The girls and I took a detour on our way to Puerto Rico and stopped in Florida to visit my family while Braden headed to the boat a couple days before us to try to knock some projects out. The last time we were in Jacksonville was in March 2023.
Putting the boat back in the water is always a mountain to climb. I always underestimate my capacity - so I add time to my estimates and start with the intention to knock everything out in a shorter time frame that I estimated. Since I overestimated, it should be pretty
The leaves are changing. The weather is getting colder. That means our time in Minnesota is coming to an end and it is time to get back to the boat. I mean... just look at this weeks forecast. 80 on Tuesday to snow on Thursday. Before we can get back
A day and a half is nowhere near enough time to see DC, but we tried our best. On Saturday we took a break from the boat show and took the girls to the children's museum. On Monday we hit the ground running early to try to squeeze
Every year there is a huge boat show in Annapolis, MD. Braden has been talking about going for months, but Emma was the only other person that wanted to go. In the end we decided last minute to pair it with a trip to DC and a visit to see
When we left for the boat the first time Braden left three bee hives. After that winter only one of them survived. Last summer he didn't do very much with them and we didn't get any honey. This summer that one hive is still kicking. We
Duluth is probably my all time favorite city in Minnesota. We've visited at least once a year since the girls were really little, and most of those trips were over Memorial Day weekend in the bus. Since we've been on the boat we haven't
The MN State Fair is one of my favorite summer activities. Last year we missed it because we were road tripping in the bus. This year our visit was cut short because of the rain. I really wanted to go back, but I was pretty sure no one else would
Ten days of cousin time was not enough, so when the girls flew home their cousins came too! They all arrived with a list of all the things they wanted to do in Minnesota, and we wasted no time crossing off the list. We made our first stop the Mall
We planned to take one big road trip in the RV this summer. We loved Utah last summer and didn't get to spend enough time there. We wanted to go back this summer and were going to meet Braden's sister and her family there. When it
It has been a while since we've posted what we've been up to, so we'll have to rewind all the way back to June.... Last year we left our boat in Grenada for hurricane season. There is soooo much work that goes into leaving
There are very easy, simple solutions for automating an anchor light. Mostly, those solutions involve either a new anchor light housing or a new anchor light bulb with a photo cell. Both require going up the mast and can be decently pricey. I decided to pursue a path less traveled.
family
For the last I don't know how many years we've taken our bus to Duluth, MN with our friends for Memorial Day weekend. This year we changed it up and took a ferry from our boat in Culebra to mainland Puerto Rico with some friends and
family
Our next stop in the Spanish Virgin Islands took us to the island of Culebra. One of the sites to see on my list - Hector El Protector. He was originally built in 2014 using old pallets from the junkyard, but had to be rebuilt in 2019 after Hurricane Maria
family
After three months in the US Virgin Islands it was time to move on. Goodbye USVI... Hello Puerto Rico... On the way in two dolphins came to greet us. They came and went very quickly, but it was still exciting to see them. Our first stop was Culebrita which is
family
Probably the most common question we get asked is what is your favorite place. It is a tough question to answer because they are all so different - some have great snorkeling, some have great beaches, some have great access to groceries/trash/restaurants, some have great food, etc. If
family
St. Thomas USVI Carnival - food, drinks, rides, parades, music, fireworks, treasures and great friends. It's been a fun (and exhausting) week, and I have an impressive sunglass tan to prove it. 😎❤️🇻🇮
family
We took a short trip back to the BVI for a couple days. We hit all our favorite spots with some friends and Braden's dad who came to stay with us for a week. We also added a new place to the list. We heard good things about
family
It is pretty crazy that it has already been one year since we pulled the girls out of school and moved onto our boat in the Caribbean. In the last 12 months we've been to 9 countries and 15 states. We've lived in a house, a
family
It has been a very busy two weeks for us - long flights, the eclipse, a quick overnight stop at a waterpark, lots of time with friends, date nights, dinners and reading glasses for Emma. Whew! Today we flew back to a very rainy USVI to start planning for the
family
On Easter we traded in our swim suits for sweatshirts and pants and flew back to Minnesota. Crazy... I know. A bit of backstory - in 2017 we took our bus to Casper, WY. It was the first big trip on our bus and we were going to a rally
kids
family
We're not done with the USVI just yet- this time it was back to St. John. We had quite the group of friend boats along for this trip around the island. I love when the girls can jump off the back of the boat and swim over to
family
We have mixed feelings about St. Thomas. The anchorage isn't always the most comfortable, it gets noisy being close to the city and you can't swim in the water... but then there are the almost nightly get togethers at the outdoor bar where the adults have