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hmmm..... I would have thought it was worse.

We're back....

Ten days at sea and we are back to land. Our shuffle turned into a "shuff" - our original plan to stay with 10 boats and travel to 3 islands changed after day 2. We started our travels in SW Fl - the 10th boat was in our line up by the time we reached Naples at 8:30 a.m. - We reached Duck Key by 2:30 but did not dock and settle in to our marina until about 5:00 b/c all ten boats needed fuel to begin the next leg of the trip in the a.m. Well, we started to doubt the trip right on the first night. Running (boat talk for driving) your boat for 7-8 hours a day and then to leave the very next morning is not really fun. This trip would have us doing that a lot. We did not realize that the distance between islands was so long even running at 28-30 knots per hour. Day 2 we were up and ready to go at 7:30 a.m. as planned to head to Bimini Island..... 2 boats had engine trouble - we did not leave until 10:30. We reached Bimini at 5:00 and again - each boat needed fuel. We did not dock until close to 6:30 and then did the customs thing. This is a long day and to only stay the one night and then head for Nassau/Paradise Island. This is when we decided to stay on Bimini Island for the week and head back to the Keys on our own. We are so glad we did. We had a great time on Bimini and saw and did things we would not have been able to do. We traveled back to Key West on our own and did just fine. The "blue waters" were calm and the trip back was beautiful - we were able to use auto pilot, which you can't do with a group. Our depth finder stopped registering at 400 feet - it was some deep water! We did hit a crab trap on our way into Duck Key and needed a diver to come out and clear our props but no damage was done. We then stayed in the Keys for 4 days until the group returned and we had one night with them before our return home. We knew we did the right thing when we watched them all sail in late Monday and we met up for the last docktail party. Everyone looked exhausted and described the trip as a "working vacation". We learned a lot and had a great time. We are now going to be heading North for the month of July - not by boat but by air. I've been catching up with all my blogs and geesh, a lot happens in 10 days! Here's to all my 10/27/06 LIDers - we are one step closer!!!! Below is a slide show of our trip.

Eight

Here we are at the number 8. One step closer Mimi.

Be back soon....

Hope everyone is having a great start to their summer! We will not have internet access for a little while (I don't think). We will be shuffling our way through the Bahamas with our boat group. The itinerary is to leave SW Fl and head to the Keys the first day - we will then head to Bimini where we will clear customs. Should be interesting. Entering the Bahamas via water vs air is very different. There is lots and lots of paperwork to have completed, there is also approval from the Department of Land and Agriculture to bring Ms. Boo, which we have. She also needs an exam/paperwork from our Doc here in the US within 48 hours of entering the Bahamas. We must clear Customs and Immigration at the nearest designated Port of Entry (Bimini for us). As we enter port, we will fly a yellow quarantine flag and notify Customs of our arrival. At that point, only Joe (the Master is what the Bahamas call the Captain) will be allowed to leave the boat for clearance. He better not get used to that title :) Once he is cleared, then Joseph, Boo and myself (the Crew) are cleared and all fees are paid, we will lower the quarantine flag and raise a Bahamian courtesy Flag and of course, our American flag will be flying as well. We will stay in Bimini a couple of days then head to Paradise Island, Chubb Cay and then begin our return back to Bimini, etc. It should be fun and we are looking forward to it. It is always good to do a big trip such as this with a group, especially the first time! We are looking forward to it and hoping for good weather and calm waters!

Tagged

My fellow NY'er WENDI tagged me for 12 things, professionally and/or personally you would like to achieve over the summer. Well, being a SAHM the professional part is out but here goes....

1. Continue my running program even though I will not be home for 6 weeks.
2. Catch up on my reading - I've started too many books at once and my dh just gave me another book yesterday that I just read 20 pages of. Must finish one at a time!
3. Be more diligent with Joseph's violin practice time. Even though Joe is the other musician in our family (me, no musical talent whatsoever) I am the designated parent to do the majority of Joseph's music lessons/practice. They clash way too much - who's playing too fast, too slow, etc. I also personally think Joseph puts way too much pressure on himself to be perfect. Early on in Joseph's start with violin it was decided that I would be the disciplinary/practice partner. Joe is his play for fun (even when he doesn't realize he's learning from his very talented dad) partner. Since music comes easy to Joseph, he tends to not want to practice - this can be a problem! I'm going to create some sort of spreadsheet to track his practice for the summer.
4. Reading/researching attachment books.
5. Try not to get upset about the wait for Mimi - (Sorry I copied you on this one Wendi, but it's a given!)
6. Clean out the playroom
7. Try Pilates (again)
8. Start a Lifebook for Mimi and keep up with my written Journal for Joseph
9. Organize my digital photos better
10. Organize our storage closet
11. Take another Women on Water Class. I learned so much at the class I took but feel I need to learn more. I am confident I could drive/dock our boat if an emergency arose but would feel better having some more lessons - especially learning how to tie knots better for docking (I really stink at this!)
12. Enjoy every minute of this summer!!!!
Okay, if you want to join in on this tag consider yourself tagged!

Isn't she lovely?

This is my niece, Amber Jo. Tonight she is at her prom. This month is a big month for her - She will turn 18 on 6/27 and also graduate from High School. I'm blogging tonight about this as I will not have access to the internet at the end of the month. Amber Jo is my niece and Godchild. The day she was born was a day that I'll never forget. I remember going to the hospital to see my sister and niece - My sister had a scheduled C-section but did not know the sex of this child. She already had a beautiful little boy who was 16 months old - my nephew. We were all pleasantly surprised that a beautiful little girl had joined our family. The minute I saw her, she had my heart. She still does.... Amber Jo and I have had an amazing relationship. I was blessed to live only minutes from her as she grew up. She was the daughter Joe and I did not have. We loved her as our own - still do. We have spent endless nights together having sleepovers. She was my weekend friend who would sleep over, have Chinese food buffet, go to movies, make real Spongebob's out of sponges, wait for Uncle Joe to bring us food from the diner after his gigs, sit at the beach and eat junk food in Cape May and so many other wonderful memories. Amber Jo was 9 years old when I had Joseph and she was there the night he was born with the same look on her face as I had when she was born. I can't believe that 18 years has gone by - I know what a cliche! Amber Jo - I wish you nothing but the best as you graduate and turn 18. Even though we do not live 2 minutes from each other, I am here for you always. Remember, be your own person, be proud of who you are and the choices you make..... I will always love you and be here for you -


Love Aunt DD

It does rain in paradise....

But not for long. Our weekend plans with our NY visitors (my brother and sister-in-law) a/k/a Uncle Den and Aunt Christina, got a little disrupted due to Tropical Storm Barry, but a good time was had by all anyway. Being the die hard boaters we are, we did go out for a cruise on Friday. The rain was on and off but we were able to take a nice ride, get fuel and go out to lunch. Saturday the rain began to clear out but there were strong winds so we spent the day at the range and doing some shopping at our new outdoor mall. Someone always needs something at Brookstone, right? Shopping and having my brother cook dinner for us = perfect day. We also played a little friendly (yeah right) game of Family Fued. You learn a lot about a person when you play a game with them - I learned my sister-in-law is Ms. Fast Fingers and she's very competitive. What she doesn't know is, we let them win because they were our guests. Of course we knew the top 6 answers to what test don't you need to study for and what is another name for a smart person :) Sunday was perfect weather and we headed out to Captiva Island for the day. We had a great day there and I'm glad the weekend wasn't a total wash out. See slide show below.
~~~~ D & C: We had a great time and are so glad you came to see us - we love you guys and will see you next month!
~~~~ Okay on the adoption front - looks like referals are trickling in and the 7th of November is in - I sure got my hopes up again that this was going to be a "huge" batch but I guess it's better than 2 days. I swear again, staying off the rumor boards :) Congratulations to everyone about to see their children for the first time.