Tag: Pool

Home, Sweet Home … For Now

Home, Sweet Home … For Now

heartswelladventures

We bought our RV and SUV a few days before little-dude joined our family. We decided to take a small break from moving to adjust to being a family of four and allow me time to heal from child birth. 

Two weeks ago, we talked with our Realtor and are getting the house ready to sell. Which means we need a place to put the RV. After some research we found a cute place close to the house so we could be nearby while we sell the house and move into the RV. 

The actual trip to the RV resort was nerve racking for me – this made it real. Everything’s been abstract for months but actually seeing the resort made it real. And I have to admit, I’m still nervous. This is such a drastic change from what I’m used to. 

However, I’m also kinda excited – the resort is walking distance to parks, restaurants, and much more. Now we will have the opportunity to get out more as a family. 

It took some time to get the RV here as the place we bought it from kept “losing” our moving information. Thankfully, we managed to get the RV to it’s new home a few days ago.

We now have about half our stuff in the RV and spent our first official night. So far, so good. We still have some work to do, but it’s getting there.

Lessons Learned: The Sail Boat

heartswelladventures

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One of the main reasons behind our first sailing trip was to test the sail boat itself. We want to make sure that we buy something that will work for us as a family as we travel. For our first adventure we sailed on a 30′ O’day. Here is what we learned:

  • Everything within Reach: Many of the ropes and instruments were out of reach of the person at the helm, which meant that this boat needed to people to sail it. Unfortunately, I was with Colby most of the time and couldn’t always help Damon with the sailing.

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  • Navigation: On this particular boat, most of the instruments we either out of date, not working, or not within reach of the wheel. For our boat we want to have all of our tools within reach of the captain to make sailing easier.

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  • Head room: Damon is 6’1 and pretty sure mini-man is going to be taller than him someday. They will both need a lot more head room than this boat provided.
  • Organization: This boat did not have a lot of storage, which made it difficult to put things away or to find them.
  • Layout: There was a table in the middle of the living space, which made it difficult to maneuver around. Then there were two beds – one at the front and one at the back, Both were cramped and not conducive to sleeping or privacy.
  • Air Conditioning!: Traveling in the south, it can get very hot. We got trapped motoring down a river with no wind which made it very uncomfortable for us and mini-man. For days when we are motoring, air conditioning will be amazing!
  • Shade: It can get pretty hot/cold/wet at the helm. A nice covering will make it easier to steer for long periods of time

I think we learned a lot from this first trip together. The biggest thing we learned? We don’t need a single boat for our whole adventure. We think it will be best to get one boat for cruising North America and a different boat when we head to Europ.  We are planning a long get away in October when mini-man is a little older. We shall see what lessons this trip brings.

Preparations: Learning to Swim

Preparations: Learning to Swim

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A big part of sailing takes place on the water (I know – DUH! – right!?!). So part of preparing for our big adventure is seeing if mini-man likes the water. If he didn’t, it could derail our plans to sail around the world.

I grew up  in San Diego and have always loved being in the water. Hoping that mini-man inherited my love of the water, we took him to the pool.

Colby First Swim

I wasn’t too optimistic, he is only three months after all. At most, I had hoped to get his feet in the water. I was nervous with him being so young that he might not  do well or that he may need lessons in order to be in the water.  What happened blew me away.

Over the next hour, mini-man went from having his feet in the water to full on swimming. At one point, we put him in his life preserver to see if it would help him, but it only held him back. As you can see in the video, he had the time of his life and the only thing holding him back was us (I’m not quite ready to let him put his head under the water). He played for hours in the water and by the time we got home he was worn out.

We have since moved his bath into the tub with one of us so he can kick and swim to his hearts delight (and bonus – it tires him out very fast!).

I am beyond thrilled that mini-man loves to be in the water. This puts us one step closer to our sailing dreams.