Happy Fourth of July!

Hope everyone is having a happy 4th.

It is a beautiful day here in Sarasota. Mary Alice came down yesterday. She and I did a few errands and went food shopping while Bill dressed the boat in honor of the holiday. Doesn't Mary Elizabeth look so beautiful?!? Later the three of us tried a new restaurant on Main Street called Mosaic, which was delicious.

The marina is bus, and since we are on the (otherwise empty and quiet) transient dock, we have enjoyed watching the docking follies, etc. Everyone has decorated their boat with flags, etc. which is festive and nice.

We have had a lazy day of reading, watching golf, tennis, and the Red Sox, brunch, and laundry. Mary Alice and I walked up to Starbucks and got back a few minutes ago. We are looking forward to grilling out on the boat and watching the fireworks here in Sarasota tonight. They will be shot off from the park directly across from us. You can see from the picture below how close they will be! We plan on having a hose ready in case there are any stray embers....

Visitors

Bill and I have had the pleasure of having my father and sister here in Ft. Lauderdale for a few days. We had a great time golfing (Bill and my father) going to the beach (Andrea and me), visiting the casino (both my father and Andrea hit jackpots on the slots!) and going to Oviedo, FL (near Orlando) to visit my uncle and his family. Here are some pictures of the visit.

Andrea relaxing with my uncle's dog.

Andrea, Juan, Bill, my father, Ken, and me at dinner out on the town.

My father and uncle with their two dogs.

Andrea, my father, uncle, aunt, cousin, Bill and I had a delicious dinner in Oviedo.

Dad cooking a sauce on the boat!!!!

My father flew home on Monday, Andrea on Tuesday. Bill left Tuesday for Lake Wales with Dave so I have the boat to myself for a few days.

To see the rest of the pictures from the visit, click here.

Saturday we had a nice visit from Cindy, Boyd, Ginger, and Darren. We hung out and enjoyed the afternoon and had tacos for dinner. Tacos are easy and we probably have them for dinner at least once a week. I am becoming more in tune with our oven. I have learned that as long as I let the oven warm up for a good 20 minutes and turn it up an extra 25 degrees from what the recipe calls for, all is good in our baking / broiling / oven-cooking world. Of course Bill and I just have to remember the pan! Last week when Bill cooked chicken tettraziti, he had the mushrooms, chicken, and pasta all cooked and ready to go into the oven when we realized we didn't have a baking pan. Oops. So I jumped in the car and made a very quick run to Publix. We use the disposable tinfoil-like pans since they come in smaller sizes. Our oven isn't big enough to hold the regular size pans that you would get at Bed Bath and Beyond or Target, etc. Plus, we gave my sister Amy all of our baking pans when we moved out of our place in Alexandria in October (which she and her roommate Allison are now enjoying as they moved into their new place last weekend.)

So we had a nice time on the boat Saturday afternoon. It is fun having people on board and entertaining. There was some sort of sailfish tournament hosted at the marina across from us on Staurday and Sunday. We watched about a dozen big sportfish boats come in with their sailfish flags flying. One boat had 19 flags flying (meaning they caught and released 19 fish!!!) Most of the boats had between 5 and 8 flags flying. The clouds and the sunset both Saturday and Sunday were simply stunning.

Today Bill flies to DC for the night. He has finally given up on trying to get a straight answer out of the folks at TriCare (his medical insurance company via the military). They are at a loss on how he can get a doctors appointment since our address on file with them is Alexandria, VA but we are physically in Florida. His records are in DC, which is a different 'zone' than Florida so a referral is needed. Sounds easy, right? Right.... He has literally spoken to a dozen different people who have passed the buck and given him another phone number to call. This has been going on off and on since Thanksgiving! Very, very frustrating. It is discouraging when it is easier to get on a plane and fly to a different state than to see a military doctor down the street.

My father and Bill golfed 5 times in 5 days. On Saturday they were paired up with two guys from Duxbury who actually know the Whalens (my Godmother). Small world.

We had a really nice time while my father was here. It was fun to show him around, for Bill to have a good golfing partner, to all spend some time together. Saturday night we drove to the Hard Rock Casino, and even though none of us won, it was a blast. It was actually much more crowded than we would thought.

On Sunday they had an early tee time, which would have left plenty of time to start the sauce. After they got back to the boat and had some lunch, my dad started to cook. But... we ran out of propane - again. Usually the tanks last us six months each (and we have two). I just had the propane filled when we were in Boca less than a month ago. Something is wrong. When I had the tanks filled before the guy told me they were safe but should probably be replaced soon since the salt air and water easily corrodes the tanks. It was on our list of things to get done before we leave Lauderdale. We discovered yesterday, however, that the part of the hose that connects the tank to the boat is leaking. Bill spoke to Island Packet who will let us know if it is a part that we can get at West Marine or if we have to order it through the manufacturer. Bottom line, however, is that we couldn't make the sauce. The good news is that my dad gave me the recipe, so I will be able to attempt to recreate his delicious cooking once everything is fixed.

In addition to taking care of the propane issues, I have a few other errands to do today including having my eyes checked. I have prescription glasses for driving and watching movies, but I think it is time to get prescription sunglasses so I can spot the markers in the distance.

Hope everyone has a good week.

Bill and my father have been golfing every day at different courses around Lauderdale. The weather has been great, so I am glad that my father gets to enjoy some sunshine. Last night we went for happy hour and appetizers at the beach and then had snacks when we got back to the boat. Today I drove them to the golf course so I could have the car. On the way back to the marina I stopped at Publix to get ingredients so my dad can make a sauce before he leaves. Yes! I am going to work on the stainless today while they are gone and take advantage of the sun.

Here are some pictures of Ft. Lauderdale Beach. It is a great place to take a nice walk and people watch.

My Dad's Here

Bill left the boat around 10:15 to pick up my dad at Ft. Lauderdale airport. He is visiting for a few days to play golf, get some sun, and escape the snow in Boston. I didn't go to the airport since they are heading straight to the golf course. Another cold front has moved through so it is chilly - but I think my dad will enjoy since it isn't 10 degrees and snowing.

Bill and I watched most of the inauguration on TV yesterday. What an event. The energy in DC was incredible. If we were still 'home' I think it would have been a tough decision whether or not to brave the crowds (and cold) and partake in the festivities or stay home in Alexandria and watch the ceremonies on TV.

Last night we had a nice dinner with Juan, who is in Lauderdale for the winter - actually the boat is just two marinas down from where Mary Elizabeth is docked. Amy is back in Annapolis. It was nice to see a familiar face and to catch up!

Amazing Christmas on the sv Mary Elizabeth

(Enjoying Christmas Eve dinner on board while watching a Christmas Story)

(relaxing post-dinner Christmas Eve)

Christmas on the sv Mary Elizabeth was great. Mary Alice, Bill and I slept in and, after enjoying Pamela's delicious banana bread, had a lazy morning and afternoon. After opening presents we enjoyed the sunshine and played with our new gadgets. Bill and I received Kindle from Mary Alice. What an amazing idea for two people who live on a boat and read a ton. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Kindle, it is an electronic book reader from Amazon. You can go online and download books (there is a library of 20,000 books to chose from and they are a lot cheaper than new hardcovers [each Kindle book is $9,99]). The screen is big enough to comfortably read (and you can change the font size) and it is very easy to use and navigate. Since Kindle was recently featured on Oprah's "favorite things" they are on back order. But Mary Alice's friend Monika lent us hers for the weekend so we could check it out and learn the ropes. It will be the perfect thing for the boat so we won't have to spend money on books that we end up having to leave at book swaps when we run out of room to stowe them.

(presents, presents, and more presents)

Bill and I gifted each other a Nikon D60 camera with a super duper lens. It is complicated and we are still learning, but it is an amazing camera. Since we take dozens of pictures a day, it is something that we will certainly be using a lot.

(Bill goofing with the new Nikon)

Our Christmas dinner here at the resort was delicious and fancy. We had a multiple course meal at the top of the tower. The three of us came back to the boat stuffed to the brim.

(Christmas dinner)

Friday we "left the compound" and went to the movies. There are SO many movies out at the moment; we saw the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which we all gave 'two thumbs up' -- despite the almost three hour run time. Doubt, Valkyrie, Marlie and Me, and the two Kate Winslet movies are next on the list. There is a really nice movie theater close by. After the movie we ate at the Whales Rib, a restaurant in Boca on the water that three different people suggested. It was very crowded and after waiting 45 minutes + for a table we decided to eat at the bar. It was as good as everyone said it was - and we all overate (again). We came back to the boat and Mary Alice taught me Skip-O - one of the five new games that we got for the boat (which we are both very excited for!!!)

(Mary Alice and Lauren enjoying the sun on Christmas day while playing with Kindle)

Today we took the resort shuttle over to the Beach part of the resort, which is under renovation but has recently opened on a limited basis. The resort is very crowded right now - I guess for the upcoming New Year holiday. We ate lunch by the pool and walked on the beach. The Atlantic was choppy today and two small boats capsized trying to get in/out of the Boca Inlet. We dropped Mary Alice off at the airport a few hours ago and we are enjoying an early evening on the boat.

(Bill doing his magic tricks for Mary Alice)

The weather has been great. It is warm but windy so it isn't hot. The clouds come and go but the rain has held off for the past few days. Tomorrow I have plans to go to the adults only pool (this place is crawling with lots and lots of kids.....) while Bill golfs. We'll pick Cindy and Boyd up at the airport on Monday and then find a different marina in the area until after New Years. We are really treating ourselves here.

So it was a lovely visit with Mary Alice and we had a very nice Christmas and hope that everyone else did also.

For more pics, click here.

Merry Christmas

We wish all of our family and friends a very VERY Merry Christmas. Hope everyone has a great day filled with loved ones, good food and great conversation.

Boy have we been enjoying ourselves here in Boca. Mary Alice and I enjoyed very relaxing massages this morning. Bill was supposed to golf, but because it was windy and raining decided to postpone for another day.

Tonight, Christmas Eve, Bill is cooking his 'famous' beef stroganoff. We have a game of scrabble planned for later. Tomorrow Bill, Mary Alice and I will have a lazy day and then an early dinner here at the Boca Club.

Bill spent a long time on the phone today finally convincing the AT&T folks that our air card (how we have access to the Internet on the boat) really is broken. They are shipping us a new one so we should be back 'online' and able to upload pictures soon.

Merry Christmas.

Hanging in Boca

So, Boca continues to be fabulous. On Sunday we went to Cindy and Boyd's house for the best turkey dinner I have ever had. They both outdid themselves with a perfectly roasted turkey complete with bay leaves, stuffing with pecans, Cindy's homemade bread, green beans, Yukon mashed potatoes. And Cindy's yummy home cooked apple pie for dessert. What a treat to have a home cooked meal and hang out with friends in their beautiful home.

Cindy and Boyd have also very generously offered us their car for the week while they are out of town visiting family. So yesterday, after dropping them off at the airport, we did lots of errands including the Laundromat (6 loads, a new record), food shopping, last minute Christmas shopping, etc. We finally got an extension cord so we could plug in the tree -- and it looks great.

Today Bill's mom flies in. It is very windy here today, which is unfortunate because we need to move the boat to get a pumpout. We'll figure something out though.

The resort is truly amazing. They have one of the nicest gyms I have ever seen and Bill looks forward to golfing tomorrow. Mary Alice and I have massages planned (a Christmas gift from Bill).

Our computer is not working at the moment (I am at the FedEx Kinkos at the resort) so I don't have any pictures to share. Stay tuned....

We made it to BOCA RATON, FL

Today was another perfect day on the water. We motored past West Palm Beach, Fort Pierce, Riviera Beach, Del Ray, Boyton, etc. And again we saw many simply incredible homes on the water. As a bonus today we saw two manatees! Today was a day full of bridges. We had 12 bridges to go under and only one was fixed. The rest either opened on signal or opened on the hour and half hour or at 15 and 45 past the hour. Bill's timing was perfect (meaning we didn't have to wait long for the next opening). But it did take us about 7 hours to go 38 statute miles because of all of the bridges.

When we got to Boca we were amazed. We are staying at the Boca Raton Resort and Club. It is a small marina (20 +/- slips?) in a large resort located on the ICW. We are the only sailboat here and most of the boats are huge yachts. Some of the same boats that we saw at Yacht Haven Grande in St. Thomas are docked here -- including Carbon Copy, the boat that our friends Amy and Juan were on. We are docked right in the middle of the resort; our stern looks over the pool (awesome!) Bill and I look forward to exploring a bit more tomorrow.

When we got in we cleaned up the boat a bit and decorated the tree. It is perfect for the boat. And we love it -- although we weren't able to find the extension cord so we haven't exactly plugged it in yet... but it still looks great (if we do say so ourselves) all the same. We recieved a package from my mother so we actually have wrapped presents under the tree for the full effect.

And we got to see Cindy and Boyd!!! They live in Boyton Beach and drove over to Boca - and brought goodies -- including our first Christmas card. It was so nice to see them and hang out for the night.

Tonight was the Boca boat parade (another awesome thing that we stumbled upon!) Out of the three boat parades that we have seen this Christmas (Thunderbolt, St. Augustine, and here) this was the coolest. There were probably 25-30 boats and all were decked out. There were 30+ boats anchored directly across from us (which is a show in and of itself) and the parade literally went right by across our bow. Cindy and Boyd were here to enjoy also. Because we are staying at the marina we got 'passes' to the dock party. There were lots and lots of (mostly older) 'club members' viewing the parade and partaking in the festivities. There were a ton of food stations (shrimp, sushi, pasta, seafood, etc.) and an open bar. Cindy, Boyd, Bill and I hung out on the boat for a bit and then went up to the party and feasted.

So it was a fun night -- sort of the culmination of our trip so far. Boca has been 'the' destination for so long and we are finally here and enjoying ourselves -- and very much looking forward to the next few days.

For more pictures, click here.

Titusville, FL

We ended up in Titusville, FL for the night at the Titusville Municipal Marina. We just couldn't get through the bridges before they stopped opening during (an early) rush hour.

Once the fog cleared we had a great motor. The weather was warm. We saw lots of dolphins today; some played, some were too busy fishing. No manatees today though.The shoreline was full of RV parks, beautiful homes, and boat ramps. Everything looked really "Floridian" to me.

These pictures are all of a small canal that we went through. The sun was perfectly shining through the trees and mangroves onto the shallow water. Everything was so green. It was one of the prettiest parts of the ICW so far.

We went to dinner tonight with my Uncle Matty and Aunt Carolyn who live in Chulauta, FL. They drove to Titusville and we had a great seafood dinner out and then coffee back at the boat. It was great to see you guys.

Our Last Weekend in Annapolis

We have had a very nice last weekend in Annapolis. On Saturday Mark and Sara picked us up and took us to lunch at the very cool Narrows Restaraunt in Kent Narrows, MD. It was a rainy, windy day and being inside nice and warm looking at the water (versus being on the water) was a treat. And it was, of course, great to see Mark and Sara. We received a beautiful "goodie basket" complete with Sara's homemade mustard and pickels -- and a perfectly carved pumpkin. Awesome.

Saturday night Leslie and Katie drove up to Annapolis in the rain. We went to dinner and then had drinks back at the boat. Sunday we met Joe and Nancy for "one last" breakfast at the diner. Afterwards Bill and I did some last provisioning. And yes, we managed to find a place for everything on the boat.

This afternoon we went to downtown Annapolis to watch the Skins beat the Lions (yippeee!) and now we are back at the boat enjoying a beautiful late afternoon. Tomorrow is supposed to be a lot colder, so we are not necessarily looking forward to our trip to Rock Hall. Hopefully the generator mystery will be solved sooner rather than later so we can begin our trip south the middle of this week.

Again, it has been so nice to see everyone and we have really enjoyed our time in Annapolis. We are looking forward to amazing adventures and a winter season of exploring new places!