Along with composition Audrey did 30 minutes of spelling city, 30 minutes of hungry fish math facts, and some scratch jr.
School 10/31/2014
We decided to take Lark for a spin this morning (by ourselves) so it was a light school day.
10/28/2014
We're 2 weeks in to living aboard. Some things have gone better and others worse than expected.
The small space and large crowd haven't been a big deal in terms of friction between personalities. Parenting is difficult just as it was ashore.
April has been struggling with the rather severe limitations of our galley. It didn't help that the refrigeration died over the weekend due to a coolant leak, leading to the loss of no small amount of groceries.
Sweet Pea has had the most significant struggles adapting to life aboard but even she is adjusting: she goes down the companionway without assistance; and I believe would go up likewise with the addition of some fiddles on the backs of the steps. She has been boarding and landing on her own depending on the tides. At high tide she takes some convincing.
Internet access for my job has turned out to be a piece of cake, no thanks to the marina's wifi offering, but thanks entirely to the wired service in their lounge.
Maintenance and repairs have provided no shortage of growth opportunities.
Feeling at home has come very easily for us. Sailing our home has been a joy. The neighbors have been generous, encouraging, and inspiring.
Our instructor, Cap'n Jack, has brought us a couple thrilling ideas for learning experiences: One is for him to accompany us on a day trip up the River to Vero Beach and then return on our own. The other is for me to accompany him on a delivery job from Jacksonville to Ft. Pierce next week if it comes through.
We are excited to see what happens next!
The small space and large crowd haven't been a big deal in terms of friction between personalities. Parenting is difficult just as it was ashore.
April has been struggling with the rather severe limitations of our galley. It didn't help that the refrigeration died over the weekend due to a coolant leak, leading to the loss of no small amount of groceries.
Sweet Pea has had the most significant struggles adapting to life aboard but even she is adjusting: she goes down the companionway without assistance; and I believe would go up likewise with the addition of some fiddles on the backs of the steps. She has been boarding and landing on her own depending on the tides. At high tide she takes some convincing.
Internet access for my job has turned out to be a piece of cake, no thanks to the marina's wifi offering, but thanks entirely to the wired service in their lounge.
Maintenance and repairs have provided no shortage of growth opportunities.
Feeling at home has come very easily for us. Sailing our home has been a joy. The neighbors have been generous, encouraging, and inspiring.
Our instructor, Cap'n Jack, has brought us a couple thrilling ideas for learning experiences: One is for him to accompany us on a day trip up the River to Vero Beach and then return on our own. The other is for me to accompany him on a delivery job from Jacksonville to Ft. Pierce next week if it comes through.
We are excited to see what happens next!
School 10/27
YWe had a boat management practicum day today. We re-covered all the equipment we had uncovered for yesterday's voyage: helm, winches, windlass, mainsail, and compass. We adjusted all the docklines. We fished for about 10 minutes.
Later, Granmiri and Papa took the the girls up the road to the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute where they got to look at a number of exhibits on sealife, including a great touch tank. Thanks guys!
10/24
It's the end of our 10th day as liveaboards. It's a blast. It's a joy to clean our tiny home in little more time than it takes to think of it. It's so sweet to feel her rock. It's such fun to peddle away as we do the dishes. It's great all sitting around our sunny, breezy little table in the mornings for school. We're so lucky.
This weekend I'm hoping to fix the head; fix the girl's door, which is coming unglued; take the girls fishing with their new rod; take them paddling in our dinghy; finish up the lifeline netting; clean the boat above and below; further customize Sweet Pea's dock step (shorter, with the addition of some texture); get some diesel; check fluids; get cowlings; get propane; shock the water tanks; tape some small tears on the sails; get some new flares; get a logbook; and go sailing. I might not get to everything.
We invited ourselves aboard and had a wonderful visit with the crew of s/v Texas Two Step, a Leopard 38 sailed by Dave and Leslie, who started cruising 14 years ago with their 6 and 8-year-old daughters aboard a Ranger 33. It was really neat to get to hear about their experiences.
Today a 48-foot wooden catamaran with 5 kids aboard came in to stay for a couple months. Lorelei has hit it off well with their 3-year-old. They spent 45 minutes chasing each other around and doctoring her fluffy pillow. We're looking forward to getting to know them all better.
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| visiting Texas Two-Step |
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| The girls loved their trampolines |
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| Leslie and Dave with Lorelei |
Firsts
We took Lark to sea for the first time on Sunday! It was totally spontaneous. We had a scheduled lesson with Captain Jack, and we thought we would practice docking and fueling. Instead, on the way out of the marina, we said, ‘want to go out the inlet?' The tides and wind were perfect so we motored out, and as soon as we got past the second sea buoy, we raised the main and unfurled jib (two different sails). We turned off the engine, and it was so peaceful out there. At one point we made it up to 6 knots. The girls loved it, and Lorelei kept saying, ‘Look, Lark is flying!' We stayed out for about 2 and a half hours and sailed in without the engine, and only turned it on before we entered back into the marina. Jacob did the docking, and got our behemoth (at least to us) back into our slip on the first try. It was a very successful day.
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| raising the main |
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| sailing selfies |
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Tonight we had another first. I actually cooked something on the stove. We had tacos (a very purposefully simple meal), and I browned the meat using my new pan. It all went very well. The only complications were, first, I could not find a spatula, so I had to use a plastic spoon, and, second, when you need the counter to chop, and you are using the stove, getting into the refrigerator is impossible. Every bit of counter space serves double duty around here!
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