We Happily head to Key West (Via, via, via!)
It's Earth Day and so it feels fitting that we embark on our trip starting today but oh boy, it was not without a fare share of hiccups, joy, excitement and a few curse words!
We (and by that I mean mostly Shaun) have been preparing for this trip for weeks now, perhaps months. It took careful planning, lots of engine and boat prep combined with an extensive honey-do-list from me to complete before hitting the seas. We also had to make sure that our real estate business was in order as well as ensuring that our family; parents, children and grandchildren and Mr Pete's were all taken care of too. After many late nights and early mornings, we managed to get most of it done. There’s nothing like a solid deadline to get things accomplished! Some of this included things like varnishing, servicing the motors, cleaning and painting them and installing a water maker so that we are almost completely self sufficient. We also bought spares of parts we may need along the way. We have made ourselves pretty self reliant, we just need fuel really which is great. We left our sunny shores on a quiet and perfectly still Monday morning making the 1 hour trip to our fist stop, St Pete. This stop is technically still a working part of our vacation because we have to finish up our Airbnb that we are starting just 5 blocks up from the Vinoy basin where we are moored. Escorted in by two dolphins we knew our trip was going to be great going forward!
We settled in at lunchtime and I made a light lunch while Shaun napped (He was not feeling well) Later in the afternoon we packed up our fold up bikes and rode up to the apartment to work. Had an early evening cocktail and snacks and fell into bed exhausted. In the morning we walked up to work this time and then leisurely made our way up beautiful Central Avenue, settling in at The Lure for lunch with a beer and white wine.
We window shopped a bit and marveled at how much St Pete has changed since we moved to the States and how much we enjoy spending time here.
In the late afternoon the girls and all three babies came to visit. We had supper up on the helm and so enjoyed having everyone with us before we set sail in a couple of days. Enjoyed some wine with the sunset, of course!
Today is Wednesday (we have to remind ourselves as it’s starting to blur) and we had a punch out list to get done. We cycled up fairly early and got a bunch of stuff done. Justine dropped Jax with us while she went to lunch with a friend in St Pete.
We walked to the quaint little General store and bought ice creams and peaches to eat in the park overlooking the huge Banyan tree and duck pond. We had lunch with him at the coffee shop next door to the general store and went back to finish up at the apartment after Jax left.
Back at the boat we caught on some emails and so on and I packed a picnic for the Mamma Mia show that we are going to outdoors in the park adjacent to the dinghy dock. It was a spectacular foot taping performance and we thoroughly enjoyed it (most natable becuase I know ever single word to the songs lol) Our picnic basket was the hit of the night with so many people coming over to check it out and find out where I bought it. It comes with a little built in table that holds your glasses and so on
Today we started out the day with a quick run along the waterfront and then Tam picked us up with the supplies she had brought to us for the apartment we are working on to get completed before leaving. We did a lot, had a coffee in the park and Uber’d back after to getting parts from Home Depot and West Marine. We enjoyed a charcuterie and ended the day with an early night.
We had to finish up the last of the Airbnb stuff and managed to close up everything on Happy Wife and just outrun the rain that was forecast to hit us mid morning. We cycled back to the boat to freshen up and walked over to Fresco’s for lunch in the marina to wait for Justine and Jax to pick us up. We shopped for the last few things needed and she dropped us with Jax to spend the night onboard.
We had such a special time with our little Nuunu…we made pizza, iced cookies and watched a movie before bed. Nothing beats a little voice saying, “goodnight Meeme; I love you SOOO much and I’m going to miss you and Glumpy so much. Please don’t go! Of course he slept with me in our bed and I woke to little arms around my neck with kisses. It just melts my heart. Of course we are sad that our other little nuunu’s could not join us too. We made breakfast and Jax drew us a picture before we took him back to shore to say a tearful farewell.
Even though we’ve been away from home this week, our vacation only truly starts today. We are so excited to venture out and also sad to leave our little ones for quite a time. We set sail today filled with joy and gratitude for our blessed life. We pray that the sun will always be on our faces and that the wind will be at our backs. Toes in the water...ass in the sand!
