Just a Kiss

Slowly life on board is returning to normal.Everything is finding its place on board and we are all falling back into a routine.

Homeschooling started in full force on Monday. Amelia and I have had a tough few days trudging through Algebraic equations. Yuck. She learns best when we move through the lesson together and do the examples together and then she does the final test questions on her own. It isn't a walk in the park though. The material is hard and we both get frustrated and tired and grumpy with ourselves and each other. The end result is always good but it is one heck of a mountain to climb.

Today once she was finished her test questions, she switched gears and started her grade 9 art course. I couldn't help but laugh as she exclaimed from my room, "OMG Mom this whole course is about drawing and making things! I love this course." I laughed to myself and thought, "Yes you do not have to be a mathematician there is a whole other world out there!"

So now she is still happily singing and drawing and designing in my room and I am happily sitting at the kitchen table doing my own thing. Oh how I love Art. LOL

We took Salty Ginger off the dock yesterday. Always a bit nerve racking moving on and off the dock for us. We got away, stopped and got gas and motored off through the channel with no problems though with Graham at the helm. What a feeling. Felt like a christening. This was the first time that Salty Ginger felt the ocean move beneath her hull.

All along the channel on the wall there were old French fishermen in their blue fishing pants with their grey sweaters and their bicycles next to them with their tackle boxes, fishing. I definitely need to get a picture. It is exactly how you are picturing in your mind. For some reason it made me feel good to see them. I so wish I could speak French and get to know some of these people....ok back to the sail. It was a beautiful day with blue sky and gorgeous french town with a picturesque wrap around beach as the back drop. Wind was perfect for a trial but unfortunately once we had finished calibrating all the new instruments on Salty Ginger, which basically involved driving around in very large circles with no sails up for a couple hours, it was getting late. We only had a few moments to pull out the main and basically bring her back in, so for now the sail will have to wait for tomorrow!
The drive back up the channel went fine and then we get back to our slip (dock spot). We thought we would try backing in, since the boat seemed so easy to maneuver....ummm not as easy as it seemed though.....abort, abort, abort. Ok, time to go bow first in but unfortunately Graham brought her straight in and we were to far away from either dock on either side to jump, so Salty Ginger kissed the dock up front....her "official christening"! Finally Alex decided to just leap for it and then I finally leaped (ok yes I took to long to get off) and we all worked for way to long to get her tied up. Needless to say each day is an experience and we learn. All in all it went pretty well though and I am so grateful that I get to have these crazy, fun, high energy moments with 3 people who I love so much! We will get better at this and we get to do it together.
....ps Afterthoughts...we are all just sitting here having happy hour trying to decide whose fault it was..lol...thought you might enjoy this...

Graham, "First of all it is just a kiss and can be fixed with a bit of polish. Secondly, if Mom had just let Alex leap off the boat he could of stopped Salty from kissing the dock"

Amelia, "I should have told Dad that we were going to touch"(she was at the bow)

Alex, "If Mom had let me jump I probably could of stopped the boat"

Mom, "Ok, even if I had let Alex jump he was only thinking of grabbing a line and we found that there wasn't a cleat for him to wrap the line. He wasn't thinking of running to the front and stopping the boat."

Kids, "Picture mom dangling her feet over the side of the boat trying to touch the dock and Alex leaping over her."...they say as they laugh uncontrollably

Ebbs and Flows

Ok, so if anyone ever asks you if it is possible to decide to buy a boat and move to France within 4 months you can tell them yes....but there is a cost to your mental and physical health! Why is it that we always seem to have to endure pain for gain and tell me this...why does it seem that we (being The Perry's) seem to have made these ebbs and flows of pain and gain, our "normal"? and why...I ask you why....do I always forget the pain so quickly. It seems to wash off me like water but in the moment I am asking myself "WTH"!

Well let me tell you this past month has been filled with loads of these "wth" moments. You might of thought I was a workaholic before well August took me to new heights as I tried to wrapped up the two contracts I was working on. Luckily the kids were out west and Graham was here in France readying the boat, so there were no distractions. Graham arrived home the evening of the 24th of August and we gave ourselves two days to pack and move out of our house. Then for the past few weeks we have been living out of duffle bags between Toronto and Alberta as we prepared our lives for this next journey and attended my little sisters wedding.

Finally everything was done and the four of us were once again together and at my brothers condo packing our lives into duffle bags to bring to the boat. We have done this type of packing 5 times now, where you bring as much as you can within your limits on plane and that's it. The rest of the stuff stays behind. This time though...I had a funny thought cross my mind..."Why don't we just pay for a couple extra bags?"....I tried running this thought by the captain and his response was that we were each allowed a second 20lb carry on and a purse or handbag and that this should be considered a second bag for each of us. So we had 4 * 50lb duffle bags, 4*20lbs duffle bags and 3 hand bags. Keep in mind that many of these bags were filled with boat parts and even a boat sail! He needs 1 week with a women who wouldn't stand for putting her stuff in a duffle bag, wouldn't be ok with leaving her blowdryer and straightner behind and wouldn't be ok with the one vaccum sealed bag for clothes and then he would see what a catch he has.lol

We landed in France with all these bags and the fun or should I say "Pain" ensued. Read Amelia's blog to hear all about it (link to the right). Couple funny points...we get to the car rental place and I ask the fellow to add me as a driver. Graham says, "Thats an extra $39 are you really thinking of driving". I say, "Of course! I am sure I will be running around getting stuff for the boat over the next few days." He says...(in a very grumpy, hasn't slept in 10 hour voice) "Well, you can start with the next 5 hours to our boat". Love it...welcome home....exactly as I left it. LOL. and I think in my head..."Damn straights I will drive because then you can NAVIGATE." Funny thing I learned later that day though is that it doesn`t matter what seat I sit in...I am expected to navigate! Picture us sitting lost in our volkswagon van in downtown Paris in rush hour traffic and not sure what the heck to do. Kids in back seat tired and GP and I in front seat screaming at each other...let the good times roll. Didn't take us long to rebound though. We switched seats I rolled down the window in traffic and took the chance that a fella in hippy van might speak english and luckily he did. He pointed us to the right and Alex confirmed on a map and now nothing left but a 5 hour drive. 2 hours into the drive though, GP and I realized we had to sleep. We pulled over in a highway pullout and fell quickly alseep in our seats. Amelia said at one point she woke up and it was like a strange.."Walking Dead" scene. She said there was no one around and everything was quiet and we were so still, right up until the moment she saw me snore. Well what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and nothing good is suppose to be easy right?

The good is pretty damn good though. Salty Ginger is a proud, gorgeous, curvy, strong,vivacious ginger! I am NOT dissappointed. She is everything I expected and more. Graham did an amazing job getting her ready for us. Due to the hydrovane, bimini, dodger, cushions, and electronics, she does not feel like a factory boat, she feels like a home that could cross oceans and WILL. We have jumped full on back into our old life. The kids started school the next day and we have completed our provisioning of the boat. Everything seems so cheap here. I stocked up our liquor cabinet with 14 bottles of wine, a 26 of gin, rum, glenfiddich and baileys and guess what the total was??   $108. Shocking right!! The promise land.

The plan is to return the rental car tomorrow, do a practice sail on Wednesday and then sail away on Thursday, if the weather is good. OMG....lying if I said I wasn't a wee bit nervous but totally ready to take the helm with Captain Graham. I will try and stay in touch more often now that I should have some free time :-)!

Why Not?

It is now official we are the proud owners of Salty Ginger! A beautiful brand new 2013 Jeanneau 44i. Can somebody pinch me? I just can't believe this drastic dramatic turn of events.

When Graham and I reflect on how the heck we ended up here, when just a few months ago we both were talking about our 6 year plan, we agree that the seed was planted this past January at the 2012 Toronto Boat show. Funny isn't it because this is the place where the four of us first stood on a sailboat in 2006 and now as we toured through boats, we didn't just have big dreams to speak of, we had adventures to tell. It was a great day.

As we looked through boat after boat you could see us trying to imagine what our past adventures would have been like on one of these yachts? Yacht seemed an appropriate title for these homes. We returned home and the seed began to grow...fueled by our thoughts, dreams, aspirations and stories of past adventures.

And then if we had any doubt, Graham and I returned to Mother Ocean in April and helped our friends Dave and Cheryl sail their boat from Cuba to Panama. Any anxiety I may have had or questions in my..."Would I still like sailing?", "Would I remember how?", "Would I be afraid?"...all melted away. I felt more at home on the sea than I did on the land. The seed was now growing like a weed!

A few weeks after our return Graham, Amelia and I were sitting in the living room talking yet again of the adventures we would have in the future, when I said......"Why not now? WHY NOT?" We all decided to not automatically dismiss it and to think about it for a week and come up with our "Why Not" reasons.

Well a week later we realized that there were a few "Why Not" reasons and some of them were definitely show stoppers, such as: (1) convincing Alex to come with us (2) finding someone wonderful to watch our lovable doggie (3) figuring out if we could financially afford a boat and adventure  (4) finishing up work contracts for departure or finding a way to work on board (5) possibly sub letting our house (6) could we homeschool for highschool courses and then come back and have the kids successfully reintegrate...yet again?

So we decided to give ourselves another 2 weeks and divided up the showstoppers and set to work to see if they could be overcome. Within 2 weeks we knew that each issue could be managed but still had a few straggling ends to figure. At the end of the 3rd week it was decided. OMG we were going!

Now the fun begins! Decide on our new boat, work out a great deal, purchase, purchase all the electronics and safety equipment, school registration, house renting, insurance, car storage, banking, doctor visits, prescriptions, first aid kit, dentist (both kids now have braces...adding to the complication), sail plan, etc etc etc...You can imagine how busy it has been. Basically from May to July all of this has happened! It really is shocking and so amazingly exciting. I love being an adult and in charge of my own future. I can head in any direction and do not have to stick to the path. Makes me feel like how it use to feel the first year I got my license and could just go....ok I digress...

So the plan as it currently stands is for all four of us to move on board Salty Ginger (SG) in mid September. She is currently located in France and then the plan is to cross over to the Caribbean before the end of January!!! We would then leave SG and fly home for Feb 1st and the kids would return to school and us to work and reunite with our pooch!

In order to prepare in advance for our arrival and install all of the electronics, etc., today (Aug 1st) Graham fly's to France with our friend Jeremy to prepare our "Yacht" (I love calling it this). We so want to give the kids that moment that never happened last time when we stepped aboard "Artemo" in disarray and said "Welcome to your new home". He is hoping that when we all arrive together on September 15th the boat is picture perfect.....Are my expectations high, you might ask....YUP!

And so begins not the next chapter but book 2 of our adventure now titled "Salty Ginger"! stay tuned for the journey

Stop the Counter

Well it is time to stop the counter at 2139 days. This is how long it has been since this adventure began, since we left our home in Lacombe and moved to the big city of Toronto to learn how to sail. Can you believe I am actually at a loss for words?

We have arrived back at our home in Lacombe and it is so strange to be back at the beginning. All of our "things" are just as we remember. Funny how they just seem like things now. I guess this happens when you live without them for so long. We feel like we are in a bit of a time warp but we are thoroughly enjoying it. My favorite thing is my king size pillow top bed.

Everyone seems so excited to see us and I feel like a bit of a let down. None of us are quite sure how to describe this journey in a conversation. There just doesn't seem to be the words. Everyone does seem to ask, "How could you do it?" and "Weren't you scared?" and it is funny because I am always reminded of a day with my niece Sarah in Red Deer, Alberta. I actually wrote a blog about it and it still remains my favorite blog post. I think it sums up exactly "How we were able to do it!". I have decided to post it as my final blog below.

Thank you to everyone who has followed our adventures. It always touched my heart to hear that so many of you were enjoying reading along. I loved it. It would be great if you have been reading if you can leave your name as a comment on this final post. It will be a nice log for us of everyone who crossed the ocean with us.

Words escape me....enjoy the post below and don't forget.....BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW AND THEN CHEW IT!!

Julie

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2008

Finding your inner strength

This story happened a few days ago but it really signified for me how we each need to find that little piece of something inside that drives us to overcome our fears and challenge ourselves.

Mom, Graham and I, my sisters five kids and our two kids, headed out for a picnic at the Discovery Canyon. Discovery Canyon is a little man made river and beach that kids tube down. When we got there mom and I quickly figured out that it was going to be a bit of an exhausting day. One of us needed to walk up to the start of the river with the kids and the tubes and the other needed to wait at the bottom at the beach and watch the two littlest ones (Joe 3 and Mandy 5). Now Alex and Zac were up and gone and of course needed no assistance. Amelia and Katie were also self sufficient. The problem was that Sarah needed a little bit of help in certain parts of the river. Mom or I would need to enter the river and give her a push in the right direction or help her out of a bind at various points. Not fun, so after quite a few runs, I asked Graham to take a shift going up with the girls.

After a few minutes I looked up the river and could see Graham standing on the side. From my vantage point I couldn't see Sarah but I knew he must be looking at her. He didn't look angry but right away I knew that he had decided that if she wanted to tube the river she was going to need to do it herself. Part of me wanted to run up there and smack him and tell him to get in there and help her but part of me also wondered if maybe his approach was the right one.

Amelia and Katie made it down the river and walked back up to the point where Sarah was stuck and Graham was standing. Graham told me later that they both begged him to enter the river and help Sarah down. Graham wasn't budging. Finally after a while, Sarah realized she couldn't do it and got out and climb up to where Graham was. She began to cry and Graham and her started walking back. She was walking behind Graham. I felt so bad but I thought better not to focus on it. I went to the picnic blanket and called everyone for lunch and mass chaios began, "Who wanted ham?..." ...."This sandwhich has mustard on it..."..."Where's my juice..." and then I came to Sarah's sandwich and I looked up to hand it to her and she was nowhere to be found.

We began looking and then I realized that one tube was missing. We were shocked, never in a million years would I have looked back up that river for her. Graham had already started over there and I was quite a few paces back but at the same moment we had scanned from the start of the river, all the way to the base and our eyes reached Sarah finishing the ride and getting ready to come to shore, at the exact same moment.

We were literally in SHOCK. We were witnessing, a child who I have known since the day she was born, find that inner strength that each of us has. She was NOT going to let the river beat her. She didn't need Graham, she didn't need Katie, she didn't need Amelia...she was going to do it all on her OWN. As she walked towards us I was surprised that she wasn't smiling or looking proud. She was crying and to be honest she looked angry. I think the anger and sadness truly signified the size of her accomplishment. We all erupted in a round of applause as she approached.

I asked her later who she was mad at...I was wondering if maybe perhaps her anger at Graham had driven her but she said...."I was just mad because I wanted to do it!"

There it was for me, my life lesson, from my beautiful, complex, brave niece. It doesn't matter if it is a river you tube down or sailing around the world....you just have to WANT to do it and anything is possible.

The Navigator

The next stop on the Lord of the Rings tour was of course the spot where the four hobbits are hiding under the roots of the tree from the Black Rider. Now I could just describe the moment when we arrive and hike via gps coordinates to the exact spot and excitedly crouch under the roots and snap a bunch of pictures.....but hey don't you wonder about the blogs you never read. The dysfunctional family moments that all of us have.

We spent the morning at a really cool museum in Wellington that had an area within where they simulate an actual earthquake. It was pretty neat to experience this so soon after the Christchurch event and be able to see a bit of what they must of gone through. From the museum we made our way to the grocery store. We bought stuff for lunch and dinner and then hopped back into the overstuffed car to find the Lord of the Rings location.

My job in the car is "The Navigator" and god help the woman who doesn't have a firm handle on exactly where we are going! The Wellington map we have is a free one and is more than a little challenging. After more than one...."Do you know where we are on the map?" and a few "I can't drive and navigate."....we finally arrived at the lookout point for the city. We had thought we would have our lunch here and then proceed via the gps coordinates to the spot.

Lunch sounds easy right...?? WRONG....we pack up our car so tight. I put the air mattress and chairs in and quickly close the hatch and then we stuff pillows and sleeping bags from the back seat into the trunk....so opening the trunk and finding the peanut butter and jam is a full on sweat fest! You can just imagine the great mood I am in once I have located both of these items. I then get the pleasure of balancing all the groceries on the roof of the car in the blowing Wellington wind and trying to make sandwiches as the peanut butter slides away......this is the point that Alex decides to be a witty teen and says..."Mom, I think you just need to breath."....I think I may kill him....I tell him to take his sister up to the lookout and give me a few minutes. Amelia decides she doesn't feel like it. I reply, "Fine get in the back seat and buckle up and prepare for the worst!" Remarkably all of a sudden they both feel like a short walk to the look out! lol.

I get my few minutes to breath and eat my sandwich and Graham reviews the map....I know that soon enough it will be my task to figure out as we drive if we are heading towards the gps spot and watch for signs and review the map.....I try to just enjoy my p&j on the curb in the wind. Soon enough we are all in the car and I catch a break and take us in the right direction and even navigate us into the closest car park.

We all exit the car happy and excited and we hike through the bush watching as we get closer and closer. We all review the pictures in the book and compare to our surrounding and then finally....YIPPEE...we are there. Just exactly as we remember from the movie....so cool....so neat....you hear a bunch of..."Frodo must of stood right here...." and "Man, look it is just like the movie."......All of the dysfunctional family moments wash away and we are left with only a fantastic memory.