Saturday, June 22, 2013

News from Sitka

I promised another post with some news updates and pictures in my last post, so before we leave the land of high-speed wifi....
Because I haven't bothered to read any of the parenting books I'm suppose to, I'm going on a lot of assumptions that everything is going well for Madelines development.  So far she hasn't had any run-ins with the law, no issues with drugs or alcohol consumption, and no Lindsey Lohan-esque media scandals.  Obviously I haven't had much of an influence on her.

She is doing such scandalous things as progressing into eating solid foods.




 Enjoying turning the pages while we read her books.







Learning to drive.



Interacting the the kitty.



And standing up all on her own.



My mom and brother came for a visit so they could start the process of spoiling Madeline rotten.



And the weather during their stay was nice enough that we got to enjoy playing outside in the grass.



I'd like to report that everything is going great, and so far it is, but that gleam in her eye tells me we are in for it soon enough.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Baraka is For Sale

Most of you know that Nicole and I love our boat.  Baraka is the kind of boat that many sailors dream of, and we had grand plans for using her to her full potential.  With the recent birth of our daughter our plans have changed and we are reluctantly listing for sale this truly go-anywhere boat.  We will probably kick ourselves for selling her when we change our minds again and decide to continue on with our oceanic explorations, but for now we would rather see her being used by like minded voyagers rather than sitting, waiting for us to take the next step.  She will provide a wonderful platform to her new owners for exploration and travel.  If you are interested in purchasing her, or know someone that might be, please pass along the link below that contains details and pictures, and don't hesitate to contact us for more information.

Boat information

Monday, June 17, 2013

Coming soon to a location near you...

As any of our sailing friends know, in fact probably most of our friends aquatic or otherwise, plans never seem to last long, but we always agonize over making them anyway.  Nicole and I have spent a lot of time deciding "what's next?".  Now that we are both unemployed our options are again fairly wide-open.  Not quite as wide open as in the past, since along with a neurotic kitty, we now have a 9 month old daughter in tow, but comparatively unencumbered non-the-less.  I don't really feel like I am done with Southeast Alaska (and may never be) so we decided we will head back out on the boat for the summer and see how things go with our new crew.  We're keeping an open mind about the whole thing, not knowing what we really have in store for us, but being fairly confident we can handle the realities of cruising with an infant.  If this happens to last hours, days, weeks or months only time will tell, but we want to give it a shot and see.  With a good dose of uncertainty as to the longevity of the trip, we decided to make some other plans as well, knowing we didn't want to spend another winter in Sitka.  I'm sure my mother wishes this is the point that we announce we bought a house, but no such luck, at least not in the way she is thinking.
We decided to do a bit of land cruising over the fall and winter, and went ahead and purchased a camper van to accommodate the three of us.  The Roadtrek is fairly swanky for a little van, outfitted with bed, table, stove, fridge and bathroom to make a self-contained travel vehicle that should suit us well.  Our itinerary is not worked out yet, hence the title of this post.  We are open to any and all offers of hospitality, so please let us know if you would like us to visit.  Many of you will get a visit no matter if you want or not, but it would be nice to think we are wanted.  Tentative plans are to start out in Western Washington where the van is currently located, head east then south to wander through a bunch of the mountain states before ending up in Moab for a bit.  From there probably further south then east some more before turning north to be with family for the holidays, but it's all pretty up in the air right now.  If you have suggestions for must see places, let us know.  There's a good chance I've been there, but jogging my memory will probably add it to our list.
If you noticed earlier that I mentioned the three of us road-tripping, you may wonder "What about the cat?".  Truth is, we are wondering about that too.  I don't think she will enjoy months of road travel in a small van, so if anyone would be willing to adopt her, or at least get into a long term cat sitting position, please let us know.  She's really not as bad as I make her out to be, and certainly deserves better than a cage in the van or going back to the shelter.  Let us know and we can work out the details.
As far as news from Sitka, we recently had family visiting here, but I will save that for the next post, along with some long awaited pictures of Madeline.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Life Changes

Anyone reading this either came across the post by chance or you are very patient in waiting for new posts from us.  It's been a while, but thanks for waiting.  My work ramped up as it always does in the spring, culminating in a two week paycheck for well over 170 hours.  That kind of schedule doesn't leave a lot of time for blog posts, in fact it doesn't leave much time for anything, and I was trying desperately to keep some semblance of normal at home for Nicole and Madeline.  Add to that the fact that our free internet access on the boat has pretty much dried up, so there wasn't much chance I was going to take what little free time I had to go track down a wifi signal.
I gave notice at work a couple months ago with the stipulation I would work until the end of May, and thankfully that day finally came and I am now happily unemployed once again.  I'm sure family is once again wondering what the hell we are doing, especially the thought of giving up a high paying job in a beautiful place with a little one to support.  I'm not sure I can justify the decision, but I'm pretty sure I don't really have to.  Our lives, our decisions, our reality to deal with.
The plan right now is to spend some time on the boat as a family this summer.  We may stay in Alaska, we may head back to Seattle, we may make plans for sailing in other directions.  For now, we just want some time together with no schedule so Nicole and I can enjoy spending real time with our daughter.   I'll continue to update this blog as I can, but anyone that has been following us for a while knows that internet access is pretty limited in Alaska so it may be a while between posts. I'll try to do my best to update and entertain and let folks knows as future plans are made.