Family

Believe it or not this was spontaneous. I have no idea how Olive knew where the pirates are or where Hawaii is. I guess unschooling is working for our family.

If you’ve been wondering how the kids feel about this transition… [cue cheesy infomercial voice] …and if you liked “going marina” you’ll love some of these other instant classics. “I can’t wait to tell Anika about Oakland, there’s so many things to see” — Ruby “Me going to live on a sailboat… with no bathtub” — Olive “I’m not sure which of my things I’m going to sell quite yet, but I’ll think about it” — Ruby (spontaneously) ...

We went to the boat show today, and we’re going again tomorrow. The going today part isn’t particularly big news, after all this is our 11th consecutive show but it does feel different. Part of what is different is that we’ve got our boat all but purchased, and can legitimately talk about it as if its ours. For some reason that small distinction has made today catalytic for me. I’ll admit, I’ve been tender this week. Okay, perhaps I’ve been raw, and a little hard to be around. I can’t help it. So much of our last 10 years of dreaming, and 5 years of debt reduction, saving, planning and dreaming some more is now coming together in a chaotic maelstrom of activity. I haven’t really got a clue about half (or more) of the things that I am responsible for, and I don’t have enough hours in the day to get a clue. ...

Years ago, back when we lived in Vermont, and even later when we first moved out to California, I always knew just what to do. It was easy. I never stood at the crossroads of a big decision, I just jumped in and let the current take me. I was sensitive to it, and I could tell somehow when it was time to hop out and look around but I never thought to second guess the current of my life. This flow took me from place to place, job to job, adventure to adventure, always at precisely the right moment. As long as I kept my vision clear and my wits about me, things seemed to just work out. ...

Today I signed the application that will give us live aboard status at our old marina in the East Bay. We’ve been on the waiting list for 10 years and when I called the other day to find out our status, I learned that we had finally made it to the top. This is a huge step for our family because it means that we can live aboard in a marina that will allow us to sail on the weekends. Everyone we’ve talked to at Pete’s harbor seemed resigned to the fact that they could not sail and live aboard. I’m hopeful that, with the Golden Gate Bridge clearly visible from our marina, we’ll be reminded that we’re in this to sail, not to sit at the dock. ...

Despite the boat related disappointment this weekend I’ve found myself unexpectedly inspired, motivated, and empowered these last two days. Vick linked me up to the blog of a nomadic family (Happy Janssens) last night, and I kinda went link crazy, hopping around to a bunch of similar blogs. These families’ stories have been a balm on my chapped spirit. This morning the kids and I sat around watching videos from various blogs showing their kids living happy, nomadic, unschooling lives. True our adventure is just where we left it on Friday, but somehow we all feel closer to it. ...

Yesterday we woke up before 5am for the 14th consecutive day. Our parenting style dictates that we just roll with this, as unnatural and seemingly untenable as it is. Vick and I believe that its our responsibility to call it a night so that we can rise with the kids (see my earlier article for more on this). So we’ve been dutifully rising and shining at 4-5am and using lattes to get us through the week. ...

We are back home now and the verdict is in. This vacation was a resounding success. Its likely that this was our best and favorite family vacation ever. We had some logistical issues, and some moments of frayed nerves, but that is to be expected. What really impresses me is how we all worked together to make sure that everyone could enjoy the trip. Ruby was a total champ. When Vick and I were busy, she would entertain her sister down below. She devised a multitude of games, and when we finally bought a couple containers of Play-dough she would spend hours with her making pretend food and serving it up. ...

We arrived in Two Harbors last night, just after the sun went down. We left Marina Del Rey around noon and motored out of the immense harbor. When we got to Santa Monica Bay, I briefly doused the engine to get a sense of the wind. We headed up and set the main. The wind sustained us for all of 15 minutes (at a measly 4 knots) before it died out completely. I reluctantly conceded that there was no chance of making it to Catalina on wind power alone and powered up the diesel. ...

Its Christmas Eve and as exciting as tomorrow promises to be the thing that Ruby and Olive claim to be most excited about is the sailing trip. That’s right, when given the choice between presents or sailing Ruby said she was more excited about sailing. In preparation, Victoria and I are frantically working down the todo list. Here’s what the next few days look like Our good friends Sarah and Ricky are stopping by for a lightning visit this afternoon. Tonight we make our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. This year we’re adding Peppermint Molten Chocolate Cakes to the feast. After dinner we’ll do a video chat with Papa Verne and Gramora where Papa V. will read “The Night Before Christmas” (another family tradition.) After the kids fall asleep we’ll pack everything up for the trip, put out the presents, and hopefully get to bed early. In addition to the expected Christmas morning hullabaloo we will be preparing to leave (at noon? really?), and video chatting with the Logans. We’ll drive down to LA and spend the night there. Early on the 26th we will drive over to the marina where Vick will drop me off to do the check-in. She’ll head over to WF in Santa Monica to provision and we’ll hopefully be on the water by 11am. I’ve been told that the sail is ~7hrs to Two Harbors so we’ll be racing against the clock to get to the mooring before dark. ...

We had a really first rate dinner at Amber tonight. When we arrived (at 5:15), there was one other family there and we were seated in the very back corner of the room reserved for families with little kids that look like trouble. Ruby was wearing her pink flower rain boots, mini-skirt, and a blue tee-shirt. Olive was sporting the ripped play pants and a dinosaur shirt. I really can’t blame them for seating us in the back corner, and it did nothing to dampen our enjoyment of the meal. The waitstaff positively doted over Olive. She played it cool, not answering their questions, but turning around to gawk at them when they walked away. ...

We’ve really needed a relaxing family vacation for a while, and with time counting down to the big trip, we also need to make sure that the family is up for extended sailing. Last night, after weeks of thinking about these two items individually a plan popped into my head that married both of these concerns into a harmonic union. This morning I asked Ruby if she would like to go sailing for the week after Christmas. She asked a bunch of probing questions – “Can I bring my dolls?” and “What will we do about pirates” – and when she was satisfied with the answers, wholeheartedly supported the plan. ...

This is a slightly old video of Ruby singing a song she invented about respect. I love that as she’s singing it she grabs her brother and won’t let go of him when he yelps. Luckily she does let go when I ask her, so it seems as though she respects me, but not Mr. M.. Enjoy… … “This land was made for you and me.”

Today started off just like any other Sunday. We scrambled around to get dressed and ready for the Coffee Social and then to get Vick out the door to the Farmer’s Market. All of our friends came over for coffee and much fun was had. Then at 11:30 we kicked everyone out so we could hop a train to San Francisco. We caught the 12:19 train to SF and hoofed it to Automatic @ Pier 38. We arrived just a few minutes before the Camp started and there was already a line out the door. At 2 (on the nose) the line started moving and within a few minutes we were all crowding the tables for the first round of cupcakes. Ruby and I opted for Taro cupcakes and I was quite surprised that I really liked it. Vick stood at table 3 and waited for the Cheesecake cupcakes but they never came. ...

While I was on vacation, I received word that I had been invited to be a guest at TED India 2009. Tonight I completed the registration and made it official. My tickets are purchased and plans are being laid. When I mentioned to my dad that I was almost certainly going to India, he told me that he had always wanted to go and got this far away look in his eye. I instantly extended an invitation to him, hoping that he would accept, but aware that it was a big lift for him. I was happily surprised when my Mom started to encourage him and he gradually agreed that this was the chance of a lifetime. Of course my parents have this habit of dreaming about things in a way that looks to outsiders like resolve, so I was optimistically skeptical until last week when we bought our plane tickets. ...