire to go there, it was a VERY pleasant surprise for MC who got caught up in all the happiness of the place. Meg LOVED it ! It was a mother-daughter trip to remember and we feel extremely grateful that we were able to do this for Meghan before our big trip, and before our budget gets dramatically cut ! We got a chance to embrace our inner pirate while we were there, having fun with the Pirates of the Caribbean site.

After seeing this photo I realised that I should of asked Meg to be Cptn Sparrow because seeing her in Keira Knightley's body kind of freaked me out a wee little bit, but still funny.

Matthew is doing very well, enjoying school and his activities like swimming lessons but definitely NOT enjoying the cold or the snow boots  and all the layers he suddenly needs to wear. He can't wait to be barefoot on deck again soon.

This is Matthew's idea of the good life.

                                           


Well, according to our official countdown we are 121 days away from D-day. Got to go, lots to do!