We forgot our camera on the last trip but we did manage to take a couple photos with our cell phones

Oliver getting very comfortable in the dinghy

Working on our letters and sounds underway

Jumped in with dad

I have said it before and will say it again I am not a great/consistent blogger (yet). I have been journaling, just not posting...here are my journals from the last few months...

9/30/14

We leave on Saturday for Dana Point to make up for the trip we missed last month. We will only be gone for 5 days but I hope it gives us an ok idea about living on it extensively. I know the sailing part is what will be hard not the enjoying places we have never been before. Oliver did so great in the car you would think he would be fine on the boat but it's so different. You want wind so you sail faster but then the boat is usually heeled and I still get seasick after not being on it for awhile so I want to be up and Oliver wants to be down below. I will really focus this trip on sailing the boat by myself because if we are going to leave we have a lot of work to do and me sailing solo is one of the to dos. 

We have both been leaning more and more towards leaving this year even though we don't feel completely prepared. We would have a few months still to work as much as we can, move all our stuff to Mn (probably just Oliver and I would do it), pack up the boat and make sure we have all the safety and comfort stuff we can fit on that sailboat. We just feel like we keep saying we are going to leave and we aren't doing it. Yes, another year would be nice to finish seeing all the california stuff we want to see such as snowboarding at Big Bear, saving some more and maybe having another baby while we have insurance but life is just slipping away and neither one of us wants to be stagnant and we are definitely starting to feel that way here.

10/5/14

So we left a day later than we intended because we were arguing about who had to do what. I get tired of always having to plan, shop and pack everything and Paul feels like he does a lot too so we didn't go because I went on strike. It has to be done sometimes.

We ended up going Sunday after we quick packed the boat up and headed out around 230 pm. We, of course, forgot a few things we had to have so I had to run back to the house and grab them which delayed us about 40 min. Good thing we moved closer to the boat or that would've been a lot worse. We got out of the slip first try which was a first for me with Paul. I was so pumped I thought that had a lot of meaning for the outlook of the rest of the trip. There was a little wind and we got off to a good start but after a few hours we realized we were losing speed fast. We had initially meant to go down to Dana Point but since we were going so slow we set our sights on Newport Beach. Paul got to try out the spinnaker which looks like a Jamaican flag. It helped move us a little faster but barely so after another 40 minutes we threw in the towel and started the engine. We both hate to do that but it said it was weren't going to get to Newport harbor entrance until past 130am and we just didn't want to sit that long. We snacked on crackers and cheese and played a lot. It was a pretty nice sail with Oliver, he was happy and easy to please. It was nice the boat wasn't heeled so we got to read and play without sitting next to the water.

We got there and it was dark but we found the free anchorage no problem and there were only a few boats so we were able to find a spot with little trouble. It's always a little confusing and since it was dark no one was out to ask like there is during the day. It's funny boaters are always out watching the new ones come in and judging them. 

Paul slept in the galley the first night because he was worried about the anchorage as he always is. Oliver and I slept in the vberth pretty easily. Oliver tosses and turns a lot so it woke me up and I was worried he would flip off the entrance and fall and hit his head so I was always trying to keep him back. We have to get a foam mattress cover because my hips always hurt when I wake up after sleeping on that hard, old foam. That is an easy fix and it really helped when we did that with our last boat. I think we will figure out a way to make Oliver this own room/tent on one of the 'couches' so Paul and I can have the vberth to ourselves. 

We had eggs and sausage for breakfast in the cockpit, it is so nice to have a table outside. Then we got the dingy in the water and went for a ride to look for the free dingy docks for later.

After we all woke up from a nap we went to the beach for a few hours and swam and watched the skim boarders. We had chicken on the grill, rice and veggies for supper, it was so good. Then we kind of watched the kids movie Cars while we played and read some books and went to bed. We all slept in the vberth the second night which is ok but since Oliver moves so much he ends up taking up half of the bed and whoever is next to him is usually miserable. Since I know that I had Paul sleep next to him and in the morning he did indeed say he was uncomfortable part of the night. Also when he tried to move him over at 5am Oliver decided he wanted to wake up. We are used to 6am but 5 is really early. Thank goodness that is 'man time' in our house and I get to sleep in.

Tuesday morning we spent washing diapers and messing around talking about what we need to get and fix before we leave. We had a good breakfast of eggs and sausage again and sat outside to eat. Then we just played in the boat until it was nap time, Oliver slept and Paul and I hung out. When he woke up we went to the beach and found a park to play at then got an ice cream cone to share. We went back to the boat to freshen up and texted our friends Jim and DIane to see if they wanted to meet us for taco tuesday at one of the local mexican restaurants. They did so we changed and met them there. We had a few margaritas and tacos and then they had to leave so we watched the sun go down and walked Balboa pier. As we were walking out we saw this group of 5 teenagers with a rescue buoy and it looked like a few of them who were in their swim trunks were going to jump off the pier. It didn't worry me since i figured they were locals and it is probably only 20 feet or so. As I watched one of them had jumped and the rest didn't only yelling at the one in the water to "backstroke". They put the buoy away and started walking off the pier. I didn't think much of it until we hear a 'help' coming from the water and realize the kid that had jumped was yelling and waving his arms. I immediately grabbed my phone and called 911 since it was too late for lifeguards to be on watch. It was getting really dark but we could still see him and they said someone had already called and help was on the way. We watched 2 of the kids friends swim out to him and they kept a little distance but probably just calmed him down enough. We could see a blue light coming from on the water from a ways away and figured they would do a water rescue with the coast guard. The firetrucks and police all came and a guy with a camera who could see a lot closer up then we could said a lifeguard got out there and helped them in a little they had mostly made it in before they go there. It was really scary thinking we might watch this kid drown and there is nothing much we can do. I am sure it was a good lesson learned and they were all fine just going to be in some shit with their parents when they get taken home by the police. 

I drove the dinghy back and somehow I sat weird and although its only a 5-10 minute ride I jacked my left knee up and it still hurts, 2 days later. Thank goodness I have a chiropractor for a husband!

That night we were sitting watching a move and paul sees the new neighbor's mast go by the window and it looks like they are dragging anchor so paul motors over there and talks to the guy. At first the guy told him he had just turned with the shifting wind and that he had done the northwest passage blah blah blah basically trying to tell Paul he knows what he's doing and his anchor is fine then the boat almost hit Paul it dragged so hard and the guy got so close to hitting the neighbors boat he had a foot on his boat and one on the other. Paul asked if he needed his help but he said no and when Paul came back and asked if I had watched I said no I just saw you two start talking so I went back down below. I just figured they were shooting the breeze and the heck with it. I'm glad nothing happened as I would've been slow to help since I thought everything was fine the whole time he was gone.

I slept with Oliver in the vberth just like the first night but he slept closer to the tip of the v and i slept horizontally blocking the way in and out so I slept much better besides my knee hurting…how did that even happen?!

We had to motor/sail all the way home since we were going upwind the whole way. It turned out ok since I didn't get seasick and Oliver slept almost the whole way. We got into the slip one shot no problem, it was great.

We are thinking we will leave this year but as you can tell if you read this we go back and forth a lot so nothing is set. We have a lot of work to do and therefore money to spend so that is depressing but if it all works out and we are still feeling good and ready December will probably be our month.

9/6/14

So the night before we are supposed to leave I have to go to work and our son is at home with a 103 degree fever. I felt so bad for him and my husband but luckily it didn't last more than a few hours and he slept through it. When he woke up at 3am and was feeling better he got to have some tea and lemonade (a rare treat for our son who only gets milk and water). When I got home my husband showed me a rash he was developing and he definitely still had a fever but I didn't recheck it since we aren't the tylenol giving parents anyways. Long story short his rash turned out to be hand, foot, and mouth disease, a virus that a lot of kids get. So, needless to say, we had to delay our trip a few days to let our boy recover and mostly just for the comfort of everyone. Paul was bummed but of course didn't want to go with our son not feeling well. We read that they can be contagious for a week so we didn't want to cruise up there too soon just to be stuck on the boat since we obviously don't want to spread this to anyone…that is exactly how I am sure my son caught it. So we planned to leave Sunday night to meet them Monday at Santa Cruise Island. We thought about leaving Saturday night but realized we would have to miss the party anyways (since he's contagious) and it would be a lot of sailing back to back. 

Then when we went to start loading the boat up and do some more cleaning the inverter wasn't working and we can't be going anywhere without that. Paul messed around with it a little and talked to some of the guys at our marina with no luck. Then, miraculously, when Paul went back that night it was working again. So we obviously need to get that looked at along with the refrigeration sometime soon. It just never ends fixing this boats problems.

Then we checked the weather, thanks to the nice guys at our marina reminding us, and it says their may be strong storms where we are going since we are getting all this leftover hurricane stuff from down south. So we decided that we should just not go. We were both so bummed but with Oliver still being contagious and the storms it just didn't make sense for us to try to force this. 

We were supposed to be going on a road trip in October so we just went on that instead. We went to Vegas, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon and Sedona. It was a really fun trip and Oliver did awesome in the car. 

So we will sail for a week or more in early October when we were supposed to be doing the road trip and decide then if we are staying or going this year.

8/31/14

Sorry it took so long to post again. We went to see my parents in Minnesota for a few weeks and time slipped away. 

We did the sail to Catalina with the autopilot installed and it was a much more comfortable sail but still hard because it was a lot of sailing in 2 days and Oliver was restless and, lets be honest, so was I. Paul was sitting in the cockpit the whole time so I was still completely on 'Oliver entertaining duty'. I kind of thought the autopilot was going to make it more even since he wouldn't have to sit up there but he did so then I was all mad like, "why did we get an autopilot when you sit up there anyways. You mind as well be steering and we could've saved $500?" I guess you still have to lookout for other boats…who knew ;) I think it will get better once we get used to it and trust it more. I don't know but I am always hopeful that sailing will get easier and more enjoyable.

So…countdown to 10 day sail is 3 days away and I am at work tonight and work Wednesday night…that leaves a lot to do and not a lot of time, if I want to sleep. I am getting our lists made and checking it twice. I will probably do most of the grocery shopping tomorrow and cooking Wednesday. I will try to precook some meals and muffins to try to make this as easy as possible. I really need to get down and mess around with the stove since I have never used it. We don't cook much with a stove anyways, especially in the summer, it is just too hot. 

I feel a lot of pressure for this trip to be good. We have kind of decided that if this doesn't go well we reassess what we are going to do…like possibly sell the boat. If it goes well we might just leave this year. Not that I think we are totally ready but I know a lot of signs point to go (ie our cars are both old and need work if we stay, Paul's job is moving buildings and paring back staff, I would most likely want to get a new job, we would need to move). That kind of stuff. Not that all of that can't be done, it can, but it would be costly and a pain in the rear. I kind of feel more and more that we just need to go. 

If you can't tell we go back and forth a lot. There are also a lot of reasons I would like to stay and wait so I guess we just have to go and see. 

7/27/14

We signed up for a week long sail in September. It's called the SoCal tata. It goes from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz Island to Paradise Cove to King Harbor to Two Harbors. I think it will give us a really good view into what we are doing and who knows maybe we will change our minds and decide we are ready to go after all. I don't think so but you never know with us. We will actually be living on the boat for 10 days since we will have to take a few days before it starts to get up there. We have a lot going on between now and then so I haven't thought too much about it. 

Paul just got the autopilot installed the other night so that is good but then he told me the refrigeration isn't working. It is always something. I reminded him that it needs to be working before the tata. It is hard enough to cook on that boat with a fridge full of food. 

We will sail to Newport Beach or Catalina this weekend to test out the autopilot and just to take a little trip. Cross your fingers for us...

7/13/14

More bad news. We had a horrible last trip on the boat when we went to Catalina Island. I am in a good place about it now but let me recap…

We got ready and of course that is a ton of work for me. I have to plan the meals, do the shopping and pack everything for Oliver and myself and make sure Paul didn't forget things (he is getting much better I can't complain much). I know Paul does a lot to plan with the GPS and boat but I don't see that and he loves it so I don't think it counts. And since we don't want to be wasteful and buy more dishes and all that we have to pack all of that stuff too. So even when I plan meals I have to remember which pans I need to be able to make everything.

We head out and luckily we had people help us get out because of course, again, we couldn't get out on our own. We did have a guy give us some good advice but it will need more fine tuning and practice. The wind is blowing which is good and we get the sails up and that's all fine. The fridge also wasn't' working like Paul said so we had to get ice, not a big deal but just another thing to go wrong.

I kept Oliver up so he would nap on the boat so he was tired and once I could finally get him laying down and falling asleep water started leaking through the hatch above us and water was spraying in the window. I got that closed but then we were heeling so hard I kept having to adjust us and the pillows so he wasn't going to hit his head on the side…long story short he was unable to fall asleep with all the commotion. Then he wanted to stay below and read books and play which was fine but then I started to feel seasick since we hadn't been sailing in so long. I took a dramamine right away and tried to go up above but Oliver didn't want to and we didn't have the autopilot so someone had to be steering the boat. I still don't feel totally comfortable especially because we were heeled so hard on the side and it was pretty rough. I tried but it makes me nervous when it's like that so I am on baby duty the whole time.

So I am seasick, Oliver is tired and crabby, it's uncomfortable on the boat because of how hard the wind is blowing and the sea is choppy. It was nice that we were making good time but nothing else about it was good. I heard a joke once about being seasick which went something like there are two feelings of seasickness, feeling like you are going to die and feeling like you want to die. It is so awful. When we finally got there the anchoring was easy, we did a great job together, thank goodness. We made some supper, not for me I didn't want to eat and then decided to just stay in and deal with the dingy in the morning. Went to bed, all was good.

Next day they got up, I got to sleep in, and made breakfast. When I got up Paul blew up the dingy and got that all ready. Oliver showed me a fish that flew onto the boat overnight and dried up…I felt so bad, but he thought it was great. I will get a picture up. We got ready for a day at the beach which was easy since we do that most days in California. The dingy was awesome and we got onto the beach no problem. We swam around, the water is so clear and beautiful there. Once we were there a few hours we went back to make a real lunch. We decided then we should just go home that night because sailing over was so bad and all we were going to do was more beach time and we could do that back at home. It's hard when we go somewhere that doesn't have anywhere to explore. Whites is where we went because it is easy to sail to but all it has is a beach and two private camps. If we go to Avalon or Two Harbors there is stuff to do and places to hike so we have to go to those places so we at least have a little something to do. Paul thought the sail back would be a lot easier so I was relieved. 

It wasn't. 

It was just as bad but I wasn't seasick (so I guess it was better). Oliver was acting like a wild, caged animal and it was over 4 hours of trying to keep him entertained by myself since Paul had to steer and the boat was on its side. Half ways through Paul was even saying 'this is stupid, we should just sell it'. I was shocked. I didn't think anything would make him say that. I knew we weren't serious but a little of me was and I could tell a little of him was too.

So we got home late and then we have to pack everything up and put it in the car and then get home, where we have no parking and bring everything inside. Just awful but so glad we still had Sunday to get it all back together and hopefully enjoy that day, which we did but we were so depressed from having a bad trip.

So now our plan has changed. We will stay in California for a few more years. Yes, that is right…a few more years. I am going to take another sailing class with bigger boats, we will continue to sail on this boat at least monthly trips, Paul will take the classes he needs to take and we will hopefully be very well prepared by the time we go. 

I really want to circumnavigate and I know if we go this year we won't be ready to do that. We are ready enough for Mexico but I think in a few years we will be ready to see it all and safely. Oliver will also be older and we can save some more. 

I know Paul was really worried this meant we weren't going but it doesn't. I know we will go. We are having a good time in California so rushing to leave isn't necessary anymore. 

I have been having a hard time thinking I haven't been to Yosemite or the Grand Canyon and all these places are so close. We have decided that we will also take a lot more vacations until we go. Travel is important to us and this delay isn't going to stop that.

We were supposed to sail this last weekend but we agreed that we wouldn't take any more trips without the autopilot and it didn't come in time. It did come today though so I am sure in the next few we will be heading out to take on another sailing trip to Catalina. 

Oliver catching a ride in the dockbox

Paul cleaning up the lines

Oliver cleaning up the lines

Oliver's fish

Glad to be anchored 

Only the best human chaises for Oliver

5/16/14

I haven't been able to write because we ended up spending thousands more on the boat than we had originally planned. It was so depressing. They didn't even call us. They just hit Paul with the bill when he showed up. I can't write about it. It makes me too mad/sad/overwhelmed. Paul moved the boat back to our slip with a friend. We didn't have it for over a month so we were paying for the empty slip too…if I read this blog I would not buy a boat. I just keep hoping that someday I will be so glad for all of this. 

Our plan now is to sail to Catalina Island for the first time and anchor it the last weekend in May. I guess I am looking forward to it just to see how we do and to get the first time anchoring it over with. Paul told me he got the refrigerator working and cleaned out the water tanks so that should help make the trip more enjoyable. We'll see...