I've been sitting here for 5 minutes and I can't think of a name for this blog.

Hi everyone! It's crazy how quickly things can change. One day we were in New Zealand, the next we were on a plane to New York. One day we were in Florida, and the next we were at our house in Rhode Island. Right now I'm sitting in my room in Portsmouth. This time last week we had just arrived into RI after a 3 hour flight from Florida. Today, we just returned from a really fun dinner at Miss Erica and Scott's house (for those of you who don't know who they are, Miss Erica used to be our babysitter, and Scott is her husband). Tomorrow I have dance class at Festival Ballet up in Providence! Actually, less than 24 hours after we arrived into RI, I was up there taking classes. I'm now dancing Monday through Friday and I really love it. If it all works out, I may even be able to do culmination, the end of year show! Very exciting. Well, this is only a quick blog, and I've got to go to bed. Good night! 

Back to the Tropics!

Hi everyone! I just realized that a blog that I had sent a few weeks ago never got posted and I can't find it anywhere on my computer, which stinks. Anyway, right now I am sitting at the dining room table in Nonna's house in Florida. It's in the high 60's and I am planning on going swimming as soon as I finish writing this blog. I love the warm weather! I have to say though, snow is really fun as well. 

Last Tuesday, Cole and I left Pennsylvania to fly to Florida. At the time there was still snow on the ground after a medium sized blizzard where we get 18 inches of snow. It was so fun! The flight out of PA was pretty uneventful. We arrived into FL around 4:30 and were at Nonna's house by 7:00. Even though it was raining, walking out into humid air was so nice. The next day we went to the grocery store with Nonna to get some food into the house, and got Cole some flip-flops and a sweatshirt. On Thursday we went to Justice so that I could get some summer clothes. I had no shorts that fit, and only 3 shirts. Luckily, I can now actually choose what to wear, and don't have to wash my jeans every night so that they are clean to wear the next day. Nonna and I had fun, but I think that Cole would have rather been somewhere else. That night I went to take a class at a dance studio I might go to. It was ballet, and at the end we did a little bit of pointe. Yesterday was Unkie's birthday! He was supposed to go sky diving over Satellite Beach, but sadly it was raining and he couldn't jump. Instead, we went to see Percy Jackson and the Olympians the movie. It was a great movie, but a lot of the book was cut out and the story line was changed a bit. It was still a great movie though and we really enjoyed it! Today I'm going to go visit another dance studio even though I won't be taking any classes as of yet. If I go to this studio, I will only be taking ballet and pointe 2 times a week, but I will also have jazz, lyrical and musical theater. 

Well, that's all for now. I'm off to go convince Cole to come swimming with me. Should be fun. :)

Back to 'Real' Life

Hi everyone!

We are having a great time here in PA. It's kind of funny to get back into 'real' life, but I really like it!

I just finished a big series of tests and today I get to go back to a regular day again! I have 7 dance classes a week (2 on Monday, 2 on Tuesday, 2 on Thursday and 1 on Saturday). They are really fun and all the other girls in my class are really nice. I'm having a really great time!!

Cole is looking at cars on the internet right now while we wait until 8:45 to drive Lolly to school. He is doing karate classes on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. The dojo is great and Cole is still a brown belt. He loves his classes, and is really happy that the school teaches Kenpo as well as many other different kinds of karate. 

Lauren is reading right Fudge-a-Mania by Judy Blume right now and really likes it. I remember reading Judy Blume's books! We went to her class yesterday to watch them do presentations on their ancestor's home country. Lauren did Italy, there were a bunch of Irelands, a Native American tribe, and a few others. They did a great job! Also, on Wednesday, we went to her lower school to see the science fair. Katherine, Darlene and I helped Lolly make her science project and stood at her booth for a while. It was really funny. There are so many kids in that school!!!

Katherine is already at school....she starts school at around 8 o-clock just like Cole and I used to. Today is her Roman Day at school. Everyone gets to dress up in togas and gladiator costumes, they have no official school work to do, no homework for the weekend, and they get to have lunch with their whole grade while watching a movie. She is so excited! For her costume, she is wearing one of Pete's long t-shirts, a brown belt, leggings and my island flip-flops which have black straps and a braided bottom. 

Pete stays here all day while he works, which is really good. He comes down for lunch and for about an hour he hangs out with us. 

Darlene works 3 days a week, but she's been really busy because there have been lots of meetings that she had to go to. It is really fun when she is here though, because we can go places after school.

Abby, their 1 year old yorkie-poo is so cute! She is just like a younger Harley! She, of course, thinks that she is bigger than all of us and is the queen of the house. Oh, and she is also a serial killer.......of stuffed animals. Step one: rip out the eyes........Step 2: gouge all the fur out of the faces........Step 3: kill it in any other way thought of. It's really funny!!

Well, that's about it for us. I'm going to go read my book. Bye!

Our New Home

Hi everyone! We arrived into the Barkman's house in Pennsylvania last night, and have just finished school. It is a little odd....our best friends, Kak and Lolly are at school and our parents are here with us, while we do homeschooling in their house. So we have basically claimed their house as our own, and moved in. We have also stolen their dog, Abby.

Well, not really, but close. Abby is the cutest puppy in the whole world and is just hysterical. She has 'puppy spasms' when she runs around the house randomly at top speed while barking her head off. It is so funny!

I've gotta go find something to do with myself for the next 2.5 hours while my poor friends suffer through their 7 hour school day. Luckily Kak and I have dance class tonight at 5!!! :D Bye!
--
Camo

It's not over yet

I cannot believe that this time last year, we were sitting on the deck of Zen in the beautiful San Blas islands off the coast of Panama. It feels like so long ago. Lots of people have asked if I enjoy living back in the States. My answer is probably yes. It's great to see friends and family, and go to the places that we missed for 2 years, but it's hard to choose between the two, very different life styles. Cruising, or land life? We don't have to worry about that yet though. Next week we will be driving up to the Barkman's house in Pennsylvania. Cole and I will live there with our best buddies for about a month while Mommy and Daddy go back to New Zealand and get the boat ready to go on a ship. Zen is now blue, and has a few interior changes. Then, we will all fly to Florida where we will stay for 6 months while we wait for Zen to arrive on the ship. There are lots of things planned for the next couple of months. I will join Katherine's dance classes, and Cole may join a karate dojo. Then, in Florida, we will do both karate and dance. Possibly even piano. It should be fun! 

We're back!

Hi everyone! I would like to announce that we are sitting in our house in Portsmouth, RI this very minute! Today we went to school at Saint Michael's and had a great time. It feels like we never left! Well, this will just be a quick blog update, but I just wanted to say that we arrived safely. The flight here was really long, and a bit boring, but it was fine. Dance class at All Star Dance Academy is tonight! I did ballet and pointe yesterday...it was fun. It's really great to see all of our friends and family, and hopefully I'll be able to see everyone from Festival Ballet soon as well! Okay, that's about it. Have a great couple of weeks...merry Christmas and happy New Year!

Namaste!

Hi everyone! If you're wondering, namaste is the way that you say 'hi' in India, where we are now! We arrived into India last Monday, but not before a quick and unexpected trip to Bangkok, Thailand. 

Okay, so how can a trip to Thailand be unexpected? Well, when we arrived into the Thailand airport we went to the desk where we were supposed to receive our transfer tickets into India. Unfortunately, we had some problems with visas and were forced to stay at a hotel for the next 3 days while we waited for our visas. At first I was disappointed that we weren't going to be able to go straight to India, and go to my aunt's wedding, but it ended up being really fun. We stayed at a hotel on the Chao Phraya river, which is about an hour away from the airport. It was super warm, and I ended up having to pull out my sun dresses. Of course, we had to see the dance show and buffet the next night. It was a really cool show and was very different from the South Pacific Island's shows. The woman had really long finger nail extensions and everyone had big, tall, gold head dresses that looked like the tops of some of the buildings we saw. Also, the food was so good. I've never had such good Thai food in my life. That day, we explored the city by train. It was like a monorail that goes just about everywhere you need to go. We went to the huge 'weekend market' and explored there for about an hour and a half. We saw lots of cool things and even some puppies and bunnies! After that we went to a huge mall called 'Siam Paragon' where we had lunch. The food court was humungous! Our last day rivaled with our passport extravaganza in Boston before we left the States two years ago. The only difference was that we were looking for visas, Mommy didn't have a cast, and we were sweating our butts off, not shivering. The main idea was that it was really hectic. We did finally get everything settled and made it to our 5 PM flight to India that evening. 

The next day we started our journey in India. We met our family here in New Delhi and basically ate and talked all day. It's still crazy to think that all these people I am meeting are my aunts, uncles and cousins! The next day we took our 5 hour drive to Agra where we visited the amazing Taj Mahal. It was so beautiful. We had a great guide that knew everything there is to know about India and was really funny at the same time. First, he took us to a huge fort that was built in the time of the Moghals. It was really cool to actually stand in a place that I just studied about in history! After that, we visited the Taj Mahal. It is just so big! There was amazing detail and everything was thought of. For example, there are four spires on each corner of the Taj. Each one is leaning out at a different angle in case of an earth quake. If an earth quake over 8.5 was to hit the Taj, each spire would fall at a different time, making it so that none of the mosques near it would be hurt or damaged. Amazing right? Inside, there is just unbelievable decoration. All sorts of little tiny stones with really brilliant colors were placed by hand into the marble to form thousands of little flowers. There was blue, red, orange, green, brown and even some yellow! One red stone called carnelia glowed if you put a flashlight up against it. The workmanship and preciseness was just amazing. I really, really enjoyed that part of our trip. 

But right now, we are back in Delhi. I hope to see everyone soon!!!!

Bye!

Lolly Stock Down Under

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't written in so long! It's actually been a few weeks since Lolly Stock ended, but I'll post some of my journal entries about my favorite parts of the trip. If you're wondering, Lolly Stock Down Under was when the Barkmans came to visit us in the New Zealand! We rented two campers and drove all around the South Island for 8 days. We had so much fun!!

Okay, so this is probably the most crazy filled day:

Day 5: We did the craziest stuff today......well, I guess more crazy for the dads and my mom, but still crazy! All of us went up a really steep chairlift to the top of a mountain. At the top, we got our tickets and took another, smaller ski lift to the base of a small cart track. There, we got really cool, little carts that you rode down the mountain on. Kak, Lolly, Cole and I went down 5 times each and loved it. We went really fast and crashed into stuff. Typical. When we were done, the dads announced that they were going to do the bungy jump next to the cart track in preperation for the bigger canyon swing that they would do later that day. The jump was 100 meters down, and you had to do a dive, as if into a swimming pool, off the platform. We were so scared for them. Daddy went 1st and loved it. Then Pete went 3rd. Both were so glad they did it and had a great time. We then went to the upstairs buffet to have lunch (which was soo good). But we had to eat fast for fear of missing the bus that would bring us to the canyon swing, which is a really big swing attached to a line that goes accross a canyon by bungy cords. No, I didn't do it, but Mommy, Daddy and Pete did. Below the 300 meter high platform that these crazy people were going to jump off of, were sharp cliff-rocks and white water rapids. Daddy, again, went 1st. He, of course, jumped off the platform backwards, freefalling for 3 senconds before starting the ark of the swing. He loved it, and while in swing, anounced that he was 'deffinitely doing this again'. Mommy was next. She went off the cliff a bit more careful than Daddy and just stepped off the platform. Screaming the whole way down, she also loved it. Pete was next and jumped off forwards, but pretended to run as he fell as if he didn't mean to jump. He really enjoyed it too. After two other 20 someodd year old girls went, Daddy and Pete both took a second turn. They both decided to do the scariest jump that you could do....head first. Yeah. But, they both really liked it and we all laughed hysterically at the pictures. So that was day 5. You can imagine what the rest of the trip was like! Some of the other highlights were a trip to a really huge glacier (miles long and high), a jet boat ride, 45 minutes at a hot tub place that overlooked a river, and a 6 hour drive along a tiny, winding, dirt road along the 'Valley of Death'. It was really funny...a sign at the beginning of the road warned us that 'no campers are allowed'. We had lots of fun. 

Well, that's it for now! Bye!

Australia!

So a few weeks ago we flew over to Australia. But don't think that it wasn't uneventful. Cole and I believe, that for some reason, airports do not like us. To start off, Daddy had a stomach bug, and was not in the mood to drive for 3 hours, and then fly for 3 more hours. So Mommy, Cole and I went to the airport in a taxi, while Daddy stayed at our house for one more day. When we arrived at the check in desk at the airport, the lady asked us if we had our Australian visas. Well, we were only going to be in Sydney for 5 days, and didn't think that we would need visas. When we told her that we had no visas she told us that we needed to run (emphasize the 'run' part) down the hall and get one for each of us. So once we had our visas, had our tickets and were ready to go through security, it was about 30 minutes before our flight left. Luckily, security was really fast and our flight was also delayed a few minutes. 

Anyway, we arrived to our hotel in Sydney at around 7:00, and we were hungry. Not really wanting to go and sit at a restaurant, we ordered some food off of the huge room service menu. But let me tell you, our room was amazing. We had a view of the bridge, bay and opera house. We could watch the ferries going across the harbor, and see the people walking over the bridge. Also, there was a full kitchen, washing machine, dryer and dishwasher in the room! There were two big bedrooms with their own bathrooms, a desk overlooking the harbor, and a little living room with a TV. It was so cool. 

So the next day we went to meet our friends from the boat Carl Linne who had rented a little sailboat and wanted to take us around the harbor. We had a great time, and met Daddy the next day. 

Because we had heard so much about it, we took a VIP tour of the zoo. We got to go into the 'backstage' of the zoo with a guide and pet some of the coolest animals. We got to pet a kangaroo, and put our face right next to a koala! We also saw other animals with the weirdest names like the quocca. It was the most amazing zoo experience I've ever had!

After our two days in the harbor, we went to live in a little Bed and Breakfast near my Mom's high school friend, Mudgie. We spent Halloween with Mudgie and her family, and had a great time trick or treating. 

And to top it off, we had to go to the Sydney Opera house for a tour. It was beautiful. We learned all about the architects, how long it took to build and a bunch of other stuff. There were 7 small theaters! We only got to go to 3, but each was perfectly designed. Everything was thought of. 

Then, it was finally time to go back to New Zealand. Luckily, Daddy had been feeling better and we had a very nice, and uneventful flight in the biggest, most luxurious airplane in the air. It had two stories, a personal TV on the back of each seat and a full menu to chose your meal from. It was so nice. 

Well, we are in our house right now getting ready to go to the boat. Bye!!

PS. Today is Mommy and Daddy's 15th anniversary!!! 

Land Life in New Zealand

Hi everyone!

Sorry that it's been so long since my last blog, but we've been busy getting settled here in New Zealand! We are already in a house in one of the suburbs near the main town/port here, Whangarei. It's so beautiful....it's green everywhere with lots of cows and sheep. 

About two weeks ago, when we sailed into New Zealand, it was morning, and we pulled into a marina called Marsden Cove. As soon as we tied up to the dock, customs and immigration people came on board to check us in. After about an hour of official stuff, we were ready to go to the 'Town Basin', which is where we would sit until Zen was pulled out of the water. The Town Basin is a very protected harbor that is at the end of a river that goes into Whangarei. Thanks to our new friend Ian, we were at a dock right next to town. The town is really cool, and after being away from real civilization for 18 months, this is pretty cool. So anyways, we were at the town basin for about 4 days while we looked for a house to rent while Zen was getting worked on. Finally, we found a home only a few minutes away from town. Then, a few days ago, Zen was pulled out of the water by a crane. I wasn't there, but I saw pictures and it looked pretty cool. There were two straps that were attached to the crane and were hanging in the water. Mommy and Daddy then drove Zen into the straps so that she was floating directly over them. Then, once everything was secure, the crane pulled upwards and Zen came out of the water. She is now sitting in a shed, getting prepped for the work that needs to be done. She'll be painted, the sails and canvas work will be changed and we are working on finding some new material for the inside cushions and chairs. 

Anyways, right now Daddy and I are sitting at our dining room table enjoying high speed Internet while Cole finishes up school. We plan on going to a zip-lining/outdoor adventure place later today once Cole is done. It sounds really cool! Tomorrow I have ballet class at a new studio that I just joined last week. I'm having a great time and the kids and teachers there are really nice. Also on Monday, Cole has his second karate class in New Zealand which he is enjoying too. Then, on Wednesday we go to Sydney, Australia to visit friends, and explore the big city for a few days. We'll only be there for 4 days, but our schedule is already packed with something to do everyday. It should be fun! Once we get back from Australia, we'll only have 2 more weeks until the Barkmans come to visit us for 10 days! While they're here, we are going to rent two campers and drive around the South Island (or Southland as it is known down here). It will be quite interesting driving on the wrong side of the rode, sitting on the wrong side of the car, and shifting with the wrong hand (am I doing what I think I'm doing?)! Then, after the Barkmans leave, we'll stay in a hotel for two days before we fly out to India where we will visit our family. Then on December 10th, 11th, 12th, or 13th (not sure which), we leave India and live on a plane for two days.........................until we arrive back in RI!! Yup, we're pretty excited for all this traveling. The only problem is that we will have to cram in as much school as possible before all of this excitement starts so that we will finish before September of 2010! Well, I think that I'm going to go enjoy high speed Internet...bye! 

New Zealand Here We Come!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so today is the two-days-before-arrival-to-New Zealand mark! I can't believe that we are so close...I guess that after knowing that this is where we wanted to get eventually for my entire life, it's a little exciting, overwhelming, but still sad. It's exciting because we're finally gonna get there and NZ is supposed to be amazing. Also, it is the first first-world country that Cole, Daddy or I have been to for 8 months. It's overwhelming because, as I said, I've known, for my whole life, that our family dream was to sail here..and now we're here. I don’t really know how to explain it. Last, it's sad because it is the end point of our sailing life in the Pacific. Anyways, when we get to NZ (in  2 days!!!), we'll move into an apartment in the middle of Whangarei so that the boat can be hauled out of the water, painted and have some other jobs done (such as re-doing the interior cushions, and moving fuel and water tanks around). After settling in, Cole and I hope to find a karate dojo and ballet studio where we can take classes for the two months that we will be in NZ. I've found a studio already, but I don't know much about it. Well, right now we are going about 7.5-8 knots with a full jib and a reefed main (reefed means that we haven't put up the whole sail because there is strong winds...don't worry, we often reef and conditions right now are good). The waves are a bit big...8-10 feet, but since we have been on passage for about 4 days, we are used to them now. Lately, I've been learning a lot about meteorology (the study of weather and its patterns) because of the unusual weather between NZ, Tonga and Australia. It can sometimes be tricky to find a nice, long 'weather window' (or period of time when there is good weather to make a passage), and you could get stuck in high winds. Lucky for us, we are in the correct month for good weather, are a fast cruising boat and have a good meteorologist on board (Daddy). We found a good weather window that suits our speeds and carries us to the exact place we need to go. Also, we communicate with Commanders Weather, which is a company in the States that predicts weather for cruising boats like us. They are very helpful and have pointed us in the right direction many times. Another thing that we had hoped for and gotten, was to have a few other boats sailing with us. Right now we have about 5 other boats on our same path with whom we talk with on the radio every day to check in and see how everyone is doing. Well, other than that, now that we are going south to where winter is still going on, the climate has gotten colder. It's about 69 degrees inside the boat now, but outside it's a bit colder because of the wind. At least we will be more prepared for the New England winter that we will throw ourselves into this upcoming Christmas! 

 

Dive Tonga

Wow I haven't written a blog in a long time! So many things have gone on.
First, there was the Vava'u Regatta. Vava'u is the name of the group of
islands we are in right now. Anyways, during the regatta we participated in
all sorts of activities that were held (kids day, corn hole tournaments, and
a race). It was really fun! Then at the end of the week, Ami and Rick on the
boat Tara Vana came to stay on Zen for a few days. We met them in Cartegena,
and since they were back in the States for a little while, they had some
free time to come and visit us in Tonga. They aren't really sure whether or
not they want to sail across the Pacific themselves, so apart from visiting
us, they were able to understand what the Pacific is like. We had lots of
fun, and Daddy, Ami, Rick and I went on some awesome dives together. On one
of the dives, we got to go into a really cool little air bubble about 50
feet below the surface. It was just a little cave underwater, but if you
went up to the top of it, there was a little spot where you could take out
your regulator and breath regular air! It was so cool and the water in that
one spot was really warm. At the end of the 10 days that Ami and Rick were
with us, they went back to town and stayed at a hotel for a little while to
experience land life in Tonga as well. When they were in town, we explored
many of the 'outer anchorages' where there are no people. All of the
anchorages are really amazing. Right now we are in a little bay called
Manamita with our friends on Dosia and one other boat that I don't know.
It's just a little, protected lagoon surrounded by a reef. Today, while the
adults went snorkeling and Cole and I did school, we all saw a couple of
huge humpback whales breaching right outside the reef! I've never seen
anything like it...the whales came diving out of the water and, as if in
slow motion, fell back into it sideways. It's so cool to watch the whales
play. Also, even though you would think that something so big would make a
really low sound, their 'songs' are actually really high pitched. Sometimes,
while we are swimming, you can hear them. Anyways, I'm just so amazed at how
fast the trip has gone! We will be in New Zealand within the next three
weeks depending on the weather. A few days after we get there, we will move
into an apartment so that Zen can get hauled out of the water to get some
work done (we're repainting the hulls and redoing some of the interior
stuff). Well, Dosia is here so I've gotta go, bye!

Asian Feast on Zen

August 31: So right now we are underway to another anchorage where we will
meet up with Bravado, but last night we had an Asian feast on Zen with Brick
House, Flashback and Dosia. There was delicious food; rice noodles with
vegetables, chicken and a sauce on top...traditional Indian dhall and
rotis...3 fish curry and a pineapple, banana and Nutella spring roles. But
anyways, I'll start from the beginning: When everyone first arrived, and was
just settling down, Jeff on Flashback looked out the window and said 'oh
shoot'! Margie on Dosia also looked out and said 'Hey Julie! Your boat's
floating away!'. We all ran out onto the back deck, and sure enough,
Flashback, the big boat, was floating away. It's anchor must have broken
free from the sand, dropping off the ledge that the boats were anchored on.
So the guys went out to save Flashback while we started setting up dinner.
Luckily they got the boat back and safely anchored. We all had a really
delicious dinner, and everyone lived happily ever after. The End.

Cocpaw Goat Island

September 1: So I bet you are wondering what Cocpaw means. It is actually a
mixture of the two words coconut and pawpaw (papaya), and is the name I gave
to an island that Mommy, Daddy and I just explored. It was pretty small, but
had lots of cool trails to explore. So Mommy, Daddy and I (Cole was doing
school) went ashore to the little, uninhabited island and started to
explore. When we first arrived, we walked into the center of the island
where there were a few trees and bushes, but looked as though it had been
burned from a bonfire. We saw a bunch of coconuts on the ground and so Daddy
went to try and break one open so that we could eat and drink the meat and
water in the center. Because coconuts are really hard, and have an extremely
strong outer coating, we were unable to break it open without a knife, but
settled with taking a bunch and putting them in the dinghy for later. The
next thing we discovered (much to Mommy's delight, and not much to mine) was
a pawpaw tree. It was a smallish tree, but still had multiple pawpaws that
were easy for us to grab. We also took about 6 of those and put them in the
dinghy for us and our friends. Not seeing any other treasures around us, we
decided to try and circumnavigate the island. We started on the beach,
walking along the sand and broken bits of coral, completely dry and happy.
But the road started to get a little rough and we eventually found ourselves
in mid-thigh deep water, walking on the slippery coral beneath us. We were
still having fun..everything around here is an adventure. On our left side
was a wall, about 10 feet tall, of coral/rock that had been beaten away at
by the waves. We soon came to an opening that you could climb up through and
get to the land part of the island. Daddy climbed up first and surveyed the
area. I couldn't see him from below, but he said it looked like there was a
trail that we could follow. So Mommy and I climbed up as well and followed
him. There was a goat trail (there was goats on the island so it really was
a trail made by goats) and we followed it to the other side of the island
stopping every once and a while to look out to sea and try to spot
whales..we didn't see any sadly (there was a whale watch going on and we
wanted to participate..we had spotted one whale earlier that day, but were
hoping to see another). Soon we came to a small, but slanted hill that went
down to the beach..where we had hoped to get to eventually. So we slid down
the hill, trying not to get covered in the soil that would easily stain our
clothes. Back on the beach, walking to the dinghy, Daddy saw a goat. It was
a big goat with big horns. "Well this guy is worth taking a picture of"
Daddy said. Whistling a little bit, Daddy coaxed the goat toward us so that
he could take a picture. As we started to walk away, Mommy came up behind us
and also started whistling at the goat. Well, he came right onto the beach
and started to come at us slowly. When we started to walk back to the
dinghy, he followed. Okay, so when you are being followed by a goat who's
back is at your waist and has 2 foot horns with pointy points, you tend to
look behind you a lot when you are walking. Daddy realized that the goat
would't come near the water. Well, I ran for the water. Upon reaching the
dinghy, the goat started to rub his head against it. "He's going to pop the
dinghy!" Daddy said as he grabbed an oar to whack the goat with. Anyways,
Mommy got the dinghy in the water while Daddy fought off the goat with an
oar. It was scary at the time, but hysterical when I think about it now.
Well, we just arrived back into the main harbor and the sails are coming
down..gotta go, bye!

Cart Tours

Hi everybody! So August has been a crazy month so far, full of birthdays and parties (happy birthday Lolly!!!!!), and we haven't had dinner on Zen since we have arrived in Neifu, Tonga. Also, there being lots of adult birthdays, Cole, Jet and I have been babysitting for the two boys on Love Song. It's really fun, and the kids are really funny. Anyways, yesterday was Allen on Love Song's birthday and they planned a cart tour around the island. The carts were little, open go-carts that fit two people each. Daddy and I rode in one (the one that turned off every 20 feet) and Mommy and Cole rode in another (the newest, shiny yellow one with no problems). Dosia, Wayward Wind, and Flashback also came with us. The majority of the tour was on back paths that cars wouldn't drive on. We stopped at 4 different places, each with it's own unique scenery. The first stop was on top of a huge cliff overlooking the ocean; the second was a beach; the third was another cliff where we saw tons of huge bats; and the fourth was a little cliff that overlooked the ocean and waves crashing into a really amazing reef like structure. The roads we drove on also had all different scenery. One road was paved; another was dirt surrounded with plantations; another was also dirt surrounded by tall, green trees and jungle; and the last was still dirt road surrounded with pine trees and small bushes. It was so cool! On the way back from the last stop, the guide said that Cole and I were allowed to drive. So we both climbed into the drivers seats and took off. At first I was hesitant, but at the end, I felt much more comfortable and was having tons of fun. When we got to the main road, we had to go back to the passenger seats, but the two little kids on Love Song got to sit in their parent's laps and drive with them. We got lots of pictures and had a great time. So today we are going to head off to another anchorage and lunch is coming up soon. Gotta go, bye!

Apia, Samoa

Hi everyone! Sorry that I haven't written a blog in so long, but we have
been busy. So we left Western Samoa yesterday, but I'll back up and tell you
about the tour that we went on.
So we woke up at around 7:30 and were down the dock, ready with bathing
suits and snorkel gear at around 9:00. Daddy had found a tour guide that had
a van and was willing to take Flashback, Karma, Qayak and Zen on a tour of
the island. He also agreed to take us to lunch at one of the hotels and to a
few places where there would be some cool activities for us to do
(snorkeling in a trench, swimming at the base of a waterfall, sliding down a
rock slide, etc.). The tour started as a drive around the town explaining
the history of Samoa and going by a few historical or interesting places.
Some of it was interesting, but after 3 hours of it, Cole and I were bored.
Before heading to lunch, we stopped at a view point where you could see half
of the huge island below you. It was amazing..it was like a big green
pattern of farmland and rainforest. Then we piled back in the van/bus and
started driving (in the now pouring rain) to a hotel on the beach for lunch.
Lunch was chicken curry with rice...mmmm. Because it was kind of cold, warm
food tasted good. Our next stop was the 'trench'. When we arrived it was
still drizzling, but it was warmer so we all got out and headed to the
little stand where you payed an entrance fee. The trench is a big hole in
the ground that goes down maybe 60 feet. So we climbed down the ladder and
jumped into the surprisingly warm water. Daddy had brought his mask in with
him and started snorkeling around looking for anything cool. He soon found a
place that you could swim through. After going through once, he informed us
that you just had to swim for about 10 seconds underwater before you popped
up in a cave. Once in that cave, there was another ledge, about 2 feet wide
that you could go over or under and lead you to the ocean. It was really
cool and after Cole went I also went through. After going through another 2
or 3 times, Mommy told us that everyone was waiting in the bus...oops! So we
scrambled back up the ladder and back into the bus. Sadly, we didn't get to
go to the spot we had been looking forward to most (sliding rock), but it
was still fun.
We just arrived in Nuitoputapu..an island off of Tonga. It was a short
passage from Apia, Samoa, but both Mommy and Cole were seasick. Also on this
passage we passed over the International Date Line!! That means that August
10th turned into August 11th! There is also a time difference, but only an
hour and I'm not sure if that's backwards or forwards yet. Well, Mommy is
cooking a big lunch since we are always hungry after a passage (normally, we
don't eat much on passages since it makes us sick so we are always really
hungry once we arrive...most cruisers call passages diets..haha) and we are
going to start the audio book 'The Secret Man'. Gotta go! bye!

Hey! We Know You!

So yesterday we arrived into Neifu, Tonga..one of the bigger groups of
islands in Tonga. When we pulled into the anchorage we were amazed at the
number of boats. It was almost like one of the anchorages in Panama! There
is almost constant traffic on the radio and there are currently two boats
pulling in and one leaving. We were told that there are about 22 common
restaurants and probably more. But most importantly, almost everyone we have
met in the Pacific is in this anchorage. Yesterday, starting about an hour
after we arrived, Cole and I swam, or dighied over to our friends' boats and
caught up with each other for the rest of the afternoon. I was so happy when
I saw Jet on Bravado! I haven't been with a girl my age for a month or two
now and we spent a lot of time swimming, laughing and talking. It reminded
me of the times when Kak and I catch up with each other! It was her 12th
birthday on the 19th, but since we missed it, she is having her party later
today. It's going to be just girls...I'm excited! Yesterday was Kathy's (on
Love Song) birthday, so a bunch of the adults in the anchorage (including my
parents and Jet's parents) went ashore to celebrate her birthday with her at
one of the restaurants. Since she has two little sons, she asked if Jet and
I wouldn't mind babysitting. Of course, we said yes. Morgan is 5 and Wyat is
3, so we watched 'Milo and Otis' before they went to bed. Once they were
asleep Jet and I talked for a while. It was fun. Also last night, Cole slept
over on 'Monkey Feet', a boat that we met in Panama and haven't seen since.
He had a great time too. Well, Mommy and Daddy are ashore right now taking
care of some boat stuff and Cole and I are on the boat finishing up our day
of school. Gotta go! Bye!

This email is via satellite phone.  Please do not send any attachments. 
Please reply with your email only.  Delete all other previous email threads.
Thank you.

Solar Eclipse

So we had planned to leave today, making yesterday the 'goodbye day'.
Anyways, we were saying goodbye to the couple on Karma around dinnertime and
just happened to be on their top deck. Everyone forgot that there would be a
solar eclipse, but we were just then watching the sunset. All of a sudden,
the sun started to split into two pieces..what was happening? Then Daddy
said: 'The solar eclipse is going on right now!'. It was so cool to watch
the sun slowly disappear beneath the horizon in two different pieces. Then,
right as the last of the sun went below the horizon, a green flash happened!
A green flash is when you see a tiny bit of lime green flash out from where
the sun had just set. It was especially awesome because, since there were
two suns, there were two green flashes. Anyways, when we woke up this
morning, there was no wind and we didn't end up leaving. Instead we took the
whole anchorage to another island here called 7 Islands, for the day. It was
a beautiful spot with amazing snorkeling and a sandy bottom. We all played
on the two kayaks that we had for a while before going to shore to see the
whale bones. So the bones were really big and you could sit in one of them
like it was a chair! In one spot there was a whole chain of bones put
together like pieces of a puzzle (on my way to the bones, I ran into a
tree). Finally, after a delicious pizza lunch made by an Italian couple that
came with us, we headed back to the main anchorage. Because the sun was in
our face, and the visibility of the water wasn't so great, I got to hang out
on the spreaders and look for shallow spots. We are now on a mooring and
prepared for the 2 night trip that starts tomorrow at the crack of dawn.
Well, I'm gonna go read..bye!

Cruise Ships in the Cooks ???

So today, we woke up in the morning to find a huge cruise ship called the
Paul Gaugin approaching Suwarrow. This was expected, since the cruise was
planned last summer and the family ashore warned us that they would be
coming. Even so, the cruise ship was so big compared to our small boats and
so tall compared to the palm tree height island, it just didn't seem
possible that it could be here. Luckily, the draft of the cruise ship was
too deep and it couldn't come into the lagoon, but the ships' 300 passengers
would be. Their plan was to bring all of the people ashore via a smaller
boat, and then spend the day here. The family ashore were still quite
confused on what they were supposed to do..are they supposed to give them
lunch and tours..are they supposed to act like Indians and go flying around
in the trees with paint on their faces? Well, we were hoping that they were
going to host a big dinner on the ship and invite all the cruisers (we would
of course say yes, but the chances of that happening were small). Anyways,
when the first tender was spotted we all scrambled to the binoculars. It
turned out that the ship was only bringing some supplies to the family, and
telling them (much to the family's relief) that: 'Because of the big waves,
we are not going to be coming ashore..instead we are going to be leaving the
island in the next hour'. Well, after days of cleaning and preparing the
island, they just left supplies and went..that's not so bad! So, soon the
cruise ship was no longer in sight.
Anyways, the boys on Whisper are over on the boat now and are playing Legos
with Cole, the couple on Qayak just left (they brought us M&Ms'!!) and
Mommy is making what smells like a delicious lunch. I think that I'm going
to go and make a bracelet..bye!

Scooters on Aitutaki

This was written earlier in July-So we are now in the Cook Islands at an
island called Aitutaki. It's a small island surrounded by a beautiful blue
lagoon with very shallow waters and few boats. A few years ago the TV series
'Survivor' was filmed here. Anyways, we left Bora Bora on the 30th of June,
and after a bit of a bumpy passage (3 days with 12 to 25 knots of wind and
15 to 20 foot seas), we arrived in the pass of Aitutaki on July 2nd. Because
we arrived at around 6:30 pm, we had to drop the anchor in the most
convenient spot for the night before the sun went totally down. Dosia was
already here, and helped us put down our stern anchor before coming over for
a delicious chili dinner cooked by Mommy. The next day we went ashore to
check in and explore a little. Once we were cleared, Margie and Drew on
Dosia took us to the scooter rental place where we got two mopeds to explore
the island on. Margie and Drew already had a scooter and had explored the
island a little before us, so they gave us the tour of the small island
ending with a yummy dinner at one of the local restaurants. On the fourth of
July we had Dosia, and another boat, Big Air over to Zen for dinner. It was
really fun..we watched some funny parts of a movie that Dosia brought, and
JP, a single hander on Big Air brought over some amazing home-made garlic
bread. The next day (my birthday!) we stayed on the boat the whole day and I
practiced playing my flute that I had gotten as one of my presents. On the
6th, we took a tour around the lagoon with a few other couples from hotels.
The lagoon was so beautiful and there were areas where you could walk in
waist deep water for a really long time. My favorite spot was a big sand bar
in the middle of the lagoon surrounded with deeper water, where we jumped
into off the top of our tour boat. After relaxing on the sand bar for a
little while we went snorkeling in the place where huge oyster shells were
grown..they really were huge. Finally, we went to One Toe..I mean One Foot
Island where we had a delicious lunch of fresh fruits, vegetables and fish.
Finally, we got back on the boat after 3 hours on the island and headed back
to Zen. A few days later, we went to one of the resorts to see the coolest
fire and dance show that I have ever seen. There was a really yummy buffet
with all sorts of traditional foods, and then a crazy fire show with about
10 people swinging around fire on batons. It was amazing. Before the fire,
there was a short dance show and Cole and I were invited to dance.

This was written on July 17th-So after a few more days in Aitutaki, we left
on a 2 night passage to Suwarrow. Suwarrow is an atoll that has not been
touched by man, and is a Cook Island national park. A family of 6 (the
parents have 4 boys ages 8 to 13) are the park rangers of this atoll and
help to preserve the wildlife in Aitutaki. They are really friendly and had
every boat in the anchorage come to their open air home for a potluck dinner
last night. It was really fun, and Cole and I played soccer with the 4 boys
ashore and the 2 boys on the boat Whisper. There are many sharks here, but
there are only black-tips in the anchorage and you don't really have to
worry too much about them. But on the other side of Anchorage Island, the
main motu, the boys feed black-tips, white-tips and grays. It's been raining
all night, but it looks like there is sun now! Being closer to the Equater
than Aitutaki, we are getting 82 degree weather again, which feels really
warm compared to the 75 degrees that we were in only a week ago. Well, I'm
going to go read..bye!