Up a creek, Memorial Day 2012

After opening the pool Saturday we had great afternoon of sailing, destination Trippe Creek near Oxford, MD. We dropped the hook, grilled some dinner, and cleared the transom for an evening swim! It was so great!

Sunday the kids woke early to fish with Dad, catching a few small stripers. A long dinghy ride took us into Oxford for some playing at a park, lunch at Schooner's, and ice cream. A lazy afternoon at the boat gave way to a ton of swimming! K and I even took several leaps from the bow! Trippe Creek was definitely nice.

To top it all off we had another amazing day of sailing on the bay. We even made it back in time to enjoy the pool and a poolside dinner! Such a great weekend...do we really have to work tomorrow?

Happy start of summer!

Yesterday the kids and I had a day off of school and work, so we took that opportunity to go shopping for a great Father's Day gift for dad. And seeing as it's hard to hide a really cool gifts in a small house for three weeks, we decided to give it to him this morning! His new skateboard is the best!

The pool opens today at 10 o'clock so of course we'll be there! After a little swim, the underway part of the weekend begins. :)

VOR Miami Stopover

We left very early Saturday morning to experience the only North American stopover of the 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race. It was, in a word, AWESOME! We headed straight to the beach to watch the in-port race only to realize we'd forgotten to pack binos. A search of local stores came up empty, but we did meet some nice Canadians, Peter and Roy, who shared with us! We had the Livestream coverage of the race going on the iPad so together we had it all covered! Post-race we checked into our hotel (which was a short walk from the race village!) and headed back to see the boats. So cool! And we were just walking around mere feet away from the skippers and crew. Rain started coming down during the awards ceremony, but that couldn't dampen our spirits, especially mine--I got a photo with Mike Pammenter of the Camper crew!!! Diner and a pitcher of mojitos really got us going! The village was cool! We compete on the grinders, did the sailing simulator, saw a 3-d movie, and shopped for Puma gear. We even got to go down to the dock to see the Camper and Puma boats up close.

The excitement continued Sunday as we hit the race village for the departure ceremony. It's tough to really explain the energy and excitement of the scene. Watching the crews say goodbye to their families tugged at my heart. My accomplishment of the morning was using my big mouth to get Groupamma skipper Franck Cammas to turn and wave at me. :). Miami sent the teams off in style. After a little more shopping we returned to the beach to sweat out the race start. Even the iPad overheated! The race is close as the teams head out across the Atlantic and I'm ready to get home and see my babies!

When mom's away...

Everyone plays! I'm away at training this week and there is much excitement at home! Today I caught a glimpse of an email that stated our propeller would ship...eh? Propeller? The Captain has been shopping! He also set up for a haul out, bottom paint, and repair of the mast. But it hasn't all been work! Just to spice things up we had a "man in the water" incident! Trent was looking at some horseshoe crabs under the dock and went a little too far! He's fine, but one of his favorite toys, an old iPhone loaded with games, was a loss. Never a dull moment!

Happy Mother's Day

There is no better gift than getting away with your family! We got underway Saturday morning with no real destination in mind. With less than 2 kts of wind in the bay we ended up motoring (and fishing!) to San Domingo Creek, which I like to think of as the back door to St. Michael's. We easily made our way into town for some treats then walked along a path to a park we had never visited. It was great! We even managed to grab a few geo-caches. Back at the boat we had an awesome dinner of blue cheese burgers on the grill. Then the kids got really crazy and decided to go swimming in the very cold water! Truly a wonderful evening.

Today I relaxed while breakfast was made, and we had some great sailing back across the bay! We had a lovely walk around the marina, then let Papa John's cook while we watched "Captain Ron". I am one happy momma. :)

Friday!!!!

What a week! So happy to get home, make some Captain & Cokes, and hang out on the beach with the most important people in the world. Today is Military Spouse Appreciation Day, and I am so appreciative of my spouse today and every day!

U dock rocks

With the warmer weather, the return of old friends, and the addition of new friends, U dock gathered for dinner and drinks. As always, such a great time. I love this neighborhood!

Nice rack!

Had to get your attention! My latest project is actually a result of the cushion project. New fabric near the coffee maker made me want to move the coffee maker, which caused me to want to move the coffee stash, which then required me to move the spices. Are you following me? I decided to go with a custom (what boat job isn't custom??) magnetic spice rack. Still need to test it in seas, but I'm quite happy with the look of it!