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Friday, April 13th, Badalona, Spain
Although we haven't
moved yet, I am definitely getting the feeling that we
are back in cruising mode. We've started to
download grib files to see what is happening with the
current high and low pressure systems for the first time
in five and a half months. We kept the car we
rented for Vivian and Juliana's visit for an extra day
and stocked up Zia's nooks and crannies with supplies we
have diminished since our arrival here in Barcelona last
November. The kids are wrapping up their "guest
appearances" at the local public school today with a
"surprise" party in each of their classes. We are
starting to say goodbye to the friends we have met here,
exchanging emails and hopes of seeing each other again.
As you can imagine, we have mixed emotions about all of
this. Why is it that so often both the best and
worst aspects of things are totally inseparable?
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Aunt Juliana has
promised to send in a zialater report, so I will refrain
from giving too many details of our visit with her and
Joe's mom Vivian, lest I steal her thunder. It
goes without saying that we had a wonderful time.
Both the pace and the atmosphere were easy and relaxed.
Major kudos to Juliana and Vivian for coping with our
unstable home - and I'm not talking about our marriage
here! Joe, Cassie, Juliana and I have gotten used
to the rollicking of the boat, but for an unsuspecting
visitor, it is quite noticeable. Vivian and
Juliana didn't complain once, nor did they do a face
plant down the stairs! Yeah!
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We have finally found a
brand of soy milk that our little Juliana likes!
She had a mild allergy to cow milk when she was an
infant and started drinking soy instead. Although
it isn't a huge issue, she just doesn't like the taste
of cow milk anymore. Since we left the States, it
has been challenging to find a soy milk that she will
drink. I got so sick of pouring out bottles of it
that I vowed to stop buying them. In the
end, the Alpro brand was a hit so that is one of the
items we stocked up on, fearing that it might be harder
to find once we start moving around again. I've
done a decent job of using up all of the food onboard
over the winter. There are a few items that I
finally decided to throw out since they haven't been
used in the year and a half since we moved onboard.
There are other things that we restocked liberally
(canned tomatoes for one) since we use them all the
time. At any rate, the boat is again ready to
endure weeks of isolation without any threat of the crew
going hungry. I just can't get out of the habit of
having more than enough to feed an army "just in case!"
Esther, Cassie's
teacher, had let us know that they were planning a
surprise party for the girls' last day of school.
We wanted to do something special for all the wonderful
friends the girls had made there, and since it is their
favorite, we brought a bunch of homemade carrot cake for
everyone to share during the party. It was amazing
to see how warm and loving everyone was with our girls.
Cassie and Juliana were swarmed with friends hugging and
kissing them. At least a dozen faces were streaked
with tears as they all said goodbye. Cassie and
Juliana managed to make it onto the bus before reality
hit and the tears started flowing. Ouch.
Maybe we could just stay until the end of the school
year in June?
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Alas, it is time to
move along. In the midst of it all, we have
started talking about our plans for next winter.
It looks like we will be staying on this side of the
Atlantic for another season, at least at this point.
With dates to meet friends and family in Croatia through
mid September, it isn't likely that we will get our fill
of all the wonderful sights the Mediterranean has to
offer before the weather turns cold. We are hoping
to find a warm location that keeps us close enough to
Greece and Turkey to return next spring. Our
latest thought is a winter in the Canaries. It is
fairly tropical with an average temperature of 71 to 75
degrees in the winter months. Granted, it is 2000
miles from the southern tip of Croatia to the Canaries,
but it is all off shore cruising so we could do it in
short hops. In addition, the Canaries are Spanish
speaking so we could continue our education in that
arena. I have a feeling if we find a good kite
surfing school in the area, we will be sold!
I am sure if I look
back to our blog from a year ago, I will find lots of
crazy ideas about this winter that never became reality.
Who knows where we will actually end up next winter, but
it sure is fun exploring the possibilities. I love
the idea of getting another dose of Spanish. It
also would be a whole lot more appealing to all of us to
have some warm weather, especially after the last three
weeks of gray, rainy and windy conditions here in
Barcelona. The good news is that we have a lot of
time before we have to make definitive plans.
We'll keep our eyes, ears and minds open in the meantime
and see what rises to the top!
I hope you all know how
great it is when we hear from you. It is hard not
to feel a little egocentric writing this blog but never
having the opportunity to hear about what is going on in
your lives. We've gotten a couple of emails lately
from old friends who wanted to let us know that they
have been following along with us. It really made
our day! The best part of our trip is meeting so
many wonderful new friends, and the hardest part is
leaving friends behind, both new friends that we make
along the way and old friends that we said goodbye to
before we left. We are so
thrilled to share our journey with you. Thanks for
including us in your lives!
Next
Entry>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Many thanks to our friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
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