It’s been a very busy end to 2016 and start to 2017.  So many people wished away 2016 and were happy for the fresh start in the new year.  But 2016 was especially good to us.  Sure it had some bumps in the road, but it also gave us this amazing journey, time together as a family, special visits from family and friends and so much more to look forward to.  2016 was good to me.

We ended 2016 with a week long visit with my family.  I last blogged on Christmas Day when my youngest sister Emily was here with us and my other sister Libby, her husband Brian and her family were in flight and my mom and Jim were en route driving.  We got ourselves organized and headed to my mom and Jim’s condo Monday the 26th to start the week!  My middle sister Libby has 5 kids and mine were ecstatic to see them.  By the time we got there they had already been swimming and playing.  My girls jumped right in and so began the week of swimming and dolls and dinghy rides!  Ben came over in the dinghy and brought fishing poles.  Ben took turns with lots of dinghy rides with the nieces and nephews searching for dolphins…with not much luck unfortunately.

Pool snacks!

My mom and Jim arrived during dinner Monday night after a long drive.  After putting some very tired children to bed we did it all again on Tuesday!  The guys took an afternoon fishing trip on Wednesday and caught a lot.  We cooked up the fish and it tasted great!  During the week we also fit in Sanibel Lighthouse beach, Ft. Myers beach, a lot of meals out, lots of swimming, many dinghy rides, ice cream, lots of laughs, a special double digit birthday for Grace, a NYE celebration and many many memories.

Sanibel Lighthouse Beach

Sanibel Lighthouse Beach

As with all families we all get busy and don’t make enough time to spend together so this week was special!  Another teary goodbye in the books.

Happy Birthday Grace!!!

Ice Cream! Maddy is way too big for that stroller!

Ben’s brother Max, his wife Kyle and their girls arrived Saturday (NYE) afternoon.  Molly took off running down the sidewalk full speed ahead to meet them.  The girls were over the moon to have all of their cousins visit over break.  What could be more special!!!!  We walked into town and had lunch and lots of hugs, and ice cream.  Then headed over to the house they rented and unloaded their car.  I took the four girls over to my mom’s to swim with my sister’s kids.

Emily had to fly home on the 30th but everyone else overlapped by a day and we all spent NYE together.  The kids swam, Jim cooked out for all of us for dinner.  Max, Kyle and Ben joined us after unpacking a bit and getting settled.  We did a kid ringing in the New Year around 9 PM and then we cleared out and headed back to Max and Kyle’s for a bit.  It was just before midnight by the time we got back to the boat.  Maddy has never been up that late!  Downtown Ft. Myers had loud music and fireworks that they could see from their porthole window in their bunkroom to ring in 2017.

We had another busy week filled with playtime and lots of swimming (nighttime swimming too!), dolls, Henna tattoos, laughs and good times.  Another trip to Ft Myers beach one of the days with a lovely sunset dinner by the water.  Another day we took the big boat out to Sanibel and anchored so the girls could break out the lily pads and swim. As if on cue the dolphins appeared in our wake for Sophie and Zoe to see.

Henna

Sunset dinner

Night swimming is awesome!

Thursday a big group of us went to the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford Winter Estates.  Ben’s uncle Jon and aunt Mary are in Naples visiting friends and drove up to see us.  Jon has a second cousin who lives near St. Petersburg and they drove down so the 12 of us all headed to the estates. Molly, Madelyn, Sophie and Zoe on bikes and adults walking as it’s fairly close to the  marina.  We started in the museum. Despite it being “winter break” from school we fit in a field trip day!  Maddy had just studied Edison and Ford in her inventions unit so it was great to have a bit of a connection for her.  We all learned a lot.  First, I had no idea that Edison and Ford were good friends.  I also had no idea how much work they did together, or that they collaborated with Harvey Firestone.  After the museum we walked across the street to the grounds of their winter estates.  Beautiful houses and grounds with ancient banyan trees and gorgeous flowers.  It was a great outing if you are going to be in the area.

Friday brought another teary goodbye.  We had to send everyone off to the airport just after lunch.

Goodbyes are hard

To keep the party going, Friday afternoon after we’d recovered from the tears and hugs, our dear friends Tim and Carol arrived for a visit.  We met them in Joliet on Day 2 of our trip.  They immediately befriended us and took us with them for the next two weeks.  We then spent a week going home with them when they finished their loop and enjoyed our time on old Hickory Lake with them.  We hadn’t seen them since then.  Our first close friends on the loop and it had been way too long.  We had a nice visit with the girls – Molly had another full speed ahead running performance when they arrived into huge hugs.  Then my mom and Jim came and picked the girls up for a sleepover at their house.  We headed out with Tim and Carol for dinner and then, as time is always too short, had to say yet another goodbye.  Emotional couple of weeks!

We had a lazy Saturday catching up on laundry and organizing, the girls baked cookies with my mom, we all got dinner together and had another lazy day today.

We went to my mom’s for brunch and some playtime and then headed back to the boat.  I took down the rest of the Christmas decorations today and prepared for school tomorrow.  The girls are not happy about starting school again but we must!  We had a delightful afternoon of docktails with a number of looper friends in this area.  Mike and Leann from Rowe Boat organized it as they were in town visiting.  It was great to see them again before we head south.  They even delivered a final Christmas present that arrived in St. Pete after we left!  Thank you!  It was fun to catch up with everyone. We’ve been here three weeks but have been so busy that we’re not around the marina much and hadn’t seen anyone else that was at docktails until today.

School starts tomorrow.  Ben’s parents are flying down late Tuesday and will be with us until Saturday.  We’re looking forward to time with them to finish off our family visits!  After next weekend we’ll think about heading south.  Naples or Marco Island will be our next stop and then we’ll wait for a weather window to head to the Keys and continue on our loop.  We are so thankful to have had these two weeks with family.  We couldn’t have gotten a better Christmas present.

I hope to get the girls writing again this week as they haven’t done a post in awhile!  Happy New Year.  I hope 2017 treats everyone well.

We’ve enjoyed our first week in Ft. Myers at Legacy marina.  We have met so many lovely people here.  Everyone is so friendly and wonderful to us and the girls.  It’s been a busy week.  But let’s back up.  After my last blog post we spent another lovely day on Boca Grande before heading on.  I got up early and went out for a sunrise walk.  It was beautiful!

Have Another Day at Sunrise, Boca Grande, FL

The girls and I went to the most adorable tiny church for the last Sunday of advent.  We had a guessing game while driving there in our golf cart about how many rows of pews there would be. Maddy guessed right…11 rows of pews…but there were also two rows of chairs.  After church we all headed to brunch.  During brunch on this little canal the waitress casually mentioned that there were manatees right there off the dock.  It was my first sighting!  Two of them just lounging in the water.  Pretty cool to see.  Then off to the beach!  Great day of playing in the sand and water for the girls.

After fueling up we left Boca Grande and headed a whopping 7 miles south to Cabbage Key where we anchored for the night.  We took the dinghy and explored a bit and then pulled into Cabbage Key for dinner.  After being attacked by bugs yet again (I’m a magnet for them) we went inside for dinner.  The girls loved the ring game in the restaurant and all of the dollar bills everywhere.  They got to add their own dollar bills to the walls.  And did I mention that we were the ONLY people in the restaurant?  We had a fine dinner.  Nothing special but it was fun.

We spent the next morning exploring Cayo Costa State Park and cruising around Useppa in the dinghy.  We started with Cayo Costa.  Tied up at the dinghy dock and took the tram across the island to the beach side.  We took a nice walk on the beach.  We had studied tides that morning because the girls asked to learn about them.  It was fun to see the markings in the sand that were left at high tide.  We collected some more shells and enjoyed the gorgeous  morning.

Once on our way again we headed south to Ft. Myers.  Lots of awesome dolphins swimming and jumping with us again.  Took a break from school to stand out back and watch them.  We can’t get enough of them.  It just never gets old.  We got tied up at Legacy in Ft. Myers.  We met our neighbors and headed to get some dinner.  We had a full week of school planned before “winter break” so it was bedtime as usual with school the next morning.

We spent our mornings this week doing school and our afternoons at the pool or in the dinghy and making some Christmas candies. Thursday we picked up a rental car and I powered through some last minute shopping for Christmas.  After a productive school week we put the backpacks away to enjoy family.  Lots of aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins to play with!

Never mind the yellow – round two had all red and green

Friday Aunt Emily arrived just after lunch and the close of school.  Molly powered through a unit math test, we finished the novel she was reading and Maddy had a word study test.  We hopped in the rental car and headed to the airport.  So happy to have my sister with us for Christmas again.  It’s becoming a tradition…and a good one at that.  After we got Emily and let her drop off her luggage and change into Florida heat wave appropriate clothing we headed to the Cape Coral harbor host’s house to pick up all the gifts we had shipped there.  Kitty is wonderful.  Look her up if you are in the Cape Coral/Ft. Myers area.  She welcomed us into her home, told us to bring suits so the kids could swim in her lovely pool, she had drinks and snacks for us.  It was a great visit.  Friday night we took the dinghy to Pinchers for dinner and then dropped the girls and Emily at the boat and headed out for some more last minute shopping.

Fast at work playing Tic Tac Chess at dinner

Christmas in FL is kind of surreal.  As was Thanksgiving.  And WONDERFUL!  It’s warm.  It’s sunny.  There are dolphins.  There is swimming.  And there are no winter coats and snow and weather to deal with.  We had a great Christmas Eve and day.  Christmas Eve we took the dinghy out and went to the condo my mom and Jim rent here.  We spent some time looking around for dolphins to no avail.

The girls, Emily and I headed to Christmas Eve mass at 4. We put a ham in the crock pot that morning.  When we got back Ben had made a spiced hot cider and had that warmed for us along with the sweet potatoes in the oven and the green beans boiling. We had a great and very easy dinner on the boat, read Twas the Night Before Christmas and did our best to get the girls settled.  Not easy!  Boy were they excited.

Christmas morning is always so magical.  Despite lots of talk about Christmas being smaller this year they still had a great day.  It was a fun morning with lots of squeals and shrieking and they seem to love all of their new things.  We kept it small but still have to find a place for all the new books, puzzles, legos, dolls, etc.  It’ll happen eventually.

We spent close to 3 hours this afternoon in the dinghy.  My back is not happy about that.  We cruised up the river to the Orange River where there is a Manatee park.  It’s next to a power plant so the water is very warm (like 87 degrees warm).  But despite us, kayaks, and many people on land looking for them we did not spot a single one.  We did however bask in the sunshine and beautiful nature surrounding us.  On our ride back we spotted dolphins and chased them around for a bit.  Emily was very happy to see them!

After a quick cleanup and tossing together of a dessert tray we headed to the Christmas potluck at the marina.  What a lovely group of people and some fantastic cooks.  I haven’t eaten that much since Thanksgiving.  It was 4 hours ago and I’m still stuffed.  And it was right next to the pool so the kids swam til we ate, then they ate, and then swam again.  We took a long walk after dinner and then again tried to get them settled for bed.  Not too successfully.  And more fun starts tomorrow.  My other sister, her husband and their  kids landed about an hour ago.  They will be at the condo my mom has rented tonight and we will see them tomorrow and for the rest of the week.  We’re so excited to have so much family time.  The kids cannot wait.  My mom and Jim are driving now.  Their plan is to make it 9 hours today (after leaving post Christmas lunch) and then another 9 or so tomorrow to hopefully be here in time for dinner.  Should be a great week with lots of special memories.  And then next Saturday Ben’s brother and his family arrive just in time for NYE!

We hope all of you have had as wonderful a Christmas as we have.  It’s been a special day and is going to be a very special next two weeks.  Again feeling very blessed!

After a month of sitting still we are back to moving for a few days before we get to Ft. Myers and wait for family to come visit.  As I mentioned in my last post we said goodbye, or hopefully see you later, to some great friends we met very early on in our Loop.  We hope to see them again soon. We also said goodbye to Gulfport and St. Petersburg but not without some last bits of fun.  We got to ride along in the Treasure Island light parade on our friend John and Gabi’s boat.  The girls both wrote about that so I won’t repeat it all here but it was a lot of fun!

We soaked up the pool time.  Took one more dinghy ride into Gulfport. Went to the Farmer’s Market there finally.  Went to the library there one last time.  Cruised around Boca Ciega Bay on the dinghy and found my Great Aunt Lill’s house.  Took the dinghy to Madeira Beach and collected shells on the beach in the fog with Gabi.  Walked around John’s Pass.  And then Thursday morning we decided to pull lines and head south.

Thursday we traveled to Sarasota.  A fairly calm trip other than Tampa Bay.  Glad we are past that.  We spent two nights in Sarasota. Ben and I have visited many times as Ben’s grandmother used to live across the street from Marina Jack’s.  Molly was there once at about 4-6 months old.  Fond memories of Adelle on the floor with Molly playing with her.  It was fun to show the girls her old apartment building.

Sunshine Bridge on Tampa Bay

Marina Jack’s – can always spot us by the lovely Lily Pads

The middle white building is Adelle’s old apartment building

It was close to 80 and sunny both days we were there.  The girls walked 5 miles yesterday!  We took the concierge shuttle into St. Armands and spent the morning walking around, shopping and having lunch there. Then we took an Uber to the Marietta Museum of Art & Whimsy.  A fellow looper, Robert from Errante, told us to go.  His sister owns the museum and he promised it would be lots of fun.  It did not disappoint.  We loved it.  I highly recommend if you stop in Sarasota that you check it out.  The art work is fun, the outside gardens are great. The kids loved that they could touch any of the art in the gardens.  The people that volunteer at the museum clearly enjoy what they do and were so happy to tell us about the various artists and pieces in the museum.

After the museum we walked down the street about a mile to play some mini golf.  You know we looked and looked but never spotted an Alligator on the rivers.  But we saw them at Smugglers’ Cove!  It’s almost the same.  We took an Uber back to the marina and then the girls and I and their dolls set out walking again to the park and out to the point to see the dolphin fountain.  They also wanted to take another look at the famous statue there of a soldier kissing a nurse from WWII.  Wonderful walking paths all along the water here.  Maddy was appalled that we then suggested walking to dinner.  But she made it.  All in all a full and great day.

Alligators! The girls fed them.

Beuatiful day at the Park with their dolls.

This morning we set off south again after spending some time on a boat on our dock. Turns out they are from Chicago and have done the loop.  They sold their house a couple of years ago to live on their boat full time.  They gave us a tour of their boat and gave us blog information for some old dock neighbors of theirs from Chicago who are around our ages and have left the city to move to Tortola with their kids.  Island life!  Anyway, enough about that.  Although did I mention it’s 80 and sunny in Florida?  I hear it’s a bit cooler than that in Chicago.

Spotted during my walk to Publix

Today we headed south to Boca Grande.  The Gulf was super calm. We took the ICW to Venice and then Ben went outside and picked up the pace the rest of the way south.  While on the ICW we had to have a couple of draw bridges raised for us and went through one swing bridge.

Swing bridge closing after we passed through

It’s beautiful here.  I have a feeling I am going to be saying that a lot. Everyone we meet tells us that it just gets prettier from here.  We rented a golf cart for our stay and explored the island.  There is beach access all over.  We were golf carting around just before sunset so we stopped at one beach and collected a few more shells. We went to check out the old lighthouse as well.  Maddy really wanted to experience a golf cart in the dark so we went back out after sunset and cruised around in the dark to see Christmas lights on the restaurants and houses.  More exploring tomorrow and hopefully some beach time.

Shell hunting

Searhcing for more shells

No snow here!

We will leave here tomorrow afternoon and anchor near Useppa and Cabbage Key.  Another area we’ve been told not to miss.  We plan to dinghy to Cabbage Key for dinner at the restaurant on the island.  Monday I think we will head to Ft. Myers to begin our stay there.  Can’t believe Christmas is a week from tomorrow!  We’re excited for all of the family coming to visit!

It’s been a busy few weeks in St. Petersburg and we haven’t gone anywhere!  It’s been strange to be stationary for so long but we’ve made the most of it.  Pasadena Yacht and Country Club is great.  Heated pool.  Exercise room and classes.  Great restaurant.  We’ve made ourselves at home.  The kids swim just about daily. We’ve had two cold snaps while here that have kept them out of the water for a couple days but otherwise they are in the pool until sunset.

Thanksgiving was great.  Strange to be just the four of us but great.  We explored this little island by our marina.  Soaked up the sun.  Had a late afternoon dinner at the yacht club and then hung out on the boat and relaxed.  Feeling blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My mom flew in the Friday after Thanksgiving and stayed with us for a week.  It flew by.  We had a busy week.  We took her exploring in the dinghy.  We spent time at the pool.  We did school (which she loved helping with and took over a big chunk of each day with Maddy!).  We had a field trip day to Clearwater Marine Aquarium and then Tarpon Springs to see the sponge docks and stock up on sponges.  We went to Sun City Center to visit my 99 year old grandfather.  We went to Sarasota to see Jim who had flown down for a golf trip.  And we still had some time for laying around the boat and visiting.  Ben and I got out a couple of nights without the girls as well.  All in all a great week!  We were sad to take Grandma to the airport however we’ll see her again the day after Christmas!  Feeling blessed.

Making the goodbye to Grandma Cathy easier was the invitation from Mike Rowe to take the girls out on his fishing boat.  Mike, Ben and the girls spent last Saturday fishing.  The girls loved it.  They will tell you “we caught a lot, but no keepers”.  They can tell you exactly what they caught.  I can’t remember but they have learned so many new things on this trip!  Mike made their day!

Also helping ease the goodbye to Grandma Cathy is your best friends arriving the very next Monday.  Kathy and the girls flew down Monday morning and stayed with us until Friday.  The week flew.  We didn’t have as perfect of weather as I’d hoped (like is forecasted for next week!).  But we had time to explore and play in the sun on the island.  We took the dinghy into Gulfport to the park and lunch.  We swam pretty much daily.  We went to the Dali museum which the girls LOVED.  We had a LOT of fresh fish.  And we saw dolphins!  I’m so glad the dolphins came out to play as we kept talking about them and then didn’t see any for a couple of days. But they did not disappoint and listening to 5 little girls in the dinghy squealing with delight was so much fun.  Yesterday’s goodbye was particularly hard.  The girls stood embraced in hugs that would not let go. Tears were shed.  The Burnetts have an amazing adventure ahead and we won’t see them for six months.  That’s too much for the girls to wrap their heads around.  It will get easier with time but Molly laid in bed crying last night about missing Livia.  Goodbyes are hard.  But again, feeling blessed.

Easing the pain of the goodbye was a package full of Christmas ornaments arriving for the girls.  My friend Molly had her girls choose from some of the ornaments they did not use on their tree this year and boxed them up and sent them along with some goodies and an adorable note.  Our little tree looks much more festive now!

Today we had a real treat.  My 99 year old grandfather came to see the boat along with my almost 86 year old great Aunt.  I had cautioned against visiting due to the incredibly LONG walk out to our boat.  Not to mention that once at the boat we are never at a good height for boarding here.  The docks are high and don’t float so depending on the tide, the boat is either difficult or VERY difficult to board.  But anyone who has met my grandfather knows that if he wants something to happen it will happen. There is no talking him out of it.  I did insist that he could be strong willed about wanting to come see the boat but I was going to be strong willed about helping him on and off.  Ben and Aunt Lill’s son in law Brett helped my grandpa on the boat safely.  It was so great and special to us that he got to see where we live right now.  We then went out for a great lunch overlooking a gorgeous day on St. Pete Beach.  Then got to visit some more at Aunt Lill’s house.  What a special day. Feeling blessed!!!

This week will be kind of tough.  First, after two full weeks of visitors it’s back to the regular school schedule on Monday.  Next, we are making a list of things we want to get done before we head south.  Exciting to set out on our journey again however there are so many goodbyes.  I’ve mentioned I am not good at them right?  This week we say goodbye (hopefully more like see you later) to John and Gabi on Our Crazy Love and to Mike and Leann on Rowe Boat.  We met Mike and Leann on Day 2 of our Loop in Joliet, IL.  We’ve traveled on and off with them since.  They have been so good to us here in St. Petersburg and are wonderful to the girls.  We met John and Gabi in Green Turtle Bay and became fast friends as we were both laid up waiting on boat repairs.  They are equally good to the girls and we bonded over rental cars, Walmart trips in Grand Rivers, KY and one very long day involving a drive to Mobile, AL and back to pick up props.  While the four of them were a couple of weeks ahead of us crossing the Gulf we were so happy to catch up here in St. Petersburg.  It’s going to be tough saying goodbye.  We hope to see Mike and Leann along the way and hope to see John and Gabi in NJ when we head north.  Also this week we hope that the other two families with kids can safely make their crossing!  One family did a partial crossing last week and hopes to finish making their way down this way this week.  The other plans to cross early next week and be here by Wednesday.  We’re planning to stick around until they are here so we can actually meet and get all of the kids together!

I just have to say again that we are so blessed.  We are so thankful and grateful that so many people have made the time and effort to come visit us.  It is so special that others want to share this amazing trip with us.  We are coming into another great month in Ft. Myers/Cape Coral.  My sister Emily flies in Dec. 23rd and we get to spend Christmas with her. Then my other sister Libby and her family fly down Christmas evening.  And my mom and Jim will arrive on the 26th.  A full week together with family.  A big thank you to my mom for making it all possible and for all of them for making the trip.  Then on NYE Ben’s brother Max and his family fly down for a week. I’ll say it one more time…so blessed!  The girls get two full weeks with cousins!  They are giddy with excitement.  What more can I say?!?  Great way to ring in the new year.

I’m out of blog titles since Ben posted that we crossed the Gulf of Mexico.  The crossing went well, save a few bumpy hours in the middle.  The dolphins were amazing!  But we are very much enjoying the sunshine, especially since this cold front moved through.  I had a lot of people text me over the weekend to tell me how blustery, cold and snowy it was in Chicago.  Can’t say I’m homesick for that.  We shivered yesterday morning when it was in the 50s and breezy.  Excited it’ll be back to 75 again tomorrow.

We’re enjoying our time in St. Petersburg so far.  We got here last Thursday afternoon and the girls swam in the large and heated pool at the marina Thursday, Friday and much of Saturday.  We are technically across the bay from St. Pete in Gulfport, FL.  Friday after school we took the dinghy out and around the bend into downtown Gulfport.  There is a free dock there where we joined some other boats and tied up and walked into town for lunch.

Parking lot for the day!

Very cute little downtown with shops and restaurants, playground and beach.  We had lunch at O’Maddy’s and then took the dinghy to see Mike and Leann from Rowe Boat.  They have a dock at their house as well so we tied up there and visited for a bit.  As Ben said last night, we are staying in their marina and very happy to be here.

O’Maddy’s with Maddy

Saturday morning we checked out the Farmer’s Market in downtown St. Pete.  I love a great farmer’s market and was thrilled to stock up on fresh produce.  The girls got a kick out of watching two guys core and slice fresh pineapple.  And the pineapple tastes amazing.  We also sampled and stocked up on Florida navel oranges.  Yum.  Also loaded up on HUGE bell peppers (only $1 each!!!), avocados, limes, lemon, cherries and tomatoes.  We got a type of avocado I’d never seen before.  It’s larger than a grapefruit…a lady at the market told me these are a different type of avocado, less creamy than the smaller ones, usually more watery, used in salads, etc.  We grabbed one and thought we’d try it out.

Sunday we took the girls to Treasure Island beach to see the sanding ovation sand sculpture competition.  Very cool sand sculptures and the first place winner happened to be walking past his sculpture as we were standing there.  Molly asked him how long it took to build it: 30 hours!  After that we hit up Target and TRADER JOE’S!  It’s the first Trader Joe’s we’ve seen since we left Chicago and it’s fair to say we went a bit nuts.  We were happy to load up on staples that we love.  Silly that a little store could be so exciting.  And yet it was.  Oh and in case anyone wondered…shopping with Madelyn in tow has not gotten any easier.

The winning sculpture

Back to school this morning.  The yacht club here has exercise classes every morning at 8:30 so I headed to a crazy hard workout once I got school lists made for the girls.  Ben got school started while I was gone.  Both kids had a great morning and got through their work peacefully for  a change.  Molly is working through a unit on the muscular system. And today we wrapped up their skeletal unit by finishing up a chicken bone in vinegar experiment.  They were both excited and grossed out to touch and bend the chicken bone.  Science experiment success!  After school the kids had some tv/screen time, Ben explored a bit in the dinghy and then we headed into Gulfport and took the girls to the park.  Our plans of making spaghetti went out the window when we walked past an adorable Italian place with pasta made in house, locally sourced ingredients and a good looking drink menu.  Sold.  Easy early dinner and back to the boat for a little free time.

Molly and her cousin Grace FaceTime often.  I love that Grace calls when she has a free minute (given no organized extra curriculars we have a lot of free minutes!).  It’s awesome for the girls to keep in touch.  And the last two times they have talked they’ve talked about school! Grace always asks Molly what she did in school that day.  Both a couple of days ago and today they discussed in depth what each did in math that day.  And tonight as I was sitting on the couch I could hear Molly down in her bedroom asking Grace if she knew it only took 17 muscles to smile…way fewer than it does to frown.  She learned that today!  Yay!  It makes me smile to hear her repeat things that clearly struck a chord with her.  She went on to tell Grace that each step we take uses about 200 muscles.  The girls then figured out how many muscles we would use to take 10,000 steps.  They each have white boards and were doing math on white boards while on FaceTime!  WIN!  Last school win for the day – Ben’s Aunt Janet gave me a ton of materials to use with the girls.  Included is this amazing Non-fiction Inquiry book she uses with her 5th graders.  It organizes the readings asking the kids to jot down questions, answer questions, discuss and eventually write an essay.  It teaches them how to answer a question, find evidence, and then show how each piece of evidence supports their answer to the question.  Molly finished her essay today on why she would have chosen not to be a homesteader. She learned about the Homestead Act and more about Westward expansion…building what we’ve learned about the Civil War.  Anyway, I was really proud of what a great job she did writing the essay.  Thank you Aunt Janet!!  Math and Science are my strong suits…it’s such a help to have great resources like this to use with the girls for subjects I don’t really know how to teach.  Maddy and I have started using the Junior Great Books series for reading.  I did Junior Great Books when I was a kid!  And loved it!  And now I get to do it with Maddy.  The girls have been busy writing in their journals about Disney.  It will be a blog post soon. Molly took quite a few days to write every detail.  Maddy is in process on hers so look for that post soon on their site.

It will be just the four of us for Thanksgiving Thursday.  We plan to have a low key day, enjoy the warmth, have dinner at the restaurant here and relax!  My mom arrives Friday night and we’re very much looking forward to her visit.   Happy Thanksgiving (in case I don’t get to another post before then)!

So much for staying on top of blogging.  Life, boat repairs and a trip to Disney got in the way.  I’ll say again that I’ll now try to stay caught up.  This may be long but most of you followed our Disney trip on Facebook so I’ll skirt over some of that.

Thursday October 27th we ended our trip on the rivers and entered Mobile Bay.  While some are intimidated by big water and lots of boat traffic, that’s what we, and more importantly Ben, are used to from Chicago.  Ben’s way more intimidated by skinny water with uncharted depths.  Obviously.  Anyway, we tied up at Grand Harbor marina and checked ourselves in for two nights.  Much needed break after a full week of anchoring or quick marina stops, very long days, and a lot of stress with our wrecked up props.  Mobile was a cultural experience for the girls.  We rode in a huge pickup truck as our loaner to go get groceries, they did some interesting people watching, etc.  Saturday morning we crossed the bay after a very stressful, very shallow path out of Dog River.  Happy to have that behind us we pulled into the ICW and into Saunders Yachtworks in Gulf Shores, AL.  Ben began racing around to pick up a rental car 40 miles away before they closed and the girls and I took a stroll down the road to Jimmy Buffet’s sister’s place, Lulu’s.  They had a kids’ Halloweenfest going on and the girls got to trick or treat and then play in the sand there and run around.  When Ben got back we had a nice dinner there and relaxed a bit.

Sunday  morning we packed up the rental car and left the boat for the first time since Chicago. So strange!  We headed two hours east to Santa Rosa Beach, FL where Ben’s aunt, uncle, two cousins and their families live.  It was so great to be welcomed with open arms, a place to stay, cousins to play with for the girls, family to visit with for us, white sandy beaches and amazing Gulf waters.

They like the Gulf too!

Ben’s cousin Tommy and his wife Patty own one of the airstream food trucks in Seaside.  They were in their final week of business as they have decided to close Song and move out of the area.  So we were thrilled to be there in time to experience the food before they closed up shop!  We headed that way Sunday night for dinner and had a fantastic meal and the girls had so much fun playing with second cousins Kato, Judah and baby Naali.

The girls and Tommy inside the Song airstream

We had planned to stay a week with them while the boat was having lots of repairs done.  Turns out both the prop and rudder were badly damaged.  So much so that we needed a new rudder.  By Monday morning it was apparent it was going to be two weeks of boat repairs instead of one.  Ben can post about the specifics of all the repairs.  But in the  meantime he suggested we go to Disney World from Santa Rosa Beach.  We had planned to take the kids when we are in St. Petersburg for a month.  But since we had an extra week to spare we started searching for hotels and trying to navigate the maze that is Disney planning.

Backing up a bit, Monday was also Halloween!  We are so happy it worked out to be with family for Halloween. Molly chose to be a black cat and Maddy a mermaid.  We went to Seaside for Trick or Treating with the cousins.  As they complained about the heat we quickly told them to stop and described our last three Halloweens dodging both rain and snow in Chicago and how you have to have costumes that can fit warm clothes underneath.  It was awesome to run around in flip flops and costumes without being cold.

It was a change to do school off the boat.  Was awesome to have a whole house to spread out in with the girls.  And with the carrot to dangle of heading to the amazing white sand beach for the day as soon as school was done, it was easier to get it done!  I’m not yet in love with the salt water as so many people tell me I will be.  But the dolphins, the soft sand and the warm Gulf waters are my favorite.  Below are pictures from Grayton Beach where a little lagoon forms off the Gulf.  After some fierce wave jumping the girls settled in for some crab finding and fishing with Kato.  And Molly got a turn with Naali on the beach.

Friday morning after a great visit with family we packed up once again and started the six hour road trip to Disney World!  Most of you followed along on Facebook so I won’t rehash Disney here.  I will say we were pleasantly surprised.  The girls handled it so much better than we ever dreamed.  We did Epcot Saturday for 13 hours with an 11 PM bedtime, Magic Kingdom Sunday for a similar 13 hours and 11 PM bedtime, Animal Kingdom Monday, Hollywood Studios Tuesday and Epcot again on Wednesday. There was not one single meltdown at a park by our kids.  And they walked and walked and walked.  Molly walked 23,000 steps the first day….close to 9 miles.  One night after Animal Kingdom we went into Disney Springs to grab dinner and took the girls into the Disney Store. We’d been in plenty of stores and accumulated lots of souvenirs at the park but this was a parenting fail.  It wasn’t so late but just too much for Maddy and she finally melted down.  Good night’s sleep and a morning off to swim and chill the next day and she was fine.

We headed back to Santa Rosa Beach and our very gracious family to take us in yet again last Thursday.  We got the word late Thursday that the boat would be ready Friday late in the day.  Sad to pack up and leave family but the visit continued!  We got back to the boat Friday just before sundown.  I ran to the grocery store and Ben returned the rental car.  We had a huge task of unpacking and organizing the mess we brought back with us.

Saturday morning we boated 24 miles to Pensacola to watch the Blue Angels Homecoming show.  Ben’s aunt Janet, uncle Tom, cousins Tommy and Patty and their kids Kato and Naali drove to Pensacola.  Ben anchored and then took the dinghy to shore to pick them up.  We all spent the day on the boat watching the planes.  Tom and Janet ended up spending the night on the boat with us.  Sunday morning we boated to Sandestin.  Ben’s other cousin Sarah along with Adrian and their son Judah met us there for lunch.  This morning we left Sandestin and boated about 12 miles to the middle of the bay.  Tom brought Tommy, Patty, Kato and Naali out to us on the water.  We met, boat to boat and they joined us for the day.  We are now in Panama City.  Tom will drive here this afternoon to meet us for dinner and drive the others home.  After two weeks of great visits and kid playmates we will set out just the four of us tomorrow.  We head to Apalachicola and then to Carabelle to make our Gulf Crossing to Tarpon Springs.  If the seas cooperate we will be in St. Petersburg by the end of the week and will stay for a month.

Seems like a whole separate blog post but want to mention that I’m sold on homeschooling.  Everyone asks me about it.  How it’s going.  What program we use, etc.  Many days and nights I worry that they aren’t learning grammar or proper ways to write a paper or how to diagram a sentence….but then I look around at the flexibility and experiences we’ve had.  Like I said, separate blog post I’ll explore at some point.  But since we’ve left Chicago the girls have learned about the Mississippi river, the St. Louis Arch and the gateway to the West, the rivers and locks and how they all connect and work, we’ve been to three Civil War national parks and learned about countless battles while getting to be there and experience it.  We walked around Shiloh and Corinth and experienced so much history.  We have experienced new culture in the south and learned about jellyfish and dolphins and manatees.  Maddy spouted off facts about manatees she learned from a fellow looper.  I asked where she learned that???  Amazed and what these little sponges soak up.  Even Disney.  We were so impressed at Epcot and how the learning continued.  Maddy and I had just started an IB unit on Inventions before we left. The first ride we did at Epcot was all about the history of the earth and took us through a ride where she got to see at least half of the inventors and inventions we had just studied.  We learned about agriculture and hydroponics at Epcot, got to design our own cars and take a test ride testing out our efficiency, handling, etc.  We learned about animals and did a Wilderness Explorer program at Animal Kingdom.  The list goes on.  Back on the water now the learning continues.  We went back to school today after a week off from the paper and pencil books but Ben would call us upstairs to watch the dolphins swimming in our wake and the jellyfish floating past the boat as we traveled.  I can’t wait to see where else this adventure takes us and what else the girls learn.  So even though I worry about writing papers and proper grammar I have to hope that the amazing other knowledge they are taking in will balance that out.

I have no idea what the proper name of this waterway is.  I’ve read and heard it called all three of the above.  The charts on Ben’s plotters say Tombigbee Waterway.  The guide books have a slash situation like I typed above.  Whatever it is, it’s the water from Pickwick Lake down to Mobile Bay and we are almost done with it!

I’m going to try to get back on track with regular posts.  I said I would after my last crazy long post and now it’s been another couple of weeks.  But in that time we’ve been crazy busy again. Who knew traveling and being on a year long pseudo vacation could be so exhausting!

Ben’s parents met us in Decatur, AL Saturday night the 15th.  We had a busy visit with them with not so much boating.  We decided to stay on the Tennessee River and Pickwick Lake during their visit because we knew as soon as we turned south it was just lock after lock with not much to see and not many places to go.  We spent Sunday the 16th at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville.  I’ll spare you more pictures and details since the girls both wrote blog posts about that already!  We learned a lot and had a great time!

Monday morning Nikki drove to our next stop in Florence, AL and we met her there on the boat.  Only about 40 miles on the water but we had two locks to clear including the 93 foot Wilson Lock.  We figured Fred would enjoy that segment of the trip so he rode on the boat with us.  The next morning we toured a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Florence before heading to Grand Harbor marina on Pickwick Lake.  Molly wrote a crazy in depth description of the house that I told her I’d type for her in a blog post so I will again spare the details here.  It was a beautiful house and I was thrilled with how much the kids enjoyed it!  After lunch at the marina restaurant we headed out.  Nikki rode with us this time and Fred drove and met us near Iuka, MS at Grand Harbor marina.

Pulling into Grand Harbor on Pickwick Lake

We spent Wednesday touring Shiloh.  4th grade at the girls’ school at home does an IB unit on slavery and the Civil War.  It could not be more perfect for this trip.  We were able to tour Point Park and learn about the Battles of Chattanooga there and now Shiloh, one of the most famous Civil War battlefields.  The museum was great, but the movie was too much for the girls.  Incredibly informative but way too violent and after both had heads buried in my laps begging to leave I took them out before it was over.  We loved looking at the exhibit on women during the war while the movie finished up.  I was impressed at how much Madelyn got out of it and actually remembered. And I learned a lot too.  My knowledge of history is appallingly bad.  So I’m learning with them.  Fred took beautiful fall pictures of the girls while at the park. We walked through the military cemetery there and did much of the driving tour around the grounds.

After Shiloh we went to Abe’s for lunch on the recommendation of fellow loopers.  Fantastic old lunch counter restaurant.  Best burger I’ve had in ages.  Chocolate chip cookies and the mother, father and son who run it were amazing.  But we were told breakfast was not to be missed so we came back Friday for breakfast!  Thursday night Ben and I got out for a date night!  We had a great dinner in very adorable downtown Corinth and then had an awesome date night trip to Walmart and Dollar Tree.  It was just like being in Chicago!  But truly…dinner was fabulous!  Walmart was Walmart.  And I just wanted to grab some flash cards from Dollar Tree for the girls.

Friday morning Fred and Nikki packed up.  We all went to Corinth together and headed to Abe’s for an amazing breakfast and then to the Corinth Interpretive Center. Shiloh was great.  But I LOVED Corinth.  This museum, also run by the National Parks, was incredible.  Molly was engaged and reading everything and really interested in everything she saw. We learned a lot about slaves and there were huge interactive maps so she could clearly see the division of states and slavery, see the railroads and how they were taken, see where the armies each advanced from, see which states first seceded from the union, etc.  We also learned a lot about the camp set up in Corinth for freed slaves who formed a community with school, church, various jobs, housing etc.  They were safe there behind Union lines.  And one thing I found interesting…at the museum in Corinth the Union army was only referred to as the United States Army. The Confederates still the Confederate Army.  Corinth was also home to the huge medical response for the battles at Shiloh. Molly was able to read about and listen to recordings from nurses who were there and we learned that as many people perished there in the 7 weeks after the battle as died in the battle…roughly 23,000 in each place. Such a loss of life.  Hard for a 9 year old to grasp.  To finish our tour off, there was a great outdoor exhibit with various stepping stones for the various amendments.  Molly was shocked to hear how late it was when women could finally vote.

Time for another goodbye.  Fred and Nikki headed home and we headed to the marina and pulled out to begin our trek south.  This is our last leg before salt water!  And tomorrow we’ll be there.  It’s been a LONG week.  We just went about 37 miles Friday afternoon and stopped just before the first lock. This leg of the river has 12 locks.  We cleared 7 on Saturday.  Beautiful day.  Right through them all.  Easy peasy. Then we pulled into an anchorage written up as an ox bow with good depth all the way around.  And promptly hit a sand bar and were completely stuck.  We’d been traveling with two other boats that day.  We pulled in first. The second tried to help us and got stuck.  The third pulled them out.  The amazing tug driver going past helped over the radio with advice and stopped and lit us all up with his spotlights for quite awhile.  Such wonderful people on the water.  Our companion boats went down river a bit and anchored and we stayed for the night stuck. They came back the next morning to pull us out.  Ironically the third boat got stuck and boat 2 had to pull them out.  And then some fisherman going past helped Ben pass lines to the third boat all while boat 2 filmed the whole thing.  The captain of Seascape is a professional photographer and he got some great shots of the freeing of our boat as well as a movie of it.  Cutie Me & V, who isn’t doing the loop but has been so wonderful to travel with this week, rescued us.  We met them at 7 AM the day before in our first lock of the day.  Seascape and Cutie Me & V didn’t have to come back and help.  But they did!  We were on our way with a VERY bad prop.  Ben’s been running on one engine the entire rest of the way down river.  We anchored Sunday night further upriver from everyone else because we were afraid of depth so we picked a good and deep place with cows in a field and a farmhouse in the distance on the bank.  We all caught up in Demopolis Monday night.

Tuesday and Wednesday mornings we’ve been up and moving before sunrise to catch the last two locks before the tows get there.  They are stuck in the fog but if our group can all get there they put us through.  The three of us boats made it to Bobby’s Fish Camp last night.  The others we left Demopolis with were moving slower (even though we’ve been going so slow for us!) and didn’t make it that far.  We all left Bobby’s in the dark this morning and went through our LAST lock for many many months!  I haven’t minded the locks much at all except when it fouls schedule and we wait for hours.  This stretch of 12 has been amazing. In and out for every one of them.

Tonight we are anchored in the Tensas River.  Tomorrow we will travel the last 40 miles into Mobile Bay and enter the Gulf!  Wow!  It’s kind of amazing to think that we took our boat from Chicago all the way to the salt water.  With our kids!  Just think how amazing it will be to say that we made it to Cuba and the Bahamas (hopefully!!).  The boat is going to a shop in Gulf Shores for some much needed repairs and to get a bunch of stuff done before salt water cruising. Ben can do a blog on that.  We plan to spend a couple of days in Mobile and Gulf Shores and then we will pack (yikes!) and rent a car and head to Destin to stay with Ben’s aunt and uncle!  Two of his cousins are there and they both have little kids.  We plan to be there for Halloween. The girls are SO EXCITED they will get to trick or treat and see the kiddos.  They have been talking about it nonstop.

Tensas River

I’ll try to be more timely with updates so they aren’t so long.  I know, I said that last time too.  But I’ll try harder this time.  We plan to turn in just after the Cubs game tonight and catch up on sleep.  Ben and I stay up late.  That doesn’t work well with getting up before the sun. We are TIRED.  Alright, off to plan out school for tomorrow.  Madelyn assumed there would be no school next week.  I reminded her she’s being home schooled and school will be coming with us.  Ben’s aunt is a teacher…she’d expect nothing less!  However I’ve been keeping in touch with school back home and it looks like in a few weeks when we go to Disney we can safely take a few days off of school and have a little fall break.  Yay!

Florida here we come!

I have gotten way behind on posting!  I’m going to try to catch up tonight.

Highlight reel:

1. Chattanooga was fabulous!
2. I turned 40
3. Lots of visitors
4. I get eaten by mosquitoes every time I go outside after 5 pm
5. I don’t like fishing and don’t think I ever will
6. We still aren’t ready for family bike rides
7. Fall in the south is beautiful, warm, and southern hospitality is amazing

I know Ben already posted about some of this and the girls wrote about a bunch of it in their blog (http://www.mandmsgreatloop.com) so I won’t repeat, but want to say quickly how great it was to have my mom and Jim come for a day and the Burnetts for a full week.  Our visit to Chattanooga was wonderful….as everyone told us it would be.  The leaves started to change, the southern charm is evident everywhere and we had dear friends with us the entire time!  Kathy and the girls stayed with us for 8 nights and Jack was able to join for the weekend.  We did a lot of exploring.  We took the free Electric Shuttle through town and got off at the Chattanooga Choo Choo.  We explored the grounds looked in the train cars, read about the history and checked out the hotel lobby.

Chattanooga Choo Choo!

Even though we’ve had guests, we’ve done our best with homeschooling.  Thankfully this past week, the Burnett girls were homeschooling as well.  We did more some days than others but did try to stay on task a bit.

Time for math!

We also studied up on Civil War history a bit.  We spent Saturday at Lookout Mountain.  We took the Incline Railway up the side of the mountain.  I was terrified.  I hate heights and this car literally goes up the side of the mountain at an incredible slant.  One saving grace (since there were windows all the way around and in the entire ceiling) was a recording playing over a loudspeaker with facts and history about the railway the entire ride.  I listened and took it all in….and don’t remember much of any of it because I was only paying attention so I wouldn’t freak out!  I think climbing out of the car and over the threshold, and then back in the same way, were the worst parts.  The top of the incline is a 72.7% grade – and the car stays at the grade as you climb in and out.  Yikes.

No words….

Once on Lookout Mountain we took the girls to see a 3D movie/large diorama of the Battles of Chattanooga.  My knowledge of history is terrible.  But Molly’s school at home covers an IB unit on Civil War and Slavery and we are immersed in it here!  Such great learning opportunities.  The movie was great and taught us a lot about some of the most important battles during the war.  Then we walked over to Point Park to see where the Battle in the Clouds took place.  It’s a National Park.  And this smart mom knew that 4th graders and their families get in for free…however I didn’t know that we had to print the pass ahead of time.  Not a big deal, but we know for next time…Shiloh Military Park next week!  Anyway, we got to see a reenactment of a cannon being fired, see the grounds where the battle took place and see the lookout down to the river.  And no one fell over the edge despite my concerns.  Friends of ours were on top of the mountain a few days earlier and got pictures of our boat on the Tennessee River in the gorge below.  The river is so beautiful and to see a picture of our boat from above is pretty neat.

That white speck is our boat

Sunday I turned 40!  It’s the first birthday that has given me any pause, however what a great year I have ahead.  Pretty good way to ring in 40.  We had a very chill day.  Kathy and I took a long walk along the Chattanooga riverfront and through the historic Bluff Arts district.  Then we took the boat out on Lake Chickamauga to anchor and swim for the afternoon.  Ron Durchin gave us a spectacular bottle of champagne as a Bon Voyage gift in August.  We decided my bday was a good day to crack it open.  Thanks Ron!

We managed to find a wonderful babysitter on Sittercity to watch the kids Sunday night.   We went to a place right by the marina called Easy and had a pretty awesome meal.  And Ben managed to get into my email, find the sitter’s phone number, text her and ask her to pick up a Dairy Queen cake for me.  Fun surprise….it’s my favorite!!!  All around fabulous day and such a fun night.  And with Kathy’s birthday this Saturday and Jack’s 40th in November it was cause for celebration.

Monday we headed back west on the Tennessee River.  We anchored Monday night after a very long wait for a lock.  Making lemonade out of lemons, we spent the long wait anchored and swimming at Shell Mound and had a lovely time.  Tuesday we made it back to Goose Pond and it was time to say goodbye.  Kathy had a 10.5 hour drive without stops ahead of her and we somehow convinced her it would be best to start that early in the morning, not at 1 pm.  So, they stayed!  We spent the afternoon fishing and taking a dinghy ride…two things the girls had been wanting to do that we hadn’t found time for yet so it was perfect.  I got a hook stuck in my finger.  Awesome.  Molly got a hook out of a fish’s mouth.  I wouldn’t touch it!  Fishing is not my thing.  Walked across the parking lot to dinner and bam…6 new mosquito bites.  None for anyone else. Just me!

But alas Wednesday morning came.  Goodbyes and tears.  So thankful to have such amazing friends (and family!) who came so far to see us.  Kathy had a grueling 12.5 hour drive home through some torrential rain and traffic, solo with three kids in the car.  Meanwhile the fall colors and blue skies and warm sun persisted here in Scottsboro, AL.  We spent the day at the Unclaimed Baggage store in town and catching up on housekeeping here.  After 4 girls sleeping in the bunk room for 8 nights we felt we needed to wash and air everything out a bit!  They had so much fun.  And a note on that southern hospitality – at Unclaimed Baggage the lady at the front desk approached me and asked if we are the family doing the boat trip.  The wonderful folks at Goose Pond Marina called them and told them we were coming and told them about our trip.  She said she’s so impressed at what we are doing with the kids and wanted to offer us complimentary lunch in their café.  Just one example of the people here!

Family bike ride this morning. We’ve taken two of them.  First in Alton it was too hot.  Today in AL it was too hilly.  Now….it was about a million degrees in Alton but Ben and I went anyway and didn’t complain.  And today was really hilly…I had to get off and walk once and almost did a few other times.  But the fall here is amazing.  I’ve always loved fall.  The trees are gorgeous, the weather changes a bit.  This year I’ve discovered I LOVE the fall in the south!  It’s cool in the 50s at night so open windows and no AC.  But it’s 80 and sunny during the day.  Shorts and flip flops still.  Pine needles on the ground, beautiful scenery and warm sunshine.

Ben’s parents join us Sunday! We’ve been hanging out in Scottsboro cleaning, catching up on a lot we got behind on last week, boat work (oil changes etc.).  We’ll leave tomorrow morning and go to an anchorage or a town wall and then make our way to Ditto Landing on Saturday.  It’s near Huntsville and Ben’s parents will meet us there.  We plan to go to the space center all day Monday.  And then Tuesday we’ll make our way back to Pickwick Lake.  Likely backtrack to Florence, AL or close to there and then the rest of the way back on Wednesday to Grand Harbor.  Thursday we hope to spend a full day at Shiloh Military Park.  We’ve read great things about it and plan to take in the history and continue learning.  Ben’s parents will head home sometime on Friday and then Saturday we will turn south and start heading for Mobile!

If you’ve made it this far I thank you.  It was a lot to catch up on.

Laura

We left Nashville Sunday morning with a group of six boats all heading for Hendersonville, TN to take our friends Tim and Carol from Liquid Assets home.  What a fabulous homecoming they had. And we feel so special that they included us in the celebration.  Bitter sweet to be sure.  We met them on Day 2 in Joliet and have traveled with them every day since.  We got to meet their friends and family.  Everyone welcomed the group of great loopers with open arms. The southern hospitality is so clear around here.  Their sweet neighbor told the kids to come on over and jump right in her pool.

Monday we tackled school first thing and then Tim took us to a great place on the water for lunch.  We pulled up and docked the boat and hopped off to eat. Then we took a boat ride to see Old Hickory Lake and anchored and swam for a long time in the 85 degree water.  Houses along the water are beautiful.

Tuesday night Tim took us, Mike and Cathy from Trawler Life and Gabby and John from Crazy Love by boat to the Cherokee restaurant, also on the water.  Great steaks.  I got Maddy to try steak and she liked it.  Tim and Carol’s whole family joined us! Tim’s daughter Megan, her husband and three adorable children (who Molly and Maddy loved playing with!), Carol’s son Jason and wife Kathy, Carol’s daughter Cortney, her boyfriend and son Tony (who Maddy swam with for hours!), Carol’s sister and her dad.  We had a big group!

Wednesday morning was tough.  We haven’t had to say goodbye since we left Chicago and this was a hard one.  Tim and Carol took us under their wing from Joliet on and we will miss them and their dog Benji immensely.  They saw us off after some teary hugs and goodbyes and we were on our way back to Nashville.  They promise they will come see us in Florida.  Maddy asked last night how fast we can get to Florida to see them again.  Lonely running by ourselves today!  But I digress…yesterday we continued on with Trawler Life and Crazy Love.  We stopped in Nashville as they continued on a bit further.

Yesterday after a VERY TRYING morning with school we got off the boat and took an uber to Marathon Motor Works.  Cool old area with a lot of history.  Antique Archaeology is there…store with items found on Antique Roadshow.  So we poked around there for a bit and looked the old cars on display in the Marathon Motor building.  Then took an uber back to Broadway.  We walked through Tootsie’s to check it out and then went to the Johnny Cash museum.  The museum was great.  Maddy was not.  But so it goes!  Anyway, the rest of us enjoyed it and looked at a lot of very interesting things, old letters, part of a stone wall from his house on Old Hickory Lake that burned down (which we got to see by boat with Tim!), etc and of course lots of good music throughout.  We stopped and had some Hot Chicken for dinner…but no not from Hattie’s….was still good though!

This morning we needed a free morning to explore.  The water pump on the ice maker broke yesterday so Ben tackled fixing that and I took the girls and their scooters up to the park path right next to the river where we were docked.  We scootered and jogged around the Titan’s stadium and then into Cumberland Park.  So glad we finally had time to explore!  The girls had a great time  Rope swings and rock climbing built into the walls, neat other features and slides, etc.  While playing and exhausting themselves we ran into another mom with 4 kids.  She asked if we are home schooling and I said yes.  She is as well.  They have moved around a lot and her husband does interior design and outfitting for restaurants, fashion shows, etc.  She mentioned they were going for lunch and it’s her birthday and would we like to join.  Best thing about not having a schedule?  Why not?  Still in my gross running clothes?  Oh well!  So, we went across the big pedestrian bridge once more and had a great lunch with them.  We pulled out of Nashville a little after 2 pm and are hoping to make it to Clarksville, TN tonight.  Late start for boating but well worth it to have a free morning. Downside…just starting school now!  Hopefully we’ll get through it quickly today.

We’ll head to Green Turtle Bay for a few days tomorrow again in part for an oil change and some other things and then head south next week on Kentucky Lake for a few days to explore.  We’ll take our time heading south to the Tennessee River. Hoping we will be in a location that crosses paths with my mom and Jim next Sunday Oct. 2nd as they drive home from my cousin’s wedding.  Want to give a big shout out to Michael and Addi who are getting married Saturday!  We are so sorry we won’t be there with you to celebrate!  Then as we get onto the Tennessee river Kathy, Livia, Claudia and Sabina are coming!!!!!  I’ve told the girls less than TWO WEEKS!  They are ecstatic.  So are we!  Planning to spend a handful of days in Chattanooga with them and Jack for the weekend.  We are celebrating my and Jack’s 40th bdays!  And then after that visit Ben’s parents are coming for a week!  Will be so much fun to have friends and family joining us.

Alright, back to teaching…

Laura

We left Green Turtle Bay this morning…although we’ll be back next weekend for a few more days before heading south.  The weather has been hot and sunny so yesterday we decided to give the girls a day off from school.  Yep, one week in and we’re taking a day off.  I’ve fully adopted the “they will be fine” attitude.  I met a number of people at Green Turtle Bay, and multiple that home school or have home schooled!  Got some tips on some good resources and heard some success stories from some fellow boaters who home schooled.  All very reassuring.

A couple of days ago we went back to the cove we visited last Sunday.  The water was 83 degrees and we had a lily pad, noodle, swimming afternoon.  It was great.  Benji loved the lily pad and took a hike up the rocks.

Ben and the girls swam over to a rope swing, climbed the rocks and went off time after time.

Yesterday on our day off we went into town on our golf cart, played some mini-golf (otherwise known as mosquito haven), swam all afternoon, made a great dinner on the boat and got them to bed early.  We had joined Tim and Carol, Cathy and Mike, John and Gabby, Duane and Diane and Tim and Melissa the night before for dinner so the girls had a late night and a pool day was going to be far less work than battling unsuccessfully with overtired children and school work!  We had a great day.

Back to school this morning.  A bit of a chopped up day however, and we’re learning to go with the flow on schedule.  We had about 25 miles on Lake Barkley this morning so we went fast which isn’t conducive to school.  I was able to get some work done on my laptop while the girls played below.  Then we played a little Life and then I decided to pause the game and get working on school.  Maddy asked to do some Spanish today.  We sang some songs and worked on Greetings and Goodbyes.  I’m still quite intimidated about tackling Spanish with the girls and am thankful for help from their Pulaski teachers.  Then we finished the book we’ve been reading together. They are working on book reports now.  I found some great forms online to use as guides.  Molly actually didn’t complain when I told her she had to do more of it than Maddy.  She’s fast at work.  Maddy is not complaining today but it’s like someone gave her a sugar IV and she’s off the wall!  Focus not our strong suit today!  But better than last week’s whining I suppose.  Reading and Math after this and we’ll call it a day.

Heading to Clarskville for the night tonight and will be in Nashville by tomorrow.  We will stay in Nashville for the weekend.  Until next time….