Winter 2013-2014

Its been a busy winter for us this year.  We thought we would be enjoying it from a nice warm place, but instead we were home in Idaho.  The kids loved it.  They loved playing with their friends day after day.  And they loved the snow.  It snowed a ton this year, so it was a good winter to be home.  The kids built snow forts and had snow battles, and generally played in the snow every day.  The kids loved it which was good for me, because I was stuck in bed, terribly sick most of the winter.  We are expecting baby #7, a little girl, and that first trimester was difficult for me this time around.  Glad to have those few months over.

Finally after 8 months, David decided, maybe he should fly out and see what’s going on with the boat after all.  I had suggested it a few times, but he had no interest until the amount of possible repairs started climbing and climbing, and we thought maybe we should move the boat to a different, more capable boatyard.  So he came out to the boat, expecting to stay 7-10 days, and was there for 3 weeks.  The repairs needed were not nearly what the yard had us thinking.  So it was good he came out to inspect.  So with the needed repairs done, it just meant, paint and finish the bottom and get her back in the water.  But here in the islands, work sometimes takes much much longer.  And the mess ups with the work quality just kept mounting.  So 3 weeks later, David fired the yard, and hired a sub contractor to finish the painting needed.  He left St. Lucia, to fly home,  with the promise of the sub to have the work done and the boat in the water in 10 days time.  11 days later the boat was in the water and docked at the marina.  Good for us, because we were flying in the next day, kids, dog, and all, and I was not staying on a boat on the hard. 

The last few days have been spent unpacking, stocking supplies and food, and checking out the systems and fixing what is needed to get us underway.  Hopefully, with good weather, we will leave St Lucia and head south to the Grenadines in a day or two.

In an attempt to make a quick run to the market, David pulled our little motor scooter off the boat, onto the dock.  He was making sure it would stay running and revved the engine up, as he usually does…  except this time the scooter came off its kickstand, and lurched into the water next to the dock.  Woops!  It sank to the bottom 16 feet below, while David stripped off his clothes and jumped in to save the floating foam seat.  After a couple of days sitting in the salt water, David decided to give it to the sub who painted the boat.  He was happy to have a friend fetch the scooter from its depths and accept the salt watered scooter in exchange for his tip.  We rarely used the scooter, and it came free with the boat when we purchased it, so we were able to laugh off this experience. 

We were lucky to find a new nanny on such short notice to travel with us for the next few months.  She is the friend of the last nanny we hired, who was hoping to spend the fall with us on the boat, until the repairs kept us home for fall.  Our new nanny is Melinda, and she is from Utah. She has been great with the kids and is excited for the adventures that lie ahead. 

We were quite the circus in flying to the boat this time.  Not only did it take us a long time to get here, we ended up bringing our 80 lbs dog on the airplane with us.  We had hoped to check her as baggage, but if the weather is warmer than 85 degrees at any airport you fly thru, than they won’t allow animals to travel.  And for that day, the weather in St. Lucia was 85 degrees.  So we put on her service animal vest and brought her on the airplane.  She did really well, just curled up under the seats of the little 2 kids and laid down for each flight.  But getting on and off the airplanes and walking thru the airports, 6 kids and a dog, we looked like quite a show.