team davidson has done it again

2012-01-20T16:12:00.000-08:00

Deep freeze 2012!
Before you start, you should know that this is a LONG post! We had no internet for a few days, so I just kept this post running like a captain’s log for a few days until I could put it up. I tried to separate days by putting a few spaces in between them.

(Tuesday)
Hey guys!!
Of course in the true nature of Team Davidson, we chose the coldest week of the year to move aboard Wind-Borne! Why would we make it easy on ourselves? We are sitting here in the main Salon looking at our glowing white windows covered in snow! It’s literally a blizzard out there. 30 knot winds and snow coming down pretty thick. The boat is listing and making howling creaking noises, making the storm sound worse than I’m sure it probably is. We got to the island yesterday and luckily spent a fairly warm night on board thanks to our two electric heaters working round the clock to keep us thawed out. This morning however the temp took a dive and we are getting pretty cold. I have noticed that throughout the morning each of us has added several extra layers of clothing. Ben is sitting at the table working on some plans wearing a carhart coat and wool hat, and I am typing in two jackets and wool slippers with wool hat as well. Henry is having his nap and is wearing full clothes plus my bathrobe wrapped around him with several blankets and a heater in the room with him. ….um, maybe it’s time to rethink things a bit? Maybe put it off until the snow storm ends?
Well, if nothing else, we got some good pictures to show you guys right?.
I forgot to tell you all that Ben is awesome and got me a late Christmas present less than a week ago that I have been pining over for quite some time. A new Camera!! I’m so excited! Ours don’t’ seem to last too long (probably due to our traveling lifestyle) We have lost quite a few to humidity including our last one in Australia. That’s a huge part of the reason we haven’t been able to post many pictures in recent months. Almost all the pictures we have posted are from our phones.
Well, other than the freezing conditions outside, Wind-Borne is working out just fine for us, minus the usual projects that will always need working on. We are settling in and making ourselves at home. It’s really pretty comfy in here.

We just recently returned to the boat from the cabin where I was packing the rest of our things up, and man is it cold outside!! The wind is brutal!! It’s so cold! I watched a few minutes of the weather report and we are definitely supposed to be getting down well below zero tonight. The boat is staying fairly warm, but we are all still well bundled. We are all in long johns under our clothes. I think we may start the engine for a while to make the water heater warm up. Ben is worried that it may freeze. I can’t wait to curl up and watch some BONES in bed tonight. Ben got me a couple seasons of it on DVD for my birthday in May, and he still hasn’t seen them all. I love a good Bones marathon!

(Friday)
We managed to stay warm and cozy on our boat through the worst of the winter storm we had. The snow is thawing and starting to get slushy now. I watched the news a bit again yesterday, and found out that 180,000 homes lost power the last couple days!! With all the freezing rain sleet, and snow trees have been snapping in half and branches have been falling all over the place knocking power lines out like crazy! The governor declared a state of emergency and the Seattle area is basically shut down until the roads thaw out. If you have been to Seattle you know it has crazy steep hills all over and there is no way I would drive on them covered in ice. All the schools are closed including Orcas Island!
I called my brother and mom to see if they had power, and it turns out they both were. My mom luckily has a gas fireplace where she is staying in Issaquah, so she was warm and toasty. Although I didn’t talk to my brother, mom said he was out of power and had to vacate their house, with no other means of heat other than electric, and go stay with his wife Sarina’s parents in Issaquah who are also out of power, but luckily have a generator.
It’s good news for the Seattle area is thawing out, but I hear it’s supposed to result in a huge amount of flooding, so it’s unfortunately not the end of the trouble people will be seeing from this storm. I feel quite fortunate to be out here on Blakely where it has not really affected us at all. We are warm and cozy here. It’s funny, without stopping into the house to check the news we would have no idea what was going on out there in the “real world” It seems a world away. Apparently we got tons of snow at our house in Ellensburg, which people are way more prepared for over there, so it’s not too big of a deal. Luckily we turned our water off this time when we left the house, so no danger of pipes freezing and breaking like they did a few weeks ago. There was however a nasty accident on the freeway between Cle Elum and Ellensburg involving 7 semi trucks and a state trooper that shut the entire thing down for a whole day!! Yikes!! Everyone is ok though luckily.

It’s Friday mid day and I finally have some time to try and figure out how to download pictures from my new camera onto the computer, so hopefully I’ll be able to post this today and show you what’s been going on. One thing I especially wanted to post were new pictures of Wind-Borne’s interior. I realize it has been a very long time since many of you have seen a picture of what she looks like on the inside and it is prompting quite a few of you to ask us questions about life aboard. I would love to help you understand how we live on the boat a little better.
We keep getting asked what Henry thinks of the boat, and how will we keep him on it, and how will we cook, and keep warm. We also had one person ask if Henry has to wear a life jacket to bed in case he falls over board!! Clearly we have not explained how the boat really looks or functions recently! None of these are bad or silly questions, just ones we’d like you to have the answers to.
Here goes, As you can see from the pictures, Wind-Borne is a 36 foot sailboat. Inside we have 6’3” headroom. There are two cabins with double beds. One at the front of the boat for Ben and I and one in the back that is supposed to be for Henry, but he doesn’t like to sleep there. We also have an L shaped settee (or couch) on the left (port) side of the boat that has an insert to make it a double bed (this is where Henry likes to sleep), and another smaller one on the right (starboard) side. We can comfortably sleep 6 adults and one child on Wind-Borne. The dining table folds down from the wall, and can easily be put up in a few seconds to leave the whole main living area open for Henry to play in. We do have a functioning kitchen (galley) with stove, oven, fridge, and sink. We also have a functioning bathroom (head) with sink, toilet, and drum roll please…a BATHTUB!! There is also plenty of storage and closet space plus a small desk (nav station)
So, since it’s cold outside we don’t’ spend any time on the deck or in the cockpit, so keeping him on board is not an issue. Obviously, he does not need to wear a life jacket inside since there is no danger at all of him falling overboard. (we do have two for him on board though, just in case of course) We stay warm with two electric heaters. We will need to find another heat source if we leave the dock, but that’s a whole other post in itself. We can easily make meals on board, do dishes, wash our hands, everything you would do in a normal house, just on a smaller scale, and you can’t use as much water, because we are limited to the amount we can store on board. I can’t quite remember how much we can have at one time but I think it’s close to 150 gallons. Ben knows the answers to that stuff. We have the laptop with us, and can watch movies on it. We are supposed to be able to get internet there, but it’s not working at the moment. Hopefully we will get that fixed soon. The only real issue is phone service! Neither of our cell phones work here on Blakely (Ben can get texts) And, of course we have no land lines on the boat, so we are out of luck If we want to make a phone call. If we had internet and it was an emergency or something we could skype from the computer to make a call, but it doesn’t really work for Ben’s business or for people getting ahold of us, thus we return to the cabin to use the phone if we need to for now.
I hope this helps. If you have more questions for us please ask!! No question is a bad question!! We realize not everyone is familiar with boats, especially not living on one! That’s why we try to write our blog in a way that doesn’t include tons of boat lingo.
Oh, I almost forgot, Yes, Henry does like the boat!! He has a lot of toys and books on board, and has us to play with, so he’s pretty well entertained. When we put the table up there is quite a bit of room. We even played soccer in there this morning. He can also watch movies if he gets too bored and we can’t entertain him. We are never inside all day anyway, so he gets a break from the boat for a few hours either in the morning or evening no matter what.
The only thing he doesn’t like is the fact that helping me cook is not as fun or easy as it is in a house. He likes to be involved with cooking meals. The galley is just too small for him to stand in with me, but he can watch from the settee on the other side of the sink. He has also been getting into trouble trying to blow the flame out on our alcohol powered stove. (he is not used to a stove with flames)He also bumps his head occasionally when he is tired and grumpy, because he tends to show us his frustration by throwing his head around…which is no good on a boat. The only other thing that he gets into on board is the VHF radio at the nav station. We have to make sure he doesn’t use it, because we could get in big trouble if he ties up the coast guard station. He always wants to call people on it like a phone.
Alright, the little man is waking up from his nap now, so my typing time is over. Hope you enjoyed our marathon 4 day long post!!! Hope those of you in Washington are staying warm and safe!!

We went sledding at Snoqualmie pass on the way over to the island on Monday!! Woo Hoo!! I had to take pictures quickly and shut the camera off so snow wouldn't get on the lense, so there aren't too many. We all had a lot of fun!!

Up at the island:

Snow everywhere!

Henry checking out house plans with papa on Wind-Borne

The dock. Don't worry, it was snowy, but not slippery.

Brrr!!

Snowy boat.

The view into our cockpit. (Don't mind our recycling pile)

We had some ice form on the inside of our windows.

This may give you an idea of how windy it is here. The snow was all blown into drifts.

Ben headed out to check the lines.

Cooking in my winter hat and jacket. (The boat did eventually warm up.)
Here are a few pictures of Wind-Borne's interior.

This view is looking foreward to the bow from the galley. I'm sitting on the stairs leading to the cockpit. You can see the two settees that double as beds, and our table is folded down, but not all the way out. The other leaf folds up to make a really big table.

This is our bathroom. Don't mind the coffee maker, thats temporary. :)

Here is the galley.

This is our bedroom. As you can see we have a nice large, and rather comfy bed. Henry's cabin is smaller, but the bed is the same. We are currently using Henry's bed as our garage right now though until we are all moved in. It's a mess in there!

This is the view from our bedroom (cabin) back to the galley. You can see the nav station on the right just after the closet.

Henry is working very hard on that drawing.

This is the settee just in front of the galley. It's not quite long enough for a tall adult to sleep on, but works great for kids. We keep our canned food and Henry's bedding under and behind the cushions.

Hope these pictures help you to get a sense of how we live on board Wind-Borne. It's not as cramped as you might imagine. It's really a lovely boat!!

Moving back aboard!!

2012-01-03T16:19:00.000-08:00

Ahoy there blog readers!!
It's official, Team Davidson is moving back aboard our beloved Wind-Borne!!
No, you didn't miss any big decision to sail the Pacific or anything, but we have her home now and it only makes sense to stay aboard again while Ben has work up here on Blakely. We will still have the house in Ellensburg for when Ben works on the Suncadia jobs and we will probably spend more time there in the summer when work slows here, and Tie er loose comes up to take Wind-Borne's slip in the Blakely marina. Luckily we have a boat with two cabins since we have the little man now.
As you know by now, a boat is a constant work in progress. As soon as we made the decision to move back aboard we noticed that in the cold weather we need a few changes as she is a "tropical" boat. For starters, we have no heat source! Brrr!! We did a bit of shopping this weekend in Ellensburg for some storage bins, a shower curtain, etc.. and we shopped our house for things like kitchen utensils, extra silverware, and things like that. Ben built shelves into three of our hanging lockers leaving us only one half of a locker for hanging, but this will help so much with storage now that we have Henry and all his clothes and things to store. We really only hang coats and life jackets anyway.
I'm looking forward to some simple boat projects myself like getting the corrosion buffed off the metal fixtures and hanging a little art, and getting things stowed. I want to change it up a bit this time with the food storage and I also want to have a lot less clutter, so we'll see how that goes!
As for water, I'm not sure what is going to happen there. I'm not looking forward to showering on board in the winter in the Pacific North West with our tiny water heater and cold boat. And, the marina is closed for the season, so just getting water in general is a bit of a tricky situation. We have a little in the tanks, but will run through it quickly. We brought jugs for water that we can fill up at the cabin and bring down, but I'm pretty sure that will get old. I'm sure we will find a solution soon. We are also having a bit of an issue with having a messy little man with my beautiful white upholstery on everything! It is now a no shoes boat, because someone likes to climb all over the furniture (of course) and muddy foot prints do not make me happy.
Henry has his own large cabin complete with double berth, but refuses to sleep in it at all, so he will be sleeping in the small sea berth (couch) just forward of the galley. I have already made a lee cloth (to keep you in your bed at sea) for the larger settee on the other side of the cabin, so I will just take it in a little and attach it on his little bed so it will resemble a crib with fabric instead of wood. He will be in the middle of everything, but I kind of like it that way. We can store his bedding on his real bed during the day and pretend he uses it.
Well, that's about all the updating I have for you at the moment on moving back aboard, but I'm sure we will be updating you again soon. Something about Wind-Borne just inspires blogging for us. Probably, because the boat is always on our mind when we are on board. And, we have no tv or other distractions, so we have more time for writing and keeping in touch.
Thanks for checking in again.
Have a fantastic new year everyone!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

2012-01-03T15:21:00.000-08:00

Happy New year!! We hope you all had an awesome holiday season! We sure did!
We kicked ours off with that fantastic visit by Santa, then celebrated Henry's birthday (which was on the 20th) with Henry's grandma Contratto and his great grandparents in Teanaway a few days early. He got some nice presents including some wooden blocks, a race car, and Rock Elmo! Great grandma put trick candles on his birthday cupcakes, so every time he blew them out they re-lit and now he is obsessed with trying to find more lights that will "blow on" by blowing out every flame he sees.
Next, back at Blakely, Henry spent his real birthday with his Davisdson grandparents. He received more great gifts and cupcakes! In fact, he got a ridiculous amount of presents!! Ben & I got him a really cool Radio Flyer wagon with wooden sides and by the time John & Laurie were done bringing gifts over he had a full wagon of new toys. I'm sure you don't really want the full list, so just to name a few quick things, he got two of the same twilight turtle nightlight from us and his grandparents, a tool box with tools, and a set of super cute books from his aunt & uncle Janet & Doug.
Fast forward a few days and we awoke Christmas morning to find that Santa had also brought Henry quite a few Christmas gifts. he was obviously very good this year!! Ben and I did not do to badly ourselves!! Ben got a few new "manly non kid movies" a new watch just like the one he killed diving (they say water safe to 100 meters, but apparently it's only if you don't try to use the indiglo down there to check the time!) he also got a new subscription to Surfers Journal, and some great stuff from his parents like his new carhart coat and pants!! I got a new sewing machine that is ridiculously awesome from John & Laurie and I love it. I have already sewed several things with it. I also got a gift certificate for a massage on Orcas!! Yay!! And, because Ben knows me so well he got me some delicious new spices from Penzey's!! All in all, I'd say we did pretty well. Ben and I chose to make the majority of the gifts we gave out this year including some new house warming gifts for the parents new house, and a Henry picture book.
Wow!! It was holiday central around here for a few weeks! We just had our new years eve on the road heading home to Ellensburg. We left the island around 8 am and had to run some work errands getting lumber etc in Mount Vernon, then back to drop it off on the boat with john & Laurie, then to Bellingham to go to Hardware sales and have lunch with Kevin Honda and see Jones of course., then we realized Ben accidentally left his ladder at the dock in Anacortes, so back we went... By the time we got home to Ellensburg we had spent 12 hours in the car...Henry was super pleased as you can imagine. Oh, forgot to mention, we got a speeding ticket on the way home! Awesome! When we got to Ellensburg around 10:00 Pm we had to go to the grocery store to get milk & staples for breakfast. After a quick stop ( we got champagne too yay!, it was new years eve after all!) We arrived at home to find that a pipe had frozen and broken (outside luckily) and was gushing water at an alarming rate! It sounded like Niagara falls and who knows how long it had been leaking like that! We had been on the island almost 2 weeks...I guess the water bill will tell us.Luckily, my cousin Jessica happened to have the parts we needed in her work truck so she brought them over the next morning and they had the pipe fixed in no time. Henry stayed up until 12:30 since he had all that pent up energy from being in the car all day, so we all stayed up past midnight to celebrate the new year! Woo Hoo!!
On new years day we celebrated by clearing out our storage unit including snowmobile with the help of Jeccica & Randy's trailer and four wheeler (snowmobile doesn't start) and took everyone including my mom out to lunch. All in all the start to our new year was great minus the coffee maker breaking new years morning. Yikes!! Luckily we have a french press, instant coffee, and an aeropress to get us through!!
We are now back up on Blakely until Friday night when we will return to Ellensburg so Ben can work on the house he is starting to side in Suncadia, then we will return to the island again on Monday morning early (I mean like 3 am early) so Ben can finish things up here...so go the story of our lives... logging some serious travel time here at Team Davidson headquarters.
Oh, I totally forgot to mention that we are in the process of moving back on to Wind-Borne this week!!!! Can you believe it? The boat that started this whole blog writing thing!! So, I suppose that is worthy of a new post all in it's self. Stay tuned for a Wind-Borne post coming next!!!

This Year's Christmas Card!!

2011-12-13T15:14:00.001-08:00

Peppermint Dots Christmas Card

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Santa Clause Came to Blakely!!

2011-12-12T08:56:00.001-08:00

Santa Was Here!!

We had an amazing weekend!! I just had to write & tell you all about it!! On Saturday we took Wind-Borne out & set sail (er..motor) for Friday Harbor. It was a drizzly gray afternoon & there was no wind, so we had a nice, uneventful, & freezing motor over without our dodger, so Ben at the helm was totally out in the elements. I got a seriously wind burnt face from the cold & Ben's hands were frozen solid when we reached Friday Harbor, but by the time we arrived it was sunny & beautiful!!! We warmed up quickly & set off into town with John & Laurie who motored across in their boat the Laurie Ann with us. (They have a pilot house that made us seriously jealous & arrived warm & comfy) We all bought Christmas lights in town and decorated our boats with them. Ben pulled lights up our mast, and I put them all around the lifelines, so Wind-Borne looks awesome at night!! We have green lights & Laurie Ann has red ones. We look pretty cool moored next to each other in Blakely Marina.

After an awesome night out on the town we set sail..or motor... again Sunday morning and got back to Blakely in plenty of time for a quick nap for Ben & Henry & a shower for me, then we got down to the marina for Santa's boat!!!!

Santa sailed in on a HUGE whale watching boat blaring "Santa Clause is coming to Town" with Santa & Mrs. Clause out on the bow waving & yelling HO HO HO MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Henry was the only child on island at this point, so he got all Santa's attention!! We stood with Santa & Mrs. Clause on the dock while all the 30 or so other member's of Santa's team got off the boat. There were elves, Pirates, clowns, and old fashioned carolers!!! Each one said hello to Henry and a pirate gave him his balloon sword! The carolers sang and the clowns started making balloon animals, swords, and other things.

Blakely Island made food potluck style for Santa's ship, so after they were all done eating Santa sat down & everyone including all the adults & the two other children that showed up sat on Santa's lap and got presents!! Santa & Mrs. Clause were so patient and sweet. They saw Henry several times and even got him to laugh more than once. They weren't the usual mall Santa crowd. They really cared about making the kids & everyone for that matter feel special. Clowns were making things & Pirates were sword fighting the kids with Balloon swords. An elf was handing out beautiful hand knit hats, and Henry got a super adorable hand carved wooden horse toy with wheels. A super nice man gave Henry a stuffed Parrot!! He Loves it!! He loves all his new toys actually!!

We were so impressed with the generosity and kindness of everyone on board the Santa boat! The toys and gifts Henry received were so special, because the majority of them were handmade! Someone spent a lot of time and effort making these toys for children they don't know just to see them smile. It's really sweet. We plan on making this a Christmas tradition every year!! The Lions club of Bellingham put this whole thing together & I hope they know how much we all really appreciate it!! Henry got up this morning and insisted we all put our Santa hats on & go see the Santa Boat!! It was really hard to explain to him that Santa only comes once a year & we couldn't see Santa again today. He got pretty upset. He really wants Santa Boat to come back!!

I hung the singing puppy stocking Henry got by the fire and tucked all his new gifts inside to re-open on Christmas. There is a generous amount of taffy & snacks in the bottom with a stuffed dog, parrot, wooden horse, new knit hat, and fun beaded necklaces on top!!

Thank you again to the wonderful people over at the Lions club who brought Santa and his friends over to our little island!!

Happy Holidays From Team Davidson!!!

2011-12-08T14:15:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays Everyone!!

Where to start?!It has been so long, I don’t know who is caught up on what, so here is a quick(ish) update and some fun pictures to show what’s been going on in the Davidson household recently.
Henry is awesome!! He is getting bigger & bigger! He is 2’ 11” and 34LBS! He is turning 2 on December 20th!! Can you believe it? 2!!! He is a smart little man & is seemingly fearless & never sitting still. He still crawls in his sleep…. He seriously never sits still. He just seems to have too much to accomplish, which as you can probably guess means he still doesn’t sleep! He has only slept through the night a handful of times & it takes hours to get him to bed. He just wants to play & explore all the time. Can you really blame him though? J
He is learning new words every day & is starting to make “sentences” For example if he wants to go next door at Blakely & see grandma he will say “ Henry Grandma up doggie” , because Grandma lives upstairs with her dog… It’s very cute! I understand at least 90 percent of what he says, but it takes a little decoding sometimes, so I translate for him a lot for other people. He is potty training very well and learning quickly. I’d say he makes it 50 percent of the time.
We are living between two houses at the moment. We are on Blakely Island at Doug & Janet’s cabin while Ben finishes building his parent’s house next door. We also have a house rented in Ellensburg where we have all our stuff and Ben has work in the area. We drive back & forth quite a bit, which can be wearing, but we like both places. Oh, and we hope to have the parent’s house done before Christmas…but we will see. It’s so close, but there are so many little loose ends to tie up.
Our latest big news is that we finally have Wind-Borne here at Blakely in the marina!!! We had her shipped from North Carolina to Anacortes nearly a month ago now, but just got her here to the island about a week ago. We are taking our first overnight North West cruise in her this coming Saturday & are really excited!!We are taking Henry to see the lighted boat parade at Friday Harbor. John & Laurie will be joining us on their boat the Laurie Ann! Henry likes being on board, although he did object when I told him that the aft cabin is his new room. I think he thought it was going to take the place of his current room, which he loves.
We are also thrilled to announce that Santa is coming to Blakely Island this Sunday!! Henry is the only child on the island, so he will have Santa all to himself, although he doesn’t quite know what that means. He is excited to see Santa & knows who he is, but has no idea what he actually does. Santa will arrive at the dock on a big boat mid day with a ship full of elves & presents! He gets to sit on Santa’s lap & get gifts & take pictures! How awesome is that?
As for Ben & myself, there is nothing much new to tell. We are both well & happy…although we both wish we could have more sleep in our lives! That’s our Christmas wish, sleep!
I finally convinced Ben to take me to the Nutcracker in Seattle on the 17th!! It only took 6 years to convince him to do it. I absolutely love the nutcracker & PNB does a really fantastic one! My mom will be watching the little man while we are out since it’s not really a baby appropriate event, so we actually have an evening out to ourselves! Yay! We rarely go out without Henry, but I don’t think he will mind since he will be having plenty of fun wearing grandma out. If I’m super lucky Ben will take us out before hand to our favorite restaurant the Metropolitan Grill. Best steaks ever!! I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
Hope that answers some of your questions!
!!!Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

Howdy

2011-08-02T12:49:00.000-07:00

Howdy family and friends!
Sorry it's been so ridiculously long since I've added pictures or written! We have had a bit of a camera problem again for the past few months...yes.... more camera problems!!! What is it with us & short camera lives? We currently have nothing to take Henry's picture with except our phones at the moment. It fills me with guilt that I'm not getting all the great summer shots I should be getting of Henry. We have some great shots of him in the Blakely 4th of July parade though that other people took & will be adding them shortly. Thanks so much for hanging in there. I'll update you more soon & tell you what we've been up to. I have to go now, because the little man just woke up early from his nap & I have to see if I can coax him back down before it's too late.

pics at home

2011-04-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

Henry loves his cowboy boots

Having his bottle in the shoe box

Very happy little man snuggled in with bottle & a cracker.

Driving grandpa's boat

Playing fetch with Jones

Sea lions

hanging out in his Tonka truck

Oh, how he loves the bellows!

He likes to imitate it blowing air.

Poor Jones. Henry insisted on being on or touching him at all times while he was at our house.

It made Henry so happy to pet Jones while he had his bottle.

Henry looks so smart in his 3D glasses

Yes, that is snow in the background

Uncle Doug got a new toilet, so Henry decided to test it out.

Must have rainboots on while eating meals.

So cute! Henry loves his blanket.

Here are some pictures of the last month or so up here on the island. Nothing much new. Henry is growing up so fast. He runs now & loves to go outside when the weather permits. It's been pretty nice up here recently. We have been to the mainland a few times recently & have had a lot of fun. Hope to see more of you soon. We welcome visitors anytime. Maybe when it gets warmer we can convince some of you to stay with us a few days.

Just so you know, the dog in the pictures is Jones. He belongs to our good friends Kevin & Katina & we had the pleasure of keeping him for about 10 days while they were out of town. Henry misses him so much & his first word in the morning is still doggen (dog)

Goodbye Australia! We miss you!!

2011-03-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

The video above is us saying goodbye to our home in Australia. The drive down our driveway is worth watching. I think it takes between 3 & 4 minutes to get down it.

Goodbye house!

Goodbye Mr. Skink.

Ben's shirts all looked like this by the time we left. we don't really know how to explain it...it just happened.

Goodbye to our awesome friends!!

These are Henry's best Aussie mates..from left: Georgie, Henry, Jack, & Chloe.he had such a good time with them!

I love the assortment of coats & hats here. it just says Australia to me! notice no one in the pic is wearing clothes...so humid!

how much can you fit into the trunk of a car?

Here's a close up.Thank you to Holden for making such an enormous boot (trunk) We had to organize it well, so we could find everything we needed for camping and traveling. This is everything we brought to Australia plus what we acquired while there....we probably could have left the dive gear at home.

Yes, even the tent fit in there!...and all the bedding in it.

We owe a HUGE thank you to Aunt Cy’s friend Janice for restoring our Australia pictures to our camera! As you read in an earlier post, we accidentally deleted a huge portion of our trip pictures while on a hike. I don’t know how she did it, but we are extremely grateful & could not be happier!!

As a result we are now going to post a huge number of pictures & since they were all taken at different times, and have different stories behind them I will place them in separate blog posts to make it easier to follow what’s happening in them.

We really hope you enjoy looking at them & we will be posting again soon to keep you updated on what we have been up to since arriving in the states & to fill you in on what the little man is doing these days. We’ve had a busy two months!!!

Don’t forget to read the next few posts after this one!! There are 4 total!!!

Love, Kristen, Ben, & Henry Ranger!

Thank you again Janice!!!!

FUN & THE AUSTRALIA ZOO!!!

2011-03-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

Handsome Henry at the playground

I've never seen a better looking PIRATE!

Riding a manta ray

Checking out the surf with dad!

Ben is at HOME!

I love this surf sign

Always looking at the surf...this is where the dolphin nudged me, just out to the left of the rocks.

Bush turkey!

If you look above the hat you can see a HUGE walking stick. This was at our campground in Byron Bay.

Croc show!

The Irwin Family

I absolutely LOVE this one!!!

Henry & I feeding the Kangaroos!!I had SOOOO much fun!!!

I wish my eyes weren't shut, but this is the only pic we have of me with the Koalas. This was actually the last picture we were able to take at the zoo, because the battery died on the camera. Oops. you could walk right up to any Koala in the zoo & pet it if it was low enough. She was having a nap!

On the road & a look at the flooding

2011-03-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some funny signs & things we encountered on our travels through Australia. It's funny what you find on signs there that I'm not sure you could get away with here... We found the one above while waiting in flood traffic.

A horse in a ute to advertise a transportation company...

DON'T BE A TOSSER!

Look closely at the bottom of the van...how do you get a license for that?

Henry finds fun new ways to occupy himself during road trips, such as emptying the diaper bag & tossing diapers all over the back seat & himself.

I don't knwo how he sleeps like this. He fell asleep protesting as usual & just passed out mid arm raising..

So cute in daddy's hat!

Awesome view from the road. We encountered lots of amazing scenery on our drive.

This was a little bit of the flooding as we were just starting our trip. This was one of the worst hit areas & just a few hours after we got through this whole town was under water. Yikes!!!

This was the road we took near the town of Risk. We arrived just a day after the whole thing was under water.

You can see where debris was washed up over the bridge.

Lovely weather for sight seeing! If you enlarge this one you can see Henry holding his hood up to block the wind.

Hope you are enjoying the pictures, It's been a long time coming, so there are a lot to go through. More to come in a few minutes on the next entry.

Lighthouse hike Byron Bay

2011-03-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

The dotted line is the hike we were on in these pictures. We went all the way around several times. We started & ended at Wategos Bay & started out by heading up to the lighthouse. We LOVED this hike & I wish I lived in Byron Bay, if not for the surf & awesome weather, just for this hike alone! It is quite a long hike & not for people looking for an easy walk. It's really hard in some places & steep! Totally worth it.These pictures make me want to go hike it again right now.

Lighthouse at the top

Soooo HOT & HUMID!!! We reached the top at the lighthouse & my face was so red from sweating so much. I don't know if we could have made it that day without the wind.

nice view

Another great view. Every hill you climbed rewarded you with another amazing view.

Ben & Henry checking on the surf below

finally going down hill

Most of this trail is either straight up or down..not much in between

happy picture!

we surfed here a few times. Wategos bay

SOOOO WINDY!!!

Way over in the distance you can see the "pilots only" take off point for the hang gliders near the top of the closest peak.

Here it is. This is funny. You just walk up on this random "runway" off a cliff. There is a gate that you could just walk around if you wanted to, but hopefully you wouldn't, because it's a serious drop off the other side as you can see in the picture above.

Home!!

2011-02-06T12:44:00.000-08:00

At the airport
Henry was crawling away as fast as he could! We could not keep him in one place.

Mama chasing him down,

Caught him!!!!

New friend checking out the airplane!

At Henry's great grandparent's house in the Teanaway....feeding the cat Henry style.

ooohhhh...snowball.

learning about snow.

snowy road

So pretty here!!

View from grandparent's driveway

Grandparent's house

Alice attack!!! She thought Henry's hair looked sooooo delicious.

grumpy Henry, because Alice got the graham crackers.

the argument over the graham crackers

pulling everything out of the cupboards

there are the graham crackers again.

Henry sitting in his dump truck looking out the window

bowls make awesome helmets!

little man & dad fixing light bulbs.

driving grandpa's boat

Beautiful mount Baker from Blakely.

taken from the boat next to Blakely.

Huge tree came down

massive root ball across the road

another view from the island.

Here we are!

Grandpa & Henry

Learning about moss.

Learning to sail

Henry & grandpa with matching hats

The new view from Henry's crib....not too bad!

Breakfast with Henry

2011-02-06T12:16:00.000-08:00

sitting nicely...looking promising.

Loosing concentration, it's starting to go down hill....

I'll just attack it with my face....

backwards spoon whistling...

Oh, I give up, this is the easiest way to eat breakfast!

Just thought you might enjoy these pictures of the little man. He never slows down...not even for food! So funny to watch in person!

major camera disaster!!!!

2011-01-10T22:20:00.000-08:00

I went to check the pictures on the camera to put on the computer & found that somehow...earlier today all the pictures from Christmas on have been deleted from our camera!!!! I don't have high hopes, but does anyone know of a way to get them back????

We are devastated. There were so many movies & pictures of Henry's first time doing things & being silly & all our pictures of the zoo & feeding the animals & the floods...everything!! Videos of our House here & friends on the last night...you can't even imagine how much those meant to us. Pictures of Henry with his friends in Kuranda & well....just everything.

Can anyone help? Got a secret tip? We are really desperate.
We should have downloaded more often, but we haven't really used the computer this whole trip, so we didn't.

so lame. We are soooooooo upset.

I hope you have some time on your hands for this one!

2011-01-10T22:18:00.000-08:00

So much has happened since I last posted. I keep writing blogs on word, then planning to post them when I can get online, but unfortunately internet has not been readily available on this trip & the few times we have gotten it, it has been extremely slow, so posting was next to impossible. I’m not sure if I will get pictures on with this post, so I’m not promising anything. I will re-write this blog for the 10th time now & try to remember everything we have done since leaving Kuranda two weeks or so ago.

Alright, where to begin?......

We left Kuranda a few days earlier than expected simply because we already had a rental car & were itching to get south & have some extra sun & surf before leaving Australia. Lucky we did, because we were all packed up & ready to leave the house when we got a phone call from a friend saying that floods were coming in a hurry & they were in our path on the way south, so we switched on the TV & sure enough, floods were coming & the Bruce Hwy, which is essentially the only road through, unless you drive through the outback (which is dangerous & not a good plan in a small car…you’re supposed to bring spare gas & tires etc…)so, we stepped on it & hit the road at high speed. We drove through the night stopping only a few hours to sleep on the side of the road around 2 am, then made it through Rockhampton just 2 hours before the roads were shut off. (They are still closed, and the town is under water)We had to drive through some flood waters, but it was manageable.
I’m not sure how many of you have gotten the news about the flooding here, but it has been totally devastating the Queensland & New South Whales states (the two states we are in) Many towns are underwater & main highways are closed & underwater as well. We were lucky to make it through when we did & have been seeing the flooding first hand down where we are now too. It feels as though every town we visit has been flooded after we left. We have some newspaper clippings from yesterday that show a flooded road that we went over just an hour after we successfully crossed it, it became a disaster zone. Cars were washed downriver when it became too deep & too swift to cross.
Yesterday a new town had a terrible flash flood just a few KM from where we had been staying. 75 people are missing & 8 are confirmed dead. They had no warning. Cars were washed away from gas stations, people clinging to trees, on top of vehicles floating down the river…horrible. These are only a few examples. I could go on & on. We have successfully evaded it until now & will remain dryish until we board the plane in two days to come home….although Brisbane where we fly out of is expecting mass floods tonight…they have been put under high alert.
We have been getting monsoon rain almost since we left the house. Yes, we are tent camping, so it’s lucky that we have a fairly waterproof tent!!!

So, after making it through Rockhampton we kept going south en route to Sydney. We made it to Noosa head where we camped out in a caravan park, which is pretty much the only place you can camp in Australia unless you plan WAY ahead. We kept going south & passed through Byron Bay, but decided it was just way too crowded with new years to try & get a camp spot. (and camping at “peak” season was just as expensive as a hotel)On we went to a town that I just can’t remember the name of right now. Oops. We ended up staying in a hotel, which I loved & watched fireworks from the balcony. We walked around town & took pictures of the beautiful trees & convent. We left in the morning & after coffee & an internet session to find accommodations in Sydney we found that it was too expensive to go there & no hotels were in our budget, so new plan!
We went back up to Byron Bay & it had mellowed out just enough to find a reasonable camp site. It looked like a bomb had gone off though with all the new years partiers. We stayed 4 days I think?..It was really nice at Byron as far as weather goes. We got lots of sun mixed in with our rain, so it was fun to go to the beach & hang out. Ben & I both go to surf here, although Ben went way more than me. Henry loved the beach & played in the sand & waves from morning until dark. It’s a super busy town & we have never seen so many fit people in our lives!! I think 90 percent of the population here surfs regularly.
Speaking of surfing Byron, I was out the first time at a really nice beach with rocks coming up out of the water on a point & I decided to paddle way out to get a good out of the way view of the breaks & scope it out before I jumped in (It’s been a while since I’ve been out, so I didn’t want to just wing it) I ended up drifting pretty far off to the outside & was all alone. I like to sit way out sometimes, because it’s really peaceful being out there. Unfortunately I was not as alone as I thought. Ben & I have decided that I’m some sort of freaky animal magnet. I have random encounters that seem totally unreal every time I go somewhere…and even in my own front yard at home. I saw some fish swimming at me & thought, cool. Wait, not cool…it’s a bait ball!!! Big things follow & cause bait balls…hands & feet came up out of the water & I just laid on the board waiting to see what else was there if anything. Oh no, there it was, a big fin! Just my luck. I have to admit I was a bit panicked at this time, but just laid still. There it was again, I wasn’t dreaming, it was only 10 feet away this time. Out from under me a dolphin came up & nosed my board about 6 inches from my face. It looked at me & left. I about lost it until I realized what it was. It was so amazing meeting a wild dolphin’s eye so close! I’m so grateful it didn’t knock me off!!!! I found out later from a local that there are often dolphins & two giant turtles out there. I wish I had known that before, so I wouldn’t have been so freaked out! Funny though. What are the chances of that`?!!
So, we left Byron & went North again when it started to rain hard & decided to see the Australia zoo!!! We went the scenic route through the country & beautiful mountains. It was so gorgeous! We took Lyons road, which is way out in the middle of nowhere & we just happened upon it & thought, why not?! It started at a town named “The Risk”, so we wanted to see the town too. It was well worth the risk to take this road, because it was awesome. We crossed the river like 30 times on these rickety looking old wooden bridges & although the water was a few feet under the bridges when we went through, you could see where they had been recently flooded. The water must have been 6 feet over the top of the bridges at some places before & trees were still lodged on the sides of them. Once again, managed to see a flooded place without being shut out or swept away. Yay Team Davidson!
We stayed in Tweed Heads in another caravan park for 2 days. We had a nice time there, although it was dumping rain. They have lots of kids play areas & Henry loved those. He is the master of slides! You put him on the top & he giggles all the way down & tries to climb back up to do it again over & over. We did not surf there, but went out the beach both days in the rain anyway & watched surfers at Kirra & Coolangatta.
We went to Beerwah next for the biggest thing I was looking forward to on the whole trip which was the Australia Zoo (home of Steve Irwin & family) Yay!!! It rained quite a bit on us, but not the whole time. We had an amazing trip to the zoo!! It’s unlike any zoo I’ve ever been to!!! It’s like nothing is off limits. We started off in the morning by feeding the Asian Elephants. We got to feed Bimbo. She was very nice. You are supposed to get fruit out of the bucket & walk up to the elephant & hold the fruit out for her. Ben & Henry went first. Henry did not want that cheeky elephant taking his melon!! Not at all. She reached out & tried to grab it with her trunk & he fought her over it. He had his fingers all up her nose & her trunk was wrapped all around his little hand & neither was letting go of that melon. He is very stubborn & Ben had to pry his little fingers off it. He was not afraid of Bimbo at all. It was really hilarious. He gets a little too big for his britches sometimes. I’m not sure I would pick a fight with an elephant over her breakfast….. I went next & apologized to her & gave her a nice pat on the trunk. She ate my fruit without a fight.
Next we saw a show at the “Crocoseum” with the Irwins. Bindi arrived with the elephants & did a big song & dance concert which was really quite good. She actually has a really nice voice. The songs were definitely kid’s songs, but we enjoyed it all the same. Next there was a snake show where they brought all kinds of snakes in & walked them around for us to see up close. They showed how to mend a snake bite to. Next was the bird show!! It was amazing! Birds were doing choreographed flying all over above & through the crowd to awesome music & there were all kinds! We thought the osprey was amazing. It came in from its enclosure elsewhere & flew only a few feet above us before landing & it was HUGE!!!
After the birds the Irwin family (Terri, Bindi, & Robert) came out & did a croc show. Terri & her crew of croc handlers were doing demonstrations & showing how high they could jump out of the water & one guy actually swam in the water with the croc to demonstrate its speed & agility (he was at the other end of the pool)We were totally freaked out for him, and it was such a cool show!! Bindi fed crocs too, but at only 7 years old Robert was too young to help, so he commentated & was actually very funny.
After that we walked around & saw lots of other super cool animals. A dingo sniffed Henry & if I would have let him Henry would have petted it’s face (I did not trust the dingo)It did not come up to anyone else, just Henry. We all fed red & gray kangaroos in an open enclosure. I went out first into the pasture while Ben was getting himself some food & out of nowhere a roo hopped right up to me. It was unbelievably fast. One second nothing was there, the next a roo was almost on top of me. They were really gentle & sweet. Henry even got to feed one. We saw a leopard up close (it was out on a leash) Beautiful!! We saw lions up close swimming with their trainer & playing with toys. We got to pet koalas in trees. They feel like wool & are very sleepy. I loved the koalas. The enclosures are so open & the ones with koalas & kangaroos are just fields you walk into with no fences, and the birds are in a jungle setting that you walk through, so it feels like you are cheating & get to go in behind the scenes. You can touch so many animals its unreal!! I totally recommend it to everyone!!
We stayed in a hotel nearby after the campground we were headed for was shut due to weather conditions.. you can guess why. Once again, a hotel suited me fine. After spending so much time in a soggy tent with Henry the sleep crawler (seriously…he crawls in his sleep!!!!)He just can’t sit still ever. Even in his sleep. He sleep mumbles too. We left in the morning & took that road that was underwater & ended up in another small town with another strange name that I can’t remember the name of. It was just dumping down rain & there was no hope of getting the tent to stay up with the crazy wind & monsoonal rains, so we ended up at a backpacker’s hostel. It was really nice & we had our own room with bathroom & shared kitchen. I would have loved to stay there longer, but the weather just would not permit any sightseeing or surfing. The waves were huge & windblown & messy.
we went back to the south where rains & floods were less likely. We are back in Byron Bay now. Although it has rained on us here it is nothing like up north. After we passed through Brisbane they announced the flood warnings & floods from towns just a few over from where we were the night before. Good timing again. Ben is surfing now & I’m in the car with a finally napping Henry sitting out the drizzle. We were here yesterday & will be tonight. Not sure where we will go after that. We took the most amazing walk today up to the lighthouse & all around up & down mountains. It was a bit brutal, but totally worth it. I think we will go again tomorrow before we leave. It is the 11th & we are flying out on the 13th. Hopefully the airport isn’t under water.(kidding…I hope)

Can’t wait to see you all soon!!! Sounds like it’s cold back at home in Washington, so we will have to dig our winter clothes out of storage as soon as we get there! We are leaving on the 13th & arriving on the 13th…after 24 hours of flying. We actually arrive in Seattle just BEFORE we took off in Brisbane! Wish us luck. Henry is as busy & feisty as ever, so I just hope we all make it in one piece with a bit of sanity left. He has a couple new tricks now including whistling. He got a cool wooden whistle for Christmas & learned to use It, so now he thinks everything has the possibility to be a whistle including but not limited to his food (you cannot imagine the mess)his toes, his bottle, blankets, books all his toys, pretty much whatever he can get his hands on needs to be tested for whistling ability.
He has also developed super human baby seat resistance. I don’t know where he got that from, but it takes two of us to get him in the seat almost every time now. He is an acrobat. He ends up on top of it, standing in it, backwards, upside down, everywhere but sitting in it. He has also learned how to open doors with the handle& if he can reach it you have to lock it. He has the car door figured out & can lock his door & roll the window down. He also knows where the blinker, emergency flashers, windshield wipers, and horn are. He knows what the car radio does & will turn it on & up & change stations given the chance to be in the front seat for any length of time. He is so busy it’s unbelievable. I’m sure all little ones are busy while they are figuring the world out, but he is not afraid of anything & will try literally anything you let him. He likes to climb things. He will climb everything in a room if given the chance. In a hotel he successfully got from the floor to the top of the TV cabinet via the chair & shelf. He was not pleased that we removed that & every other chair in the room. He flicks on & off all lights that he comes in contact with. He has a fascination with toilets. He seems to instinctively know where they are in every building we enter & will crawl directly to them & try to get in as quickly as possible before being nabbed. He also loves spying on you from behind shower curtains. It’s really funny. When you find him he laughs hysterically. He thinks he’s quite clever & loves mischief.
We are attempting to teach him words with baby Einstein flash cards, but he only wants to roll them up & whistle them after about 3 cards…so little doses at a time are all I can achieve. He can say dog & points at them when we see one. He is obsessed with dogs & freaks out if he can’t pet one. He points out any animal actually, but can’t say any others. He babbles a lot, but only a few real words are in there. He is very mobile & can walk with the help of either a person or walker, just not on his own. He can do 3 or 4 steps, but then just sits down. He doesn’t really seem to want to walk. Crawling is so much faster! He can stand anywhere though. He will stand in one spot & hold something & play with it, but won’t walk with it. When we walk him around holding his hand, he constantly wants to bend over & pick things up before he keeps going though. He will have 3 things in one hand & still wants to pick up that one last thing….then he loses them all & has to start over, all while walking. It’s really funny. Oh, & he’s a milkaholic!
He is getting up, so I have to go, but I will try to post this tonight. We are at a new campsite with internet, so if it’s fast enough I can even put pictures on. See you all soon I hope!!!! We miss you all!!!

So many pictures

2010-12-28T14:58:00.000-08:00

This is what they call chocolate chips here.....You basically have to learn a whole new language to grocery shop here.

Henry's first birthday!!!

So excited!

He was really full after he ate a whole cream puff by himself..and extremely happy.

This is a strange Amazonian fruit that we got at a farmer's market called a Rollenia.

It looks really strange, but it's very good & Henry's favorite fruit!

Little man loves to swim.

Henry insisted on not having any help in the water. He's a bit over confident in his abilities.

Henry & Ben at mossman gorge

Boyds forest dragon, fairly rare. Ben ran right into it.

On the beach at Daintree.

The water looks so inviting, but you can't go in it at all, because of how dangerous it is...salties & jellies.

Cassowary bird...extremely rare. We are so lucky we actually saw one. These are very dangerous birds as well.

Mr. Cassowary again. The colors on it's head were so cool. The knob on top is hard like bone.

Happy baby on the boat.

looking for crocs

Here's one! This is a salt water croc.

So much fun croc spotting.

My friend the python. I had to get it off the chicken coop yet again...

This is how it has been looking weather wise here for a while.

We have been having floods all over Queensland & the rain is still coming. We can now say we have been in a monsoon.

Henry's sick spots on Christmas. The picture isn't' really good, so you can only see the ones on his face, but they were all over his body. Yucky!

Henry got a new whistle for Christmas & he blows on it all the time. It makes him laugh every time it makes noise.

Henry likes to brush his hair

Then he brushes my hair...nice.

He had to inspect the new earrings Ben got me for Christmas. He is very inquisitive.

The latest progress on the new house.

notching by Ben

rafters. All hardwood

I like to call it stone henge. This huge concrete wall will have another one opposite it & they will have a floor between them to make a loft way up there.

Henry opening one present while reaching for another.

We all got flip flops for Christmas!

Christmas tree ornaments are one of Henry's favorite things.

Our lovely family on Christmas morning bright & early...the crowns are party hats that you get out of these popper things that Aussies open on Christmas & wear all day.

Alright, so I've covered a lot in these photos. I hope you all enjoy them. We are leaving the house tomorrow, and will be on our way south to see what we can see in Australia before flying home on the 13th .

Queensland is having monsoons & flooding, and several main highways & roads are closed due to flooding, so we will see how it goes trying to make it to Sydney then back to Brisbane where we fly out. We are tent camping...so I have to ask myself...what were we thinking when we got that bright idea?! I hope the tent doesn't float away while we are sleeping. :)

I'm sure we will have more ridiculous stories to share with you all soon, but be patient with us, because we will be having to go on wi fi hot spots to get Internet while traveling & I don't know if we will have access every day.

Can't wait to see you all soon!!! Wish us luck!!

New pictures coming.

2010-12-26T17:12:00.000-08:00

Oh...so I forgot to mention that Ben has the camara at the job site today, so I can't download anything, but when he gets home tonight we will get the pictures on, so please check back soon for pictures that go with the last few posts & new pics of the house.

Thanks for checking in on us. Hope everyone had a great Christmas! New years is on it's way!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-26T17:10:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!!
We had a lovely Christmas here at home just the 3 o f us. We got up early with Henry & made coffee & had a bottle of milk (Henry) before getting to the presents, then went to town unwrapping. We got each other lots of good stuff & even opened some really nice presents from John & Laurie. Thank you so much! We got a call from them as well & were able to have a Skype while Henry opened their gifts. He loves everything he got.
We went to the neighbors up the hill to play a Christmas croquet tournament. I won!!!! (Kristen) thank you very much! We had a nice smoked ham & cabbage salad & homemade stuffing of course for dinner & went to bed extremely late, because the little man was just not ready for Christmas to end apparently. He finally passed out after lots fo protest around midnight!!!! Jack had a fever & all over body rash about 3 days ago & Henry caught it yesterday on Christmas…how fortunate! He is fien & the fever has gone, but the rash remains. It is all over his body from head to toe! He looks like he has chicken pox, but he doesn’t. Little Scarlett ( 6 months old) has the same thing…also caught from Jack. On top of this unfortunate turn of events, Henry received 3 new teeth last night as a nice extra Christmas present. He did not sleep soundly. They are through the skin today & very nice. He is having a well deserved nap as I am writing this.
It is officially the rainy season here now & we had our first category 1 cyclone on Christmas eve..not to worry, a cyclone is not a major thing here. Especially a category 1. We did have trees fall down in the woods though, and lots of rain. The rain is so hard & so loud that the tv on top volume is still to quiet to hear properly. It’s crazy. The rain brings creepy crawlies with it though. All the critters want to come inside to get out of it, so we come in contact with much more than we are used to…and that’s been a lot. For example… last night (Christmas) I went over to the bed to get the flashlight, to go to the bathroom, and next to the bed on the wall was the largest spider I have seen so far on this trip…needless to say I freaked out a bit & Ben, with some well aimed whacks killed it quite quickly. I was feeling very pleased & went on my way out to the bathroom, which is outside…and the bushes had overgrown the walkway at the stairs a bit, so I accidently brushed up against them on my way up & looked back to make sure nothing creepy had hitched a ride on me just about the time I stepped on a HUGE python!!! It was in the bathroom across the top of the stairs waiting out the rain. I freaked out a bit at first; not knowing which kind of snake it was that I had just stepped on, because the flashlight was so dim. I could see it’s head looking at me, and when I leaned down to get a closer look, luckily it turned out to be a 14ish foot amethystine python, and not a red bellied black snake, or something else venomous. Ben came to my rescue with the broom & poked at it from behind until it left.
This morning Ben & I were looking for something in Henry’s drawers, because he likes to hide things in there & I opened the last one to find a HUGE skink taking a nap in nice snuggly comfort. I thought it was the toy crocodile I had gotten Henry for Christmas & went to grab it, when it freaked out & ran from me, which freaked me out, because I thought it was fake, which freaked Ben out, because I yelled & all he saw was the tail, which looked like a snake going behind the cabinet, which scared Henry, because he got snatched up so quickly & had no idea what was going on. We got a good laugh out of it a minute later, but at the time it was really freaky.
Then, while I was making dinner on the stove, the biggest spider I have ever seen in person…way bigger than yesterday’s spider popped out from behind the stove & walked across the wall behind it… I screamed, obviously, and Ben came running, and also freaked out & he is NOT afraid of spiders….so you know it was big. He sprayed it at least a dozen times with “instant kill” spider spray & it was still running around & climbing the wall, so he had to whack it several times with a thick magazine as well & I still wasn’t satisfied that it was dead, but finally it stopped moving. CREEPY!!!!
…so that’s what we are dealing with here. I will go to bed tonight thinking of all the creepers running loose in our house & wishing I had a bug net over my bed like Henry. Lucky boy!
It’s pretty cool watching the rain come down though. Ben & Hamish had to drive through really deep water to get home from work the other day, because the road was flooded. Henry is getting up, so I need to go, but we will keep in touch. We are packing this week & headed out on Saturday if all goes well, then after a quick drive down the coast we will arrive at the airport for our flight home on the 13th. We are really excited to see everyone!!! We miss you all!!!

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas!

2010-12-21T17:59:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
We are getting ready for the holidays & really excited for Christmas! Henry's birthday was on Monday the 20th!! He is officially one year old!!! I can't believe it! We had our friends the Jenkins' over for dinner & dessert. Henry got his very own cream puff to celebrate & actually ate the whole thing. He shoveled it in his mouth way faster than any of us imagined he would. Henry got a cool pair of aviator sunglasses, a book, and a train engine for his birthday!
The day before his birthday we went to the mall & Henry met Santa & had his picture taken. He did very well, but when the camera lady saw him coming she assumed that since he was a baby that he would cry & she tried to distract him the second he went on Santa's knee by blowing hundreds of high powered bubbles in his face....which just confused & bewildered the little man. He doesn't like bubbles in his face...who does? So, he just sat there with this crazy confused look on his face instead of smiling & we couldn't make him smile again. We have very funny pictures of Henry's 1st meeting with Santa now. At least he didn't cry!
We have done all our shopping, and I am making goodies for our friends here today, so it's feeling very close to Christmas around here! All the gifts are wrapped & Henry has figured out how to get around the little cabinets we put in front of the tree to block him from getting to it...He moves them.... I have no idea how since they are not light, are full, and do not have any wheels or anything on the bottom. He wants those little ornaments sooooo bad! He's stronger than he looks.
We are sad to miss another Christmas with you all, but will enjoy seeing you next month when we come home!! Our flight officially leaves here on the 13th of Jan. So, after another 24 hours of flying we should land in Seattle on the 13th of Jan....so strange to loose a whole day like it never happened.
Team Davidson took a trip to Daintree way up north of here last weekend for our last weekend with the car. We had so much fun! I will post pictures when I get a chance. We went on a crocodile river tour which was awesome & we saw a nice big salty about 3 people lengths away from us! Very nice. We also saw a wild cassowary while driving & managed to pull over & get pictures & a video of it. These birds are extremely rare. They only live in the rain forest in tropical north Queensland and our friends who live in the rain forest have only seen one ever, so we were luck to get a glimpse of one. They are huge flightless birds about the size of an emu. Their feathers almost look like fur. They have a big black body & a red & blue head.
We also saw tons of other wildlife and had a great day driving around & exploring. We went to Mossman gorge which is a beautiful spot in the forest with waterfalls & a small cold river. We all waded around in a shallow pool & cooled off. Henry was very adventurous in the water & waded out (with help) up to his chest, then held onto a boulder & wanted to be left alone to splash & sidestep along the rock. He is very independent right now. He wants to do things by himself a lot.
He is not easily scared & dives headfirst into everything...literally.
Well, Henry is up from his little nap, so I'm going to go get him. Hope everyone has a merry Christmas & we will add pictures soon!!

Miss you all!
xoxoxo Kristen, Ben, & Henry!

It's been a long time!

2010-12-13T14:51:00.001-08:00

Henry loves balloons!

Skyping is one of our favorite things!

Kewarra beach, our weekend hangout

Jungle walk

Henry in his little monkey towel at the lagoon in Cairns.

Henry is good at making new friends. (He's in the red)

Getting sprayed by a jet at muddy's at the Cairns Esplanade

Water baby

Snuggles up with his favorite blankie after swim lessons

Fuzzy caterpillar...a perfect fly fishing lure. (this thing is much larger than it appears.)

Swim lessons, instructor Gary in the background

Playing in the pool after lessons.

Playing with his Swim lesson friend Mayella.

Swim lesson group.

Kick, kick, kick!

Sand everywhere!

He can get in the chair all by himself now.

Lounging...no room for anyone else in this chair!

So proud of himself.

Wow, It's been a while since we wrote!

We have been keeping busy! It's been so ridiculously hot here, we are never home! We try to be in or around the water as much as humanly possible. When we are not at the beach, we go to the waterfront down in Cairns where it is free to swim in their lagoon & "fake beach" and use the kids water park with waterspouts cool water features. The real ocean & beach are too dangerous this time of year in Cairns, so they built all this cool stuff to keep people out of the water. It works!! The beach we go to is out of town a ways & it is jelly netted off & free of crocs etc.... so we feel safe there.

Ben got to take Henry to two swim lessons, which was great, because it allowed me to take some great pictures & videos of it. He does such a good job & he is actually improving his swimming skills! He kicks now & reaches underwater for things. He can also pull himself out of the pool, which is the first thing he got taught. He climbs out, then jumps (from sitting position) back in, then repeats. he has no fear, which scares me a little, but is great at the same time. he is the only baby not to cry in swim class & when we get to the beach he crawls in head first as fast as he can go until the waves wash over his head, before retreating & doing it again. We have been body surfing him in on little waves & he laughs so hard! It's awesome.

We are loosing the car next week, because our friends are selling it, so we will not be leaving the house as much anymore. I had to fight off another python the other night, but lost the battle & it ate our rooster...which makes me really happy actually, because it was really annoying & crowed all day starting at 2 am. It never failed to wake Henry from his naps. I'm sure I would have strangled it myself eventually if the Python hadn't done it for me.

On a positive note, no date has been set, but we are coming home early. We are looking into flights & booking one tonight, so we will know more soon, but it's most likely going to happen in January. We are thrilled to see everyone again & although we love Australia despite it having too many creepy crawlies, it's just not home. We miss snow & all of you! It's going to be a bit of a temperature shock, so we will have to dig out our heaviest winter gear the minute we get to our storage unit.

See you all soon. Hopefully we will have a date tonight!!

Oh, also , Congratulations Doug & Janice!!!! Beautiful wedding!! So glad we could be a part of it. Thanks Jessica!! Mom, we need to skype soon!

Love you all!!!

xoxox Team Davidson.

!!! Lots of pictures !!!

2010-11-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

The Building site...

The wood is a hardwood called spotted gum.

Lots of posts for the house to sit on.

A lovely frog Ben found in the bathroom.

He makes a HUGE noise when he puffs his throat out. So cool!

Look at what we grow here!!! No shortage of fruits or veggies ever!

Our resident python

We caught her trying to steal a chicken.

Part of the garden. Lots of veggies.

Henry dropping food off the high chair for the chicken.... I was not in the house... Usually Henry drops food over board for the chickens when we eat outside.

Messy baby

Upside down fun with dad

So cute in his little overalls. (they were Ben's when he was little!!)

The pool at our local tavern. If you get a drink, a swim is free. Very nice! That's Jack, Sarah, ,& Hamish on the bottom right side of the pool.

Cairns has a really nice free Botanical garden. We had a nice walk around.

Carpet Python in the driveway, notice the jungle boy on top of the car..

Crazy plants.

Wearing daddy's sun hat.

Getting a smooch from a baby cow at the dairy farm!!

White lipped tree frog, fairly rare, especially this large. It was just outside the house.

Ben & Henry in the bouncy castle!

Where to start?

It's been a while since we wrote. We have been really busy & Ben & I have been sick with a nasty cough the last few weeks. Henry is healthy though luckily. We have been walking around like zombies a lot from lack of sleep. Ben has been working hard helping Hamish with the house. The job site is showing progress, although it's moving a bit slow due to the amount of special order metal parts & galvanizing, and hand notching all the hardwood, etc....

Henry is happily attending swim lessons every Tuesday, and playgroup on Wednesday. He also plays with Jack most days, and other friend's children at least once a week. He wants to be a big boy so bad! He sees the other kids running around having fun, and he wants to be in the action all the time. I feel bad for him sometimes, because when he plays with the other kids I have to constantly pull things away from him that he can't have, or remove him from the room if the other kids are getting to rough. He doesn't understand why everyone but him can do what they want. I caught him in jacks room a few weeks ago about to put a marble in his mouth...... Never trust a 5 year old to make sure babies don't put anything in their mouth...luckily I didn't trust him & peeked in constantly. Henry is a full on busy little boy. Almost nothing in the house is safe. He gets stuff off the coffee table, the bed, the linen cabinet, pulls his diapers out of their bag, laundry out of the basket, shoes out of my closet, hides his bottles under the couch... He has to be watched like a hawk. When he comes around the corner & is chewing on something it's usually not a good thing. I pull out bits of paper, diapers,little pieces of mud that got tracked in...you never know what you are going to find in there.

Henry is doing so well with his cruising. He walks along the couch and other objects really easily these days. He can switch from one object to another, like from the couch to the coffee table no problem. He is babbling nonsense all the time. It sounds like he's saying whole sentences, but just not in English. He says mama & dada, waves bye bye, has a hand signal & noise for his bottle. He still claps when you do & throws the ball really well. He is figuring lots of stuff out. He's very inquisitive, and in always on the move.

I'll put some pics up. Hope you enjoy them. We will try to keep posting more often. We have been a bit lazy these days.

Love you all!!

-Team Davidson.

No way!! ...

2010-10-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

Ben & I ask Henry silly questions all the time & usually the answer is "No Way" So, the other night, Henry was sitting on Daddy's lap & I was in the kitchen making dinner, we started asking him questions like, isn't it your nap time yet, etc... with the answer (provided by Ben in the gingerbread man voice) being "No Way!"each time. On the third or so question Henry replied with No Way himself!!!!!!! He actually said it! We got really excited & tried to get him to talk again, but he hasn't yet. He said it loud & clear though!! So cool!!!
On a less cool note, we have all been a bit sick with some awesome Australian bug. Ben and Jack have a terrible cough & runny nose, while Henry & I have tummy troubles, but no cough or cold symptoms...strange. We asked around & turns out a family we know have all got the cough as well, and another family's two children have the same tummy troubles. I guess it's just going around. I'm sure we will be over it soon. Ben, Henry, & Jack went to the doctor two days ago just to get checked out & looks like we will all be well with some time. We have been home the last two days resting & taking turns looking after the little man. He seems to be holding up best out of the three of us. He doesn't even seem to realize anything is wrong with him & is racing around like a mad man keeping us very busy...which is not very easy when you aren't well.
Mom, you got it right with your wildlife refuge comment. It's ridiculous here. I can't even describe how much stuff we see everyday that we definitely don't have at home, for example, just in the last two or three days, It was late & dark out, but the boys weren't home yet from work, & Sarah started yelling at me to get over to the chicken house with a flash light as fast as possible... so, I put Henry in his crib, and sprinted across the yard around the dam to help & there she was in the pitch black with a dead flashlight trying to fight off a python that had gotten into the chicken coop. She had a rake and I was holding the door open feeling very vulnerable in my shorts & flip flops by the way, as she tried to pull the snake out of the coop. It was very reluctant to leave & quite cranky. It kept lifting it's head up off the ground & coiling up to strike, which did not help my nerves. We finally got it out & shut the door, which had mistakenly been left open..oops. I looked up on top of the coop to check the snake out better & noticed our little black chicken was sitting on top of it about a foot from the snake's head about to become dinner. I tried nudging it with the rake handle & it wouldn't move, so I reached up & tried to grab it, but was unsuccessful, so Sarah tried her luck & nabbed it by the foot. It's a bit nerve racking trying to snatch a python's prey right out from under it's nose. Anyway, the boys got home a few minutes later & we all went out & managed to wrangle it into a garbage bin. It was let loose the next morning down the road.
That's just one example... Ben saw two geckos dangling from the ceiling yesterday having an epic battle over territory.He says one was holding the other by the foot dangling it from the ceiling beam & they were squeaking ferociously at each other.
We now have a large skink living in our house, which we just leave alone, because he eats spiders & is friendly. He comes & goes through a small hole in our screen door. He's our new pet I guess. Tree frogs & cane toads everywhere, saw another big black snake in the driveway.... wallabies in the yard running through the laundry. giant earwig in the bathroom trying to attack me...bush turkey's chasing me...the list goes on...

Anyway, I'd also just like to say that Ben's birthday was on the 14th!!!!! YAY!!! He wasn't feeling really well, which was a bummer, but we went to cairns & took a walk on the beach & had a big dinner with friends complete with carrot cake & ice cream! So, Happy Birthday Ben!!!

Hope all is well at home & less eventful than it is here wildlife wise.... I'm a bit on edge all the time..you never know what you are going to find. Henry has still never touched the ground outside here.... except at the beach. We do let him play in the sand of course!

love, team Davidson!

Showers with snakes

2010-10-12T00:31:00.000-07:00

The pad for the new house.

footings for the new house. look at that jungle!

This is what I spend half of my time doing... running around the house trying to catch & remove wildlife from our house. Here I am trying to catch the baby goanna that mistook my cupboard for his new home.

Little man standing with one hand only for support. He does this often now.

Little laughing tree frog. I rescued him from our house.

My new shower mates! Thats the entry to the shower to the left, next to the pile.This is where I found the python.

We are getting less and less surprised by the things we encounter here on a day to day basis.

Our shower here is an outdoor shower. We have a water tower next to the house and the base of it has three sides covered by green privacy screens and the fourth has a shower curtain. The shower head is inside. There is a stack of kayaks on one side, and a pile of wood on another. I was having lovely shower yesterday & walked out to find a huge python in the stack of wood just a few feet away!! I looked a bit closer, and with the python were two huge lizards. Turns out the reptiles wanted a shower too. After some further investigation we found chicken eggs in there, and are assuming that’s why we have 10 chickens and only get one egg a day. The lizards are stealing them & eating them in the wood pile.

I looked out the kitchen window this morning & sure enough, a whole family of lizards were sunning themselves there on the wood pile. I took a few pictures, but they are a little fuzzy, because I took them through the screen window.
As far as Henry goes, he’s up and standing on everything!!! He pops right up now! Nothing is safe. He can walk using the couch as something to hold onto. He can transfer from the couch to the coffee table by himself & is very mobile! I’m getting worried! He is getting so big & growing up so fast!

I thought I put pictures of Ben's job site up last time, but don't' see them, so I'll add them on to this entry so you can get an idea of where he spends most of his weekdays.

Hope you are all enjoying the pictures etc...let us know.

Nature won't stop touching me!

2010-10-09T22:54:00.001-07:00

Sticking his tounge out at daddy.

Our friendly roommates left us some presents.

Mr. Scorpion knocking on our door.

Sailing

Out at the reef

Henry loves the beach!! Look at how tall he's getting!

Playing in the sand.

Ok, so a quick update on the last week or so's events:

Ben & Hamish got a little shelter set up at the property for protection against the rain. They also have the foundation in. I have included some pictures.

Henry & I have been very busy. Henry has been to the pools in both Kuranda & Cairns several times, he had his first official swim lesson on Friday which went really well. He learned to blow bubbles in the water & float & kick. We had a ton of fun. There is a kids park in Cairns that has water features Henry can play in and we go there often too. He is becoming a real water baby. Hamish, Ben, Henry, & I sailed the Jenkin's boat "Free @ Last" out to the Great Barrier Reef on Thursday & had a nice snorkel. I'd never seen blue coral before, so that was an cool new thing for me.

We threw some steak on the Barbie at Naomi & Rob's house on Friday night & that was awesome. We had tons of fun & Henry got to play in their pool with their little girls & Jack, so he loved it.I have been introducing everyone here to the pumpkin pie of all things. Everyone in Australia eats tons of pumpkin, but no one has ever eaten a pumpkin pie. in fact, only one person I've asked has ever heard of it. I've been asked to make 3 so far. We brought one to tea at Deb & Andrew's house, then got a request to bring one to dinner at Mic & Kim's house, then were asked to bring one to Naomi & Rob's BBQ, so I'm turning into the pumpkin pie lady. Everyone has loved it so far & word is spreading. As you can see, we have quite the social life.

We came home to some more wildlife the other day & were quite shocked by what we came across. In the middle of the living room was a giant centipede! Creepy!!! They bite & according to our bug book it will hurt for days, so we whacked it several times with a frying pan & flattened it pretty well, then after disposing of it I came back to the house to find Ben taking pictures of the doormat... Turns out there was a scorpion on it!!!! Nature won't leave us alone! How are we not supposed to touch it when it seems intent on cuddling up in our house with us?! We have also in the last few days come across a night tiger, (brown tree snake) living in the ceiling above our bed. I included a picture of it's skin that it shed. It is not really harmful, but will bite & it will hurt, so we stay clear. We killed 2 more huntsmen spiders in the last 24 hours in the living room. Nasty!!!!! I also shooed a baby goanna out of my kitchen last night only to find that it has returned today & lodged itself behind my oven.... Can't seem to get it out. Oh well. At this point I'm giving up on that one. It will pop out when it's ready.

I think that's about it for now, I'll give you a quick update on Henry before I sign off though:

New skills: Clapping, waving bye bye, and throwing the ball to you. All very cute!!!

Also: Henry can pull up on furniture & stand alone. The coffee table is no longer a safe place to put anything. He tries to just get up & stand in the middle of the room, but isn't ready, so he just falls over. It's a valiant effort though. Henry & Jack play a lot. They have a good time together. In case I forgot to mention it, He has 8 teeth now! We actually think he may be working on more too. He's coming along & has even more personality now...he already had tons before. He's sooooo busy all the time! He's loads of fun.

Ok, enjoy the pics, love you all!

xoxoxoxo Team Davidson.

Catching up on pictures

2010-10-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

Not sure if you can read this, but it basically indicates what a great place this beach is for a swim! Box jellyfish,and Saltwater crocs will be swimming with you. Yay!!!! There is actually someone in the water to the right of the sign too.

self portrait by Henry

Henry is showing you his new fully netted bed.

The goanna that wants to hang out in our bathroom. Check out his claws.

there he is again making himself at home. I wish you could see the way he struts when he walks.

This python was trying to strangle my arm to death.

Our open air bathroom looks out onto the water dam.

looking left out of our "dining room" jungle everywhere.

last day in the states. Davidson men.

Davidsons in the park in Seattle.

Riding on uncle Steve's big pencil & radio flyer in Seattle

You have to wear a cowboy hat to the rodeo! Yee Haw!

Yay, goats!

Packing up for the trip

Henry loves big starfish. slimy!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. We will try to keep them better updated in the future. It took me a while to figure out where I had packed the camera cord away.

I am hoping to upload some pictures of our veggie garden. I planted it about a week ago mostly from seed with a few seedlings & the seeds have already sprouted & some are already 4 & 5 inches tall!!! the tropics are insane!!! I can't believe how things grow here!!!

Hi Courtney!

Bye!

If it's nature, don't touch it!

2010-09-30T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hi again,
I keep trying to write a blog, but we have been so busy it's really difficult to find the time, not to mention there are so many new things to report that I just don't know where to start half the time.
As for the title of the this blog entry, team Davidson has a new rule. We don't know what anything is here, and we are surrounded by jungle. We keep having things pointed out to us all around the house that we can't touch, or that are dangerous, so we have decided that if it's nature, we just won't touch it. Here's an example... There is a plant that looks like a harmless berry bush right in the driveway. This particular bush looks like a thorn less blackberry bush. It lures tourists in with it's nice berries & before you know it you've been stung like you've never been stung before. The sting lasts on average 3 MONTHS!!!!! There is nothing you can do about it. OUCH!!!The "wait a while" vine hangs down from the top of the trees & it's spikes will rip your skin like razors if you hit it. It's hard to see, because it's above you, so you have to look everywhere, even up when you take a walk.
Coming home the other day we found a 10 foot amethystine python in the driveway less than 100 feet from the house. Hamish picked it up and handed it to me. It constricted my arm so hard I thought it was going to break it. It wrapped around so tight I lost all feeling in my hand for a few minutes after we got it off.
In the driveway you can find wallabies and Bandicoots. We have fruit trees all over, but you have to be careful when approaching them, because some have nasty wasps in them that are unlike any we've seen at home. Apparently they are relentless when they decide to attack you. They will attack if you get to close to their nest...you don't even have to touch it.
I found a goanna (large monitor lizard) in our open air bathroom....that was quite a shock. It was 4 feet long and not scared of me at all. This morning I found a 5 foot tree snake skin in the same bathroom. It had shed it's skin in there somewhere between the time Ben visited it, and when I went in about an hour later...We think it may be living in the rafters. Ben got a shock last night when a bandicoot popped out in front of him durring his middle of the night potty run.
We have bush turkeys all over the place, and down the road you can see kangaroos every morning & evening congregating at a particular park next to the road to eat. Ben got a shock when at work he picked some tin up to find about 8 bird eating spiders.... HUGE, deadly, nasty spiders as big as dinner plates!!! I have found two huntsman spiders in the kitchen & about had a heart attack. Spider spray & frying pans have been strategically placed around the house to solve that problem.
There are cane toads all over the place! They are fairly harmless if you leave them alone. If you scare them, or pick them up they secrete a poison from the glands on the side of their heads. Yuck. There have been stories of people getting really ill from these toads getting into water tanks & stuff. The other night I freaked out when in the middle of a nice deep sleep, out of nowhere a huge tree frog jumped on me and started hopping up & down my legs. I was alright once I figured out what it was, in fact, we let it sleep in the house & Henry ran around after it in the morning watching it jump around. It was a beautiful frog. We have geckos living in the rafters of the house. They are great, because they eat the bugs. They chirp and squeak and it's pretty cute. The frogs are so loud outside at night you have to practically yell over them at each other.
We have amazing beautiful Ulysses butterflies here that glow blue in the sun. They are a rare species & really amazing. We have them all over at the house.

Ok, so that's the wildlife update here. I know there's more, but I just can't think of it at the moment. We will write back soon.

G'day from down under!

2010-09-18T19:56:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!
We've made it safe & sound to Australia and had a few days to settle in....sort of. We have been flat out busy since we arrived! We will take some pictures for you soon! We just haven't really had time. We arrived here on Thursday night and stayed up a bit with our friends Sarah, Hamish & Jack, then woke up the next morning and off Ben went to work & I stayed with Henry & tried to put the house together & sort our luggage out, then on Friday night we went to Mic & Kim's house for dinner & had a great time with them. On Saturday The boys moved the boat up river to a new mooring & Sarah, Henry, & I did some shopping...thats an adventure all on it's own here! Then, Saturday night we had the jenkin's friend Naomi over with her two little girls Chloe & Georgie (4 & 2). Today is Sunday & the guys have gone out to the building site (the block) to dig footing holes & The ladies & Henry are here at home having tea & Violet crumbles watching huge amounts of rain come down...they assure me this is nothing though, that this torrential downpour is only a sprinkle & just wait until the wet season comes. I can't imagine!
This week I've already got a playgroup scheduled for Wednesday, also this week, we are going to the nursery to get seeds for the veggie garden, and picking up chickens, possible baby swim lessons & aquarobics as well...plus more dinner dates with friends!!! We are so busy it's amazing! We love it!!! 9 months will fly by in no time at all!!!
We basically live in the garden of Eden as well. We have avocado, pineapple, pomegranate, litchi, lime, lemon, grapefruit, and some other fruit trees all over the yard which is huge & gorgeous!There are wild turkeys & wallabies everywhere, wild pigs, dingoes, Cassowary, kangaroos...and so much more here too. We've only seen the birds & wallabies so far, but heard dingoes last night & the python took a chicken right before we got here, so it will be back.
Well, Henry needs me & I've got Lemington cake ( a very Australian item)to make for dinner, so I should go. Love you all & can't wait to hear from you! We do miss you despite being so busy.

-Kristen

Another blog

2010-08-22T11:18:00.000-07:00

Henry on his first flight

Dad & Henry having a good time at the cabin

Rockin daddy's sunglasses in the store.

Hey everyone!

We are up on the island again. Nothing much new here. Henry has 6 teeth now. He is working on 7 at the moment & still chewing like a mad man. He learned how to sit up all by himself on Wednesday. He did it once, realized what he could do & hasn't stopped since. We are very pleased. It's a little easier for him to entertain himself now. Henry is also scoot/crawling quite well now. He's quick, but I'm sure he will be much faster once he figures out real crawling up on all fours. It's sort of an army crawl at this point.

As far as the adults in the family... we are getting ready to ship out. We are off to Australia on the 14th of September.We are extremely excited, but really overwhelmed also. There is so much to do & not to much time left. We are trying to fit plans with friends & family in, but everyone seems to want the same weekend with us.... We still need to pack up the house & get a storage unit. The basic plan is to get a large storage unit in Ellensburg & throw everything in it. We will store vehicles at various locations and we will be taking only the very basics with us. We are allowed two bags each on teh plane & Henry is allowed one.

Our amazing friends Sarah & Hamish have it all set up for us over there so that the studio/mother in law cottage next to their home is all furnished with everything we could need. They have all the baby stuff Henry will need as well. A crib, car seat, high chair...etc.... We will just pack his clothes, favorite toys, and books for him. We are trying to figure out just what exactly we will need for ourselves. It's a bit easier for Ben to live out of two suitcases for 9-10 months than me. It makes me feel better though that if we forget something we can always just buy it there.

Hope everyone is doing well. We'll be in touch.

-Team Davidson.

Adventures on & off the Island

2010-08-02T09:50:00.001-07:00

Bath time is always fun with Henry!

Henry had his first airplane ride on the way home from Blakely!

Tall ship in front of the house

Hey guys!

We are back on the island. We were up here last week & went home to Roslyn for the weekend so Kristen could work & Ben could get some stuff done. We ended up catching a flight off island with uncle Doug & Henry did really well on his first flight! He was looking out the window at everything & trying to figure out what was going on. The next flight he takes may be a bit longer.... Australia is going to put us in the airport/on planes for nearly 24 hours.Hopefully we can keep him occupied.

We are enjoying our time up on Blakely. The weather is so much colder than at home even though we really aren't that far away. We have the heater on up here & the fans going to cool it down in Roslyn. Ben is almost finished with painting. The new cabin/garage is done & the old front cabin is done, he is working on the small old garage today. Next week he will build them a new deck on the back of the old cabin. I think that may be the end of our stay up here.Ben has a few small projects back on the mainland to take care of.

In a few weeks we will begin the move out of our house into storage....not looking forward to it. We are looking forward to Australia though. Can't wait to start this new adventure. We have been keeping a close eye on Hamish's journey on free @ last across the Pacific & he is only a few days out from docking in Cairns. Can't wait to talk to him & hear stories!

I'll write back & keep you all informed on what Team Davidson is up to.

Bye for now!

WE HAVE TEETH!

2010-07-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

Oh yes,

Mr. Henry has teeth number three & four showing as of this morning. They are the top front two. They are barely through, but definitely there.

He's as happy as usual, but a bit louder & chomps on us a lot more the last few days. He is currently working on perfecting the pterodactyl screech while chewing on his giraffe & bouncing in his exerciser. He is a multi tasking baby.

We are up on Blakely again. Painting away. We went home to Roslyn this last weekend & had some fun. We took the boat up to the lake on Saturday after I got off work & then joined Jess, Bree, & Brian for dinner & boating in Vantage after work on Sunday. Henry is becoming quite the little boater.

Well, I should get out to start painting the little cabin. Keep in touch everyone!!!!

As you all know...or most of you do, we are leaving for Australia in September. We will be gone for around 9 months, so we only have about a month more to spend with you all before we go. Get in touch & let us know your summer schedules. We'd love to see you all at least one more time before we head out on another adventure.

love, Team Davidson.

Reporting from Blakely!

2010-07-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Hey Ya'll,
We are up here on Blakely Island for the week painting & caulking Doug's new cabin. It's so nice to be back! It's been super foggy in the mornings, but gets nice & sunny later on in the day & into the evenings. Henry is enjoying the walks & watching the ocean move. He is still teething (working on the top ones now) so he is a bit grumpier than usual. Luckily for us, Henry's "grumpy" is a far cry from most babies. He is chewing & drooling like a maniac though.

Big news on the Henry front: We were sent a replacement giraffe from Grandma Laurie!! After trying craigslist lost & found & asking around at the "lost" location for a while with no luck she had one sent to us!! Henry was sooo excited! He saw it, grabbed it, & started chewing on the squeaker in it's hand to make noise just like he used to. He knew exactly where that squeaker was & was very happy to have it back. He plays with it every day, so thanks to Laurie!

We will post pictures soon, I have to get them downloaded to the computer. Hope everyone is having a good week.

love, team Davidson.

Missing Giraffe!

2010-07-05T14:02:00.000-07:00

Missing Giraffe

Aunt Elizabeth was a big hit.

Loves his big bear!

Uh oh! We made a pit stop the other day in Issaquah & as usual Henry was playing with his giraffe the whole way in the car...apparently Mr. Giraffe fell out when we went in to Tully's to get a coffee, because 5 minutes later when we came back to the car he was no where to be found!We looked everywhere! Under the car, back in Tully's, under the other cars, in the garbage cans, everywhere! So strange! Anyway, we will get him another one online eventually, but if anyone happens to be in Tully's in Issaquah soon, ask if they have a giraffe with a red bird attached to it's hand...maybe someone returned it.

Otherwise, things are fine as usual. I (Kristen) worked at the coffee stand this weekend & it was crazy! We were soooo busy! It was really nice. Ben came down with Henry as usual to visit & get coffee & snuggles. Town was packed!! Yesterday for the 4th we went into Ellensburg at about 6:30 & had burgers over at Jessica's house & then drove into town to see the fireworks show. It was pretty good! Afterword, we droped jess & Bree back off at their house & headed home to crash into bed around midnight.

Henry was up at 7:00 this a.m. which was late for him. It was nice! mom (Lori) was up & watched him, so Ben & I got to sleep in way later than usual! Awesome!

It'a a bird...it's a plane...it's SUPER BABY!

2010-06-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

Happy baby sitting by himself

I'll drive!

Boating

So, it has become apparent to us that our little man is WAY stronger than we were giving him credit for. He is extremely active…we knew that, but today he lifted a 15 lb bag up with one hand all by himself & held it while Ben picked him up & carried him across the room with no problem before finally releasing his grip on it. He has a grip better than mine!
Trying to hold his arms down while attempting to get him to take a nap is like snuggling with an angry crab. He pinches anything he can get a hold of (i.e. skin, hair, etc..)& refuses to let go….many bruises and cuts on mommy & daddy have resulted. He has also decided all of a sudden that if he doesn’t feed himself no one can… which would be fine if he actually got the bottle IN his mouth & could tip it up enough to get the milk out. Instead, he gets milk all over his face & when he finally does manage to get it in his mouth he sucks on the empty nipple. When you try to tip it up with him, out the bottle flies & it starts all over. As a result, we have taken to swaddling him about half the time just to get him to eat without a huge fuss. He is too hard to wrangle without the swaddle. He’s just too strong. We have taken to triple wrapping him for bed time, because he is so good at wiggling out of a swaddle within seconds, that it’s the only way. It’s pretty funny actually. We call him Houdini.
He makes us laugh & sigh in exasperation all day long. He can’t sit still for a second. He wiggles and laughs in his sleep. It’s really cute.
He no longer sits still for a diaper change. You put him down & start to take his pants off & he’s already half way rolled over on his belly. You roll him back, he rolls the other way, you get the pants off, he’s on his belly, you pull the diaper off, he’s chewing on his feet & you can’t get a new one on, because you can’t release the grip he has on his toes. Finally you get it all put back together & just try to put those pants back on….All the while he’s giggling & laughing frantically mocking you the whole way. So, all you can do is laugh yourself.
Just a few minutes ago, he showed us that he can go from lying flat on his back to sitting up straight by himself if Ben holds his feet. He’s still as happy as ever luckily. The neighbors call him smiley Henry & everyone loves to see him, because they are pretty much guaranteed to get a smile or giggle out of him.
He’s very strong willed….wonder where he got that from. Once he sets his mind on something he’s pretty persistent & usually succeeds in getting what it is he’s going for. He swims in circles on the floor & gets those tough little thighs under his butt now & can scoot slowly across the floor. Baby gates coming soon!!! He has outgrown his car seat, and is at the maximum size for his new “exersaucer” he no longer fits in his little lamb chair & is too heavy for his swing. He is around 23 lbs & about 29 inches long. He just gets bigger & stronger every day!! Oh, he also got his two bottom teeth. Yay! Our own little pirannah!
Ok, so that’s the update on super baby.

Thanks for checking in.

A few months worth of pictures

2010-06-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

Going for a walk!

Holding the bottle with his feet....thats talent

Story time

Green moustache

flying

way too much energy

playing with dad's cupcake

hands in cake

celebrating half birthday with Grandma & grandpa Davidson

looking at the scenery, mudding in the bronco

Squeaky clean

working hard

good toes

Adorable in a bathrobe

Mary & Martha

Grandma Lori telling stories

Cousin Alice on mother's day

Checking in on Eggbert

Driving the comet

Trying to weigh the little man on Blakely

nice bear

our little joey (Kangaroo)

Arches

Awesome arch

village in the cliffs at Mesa Verde.

Hope you liked the pictures. We finally got to download them on the computer.

Love you all & miss those of you we haven't seen recently.

xoxoxo Kristen, ben, & monster man Henry.

Cross-Country

2010-06-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

Hi again! Sorry it’s been so long. It seems like we haven’t had any time to keep up on the blog lately! We are finally home & settled in for a while though. We had an awesome trip across the country. Without going on & on I’ll try to give you the short version.

We left North Carolina with WIND-BORNE on the hard safe & sound. She is in good hands until we can return. We headed south towards Florida to see Ben’s grandpa Reg & our friend Hamish in Miami. We made a stop in Savannah GA on the way & had a great time walking around & admiring all the old houses & beautiful parks that are on every other block. It is worth going to Savannah just to see it…and go to the Mellow Mushroom, which has the best food & beer ever! We took a night time ghost tour before hitting the road again & off we went to meet Reg & Dot in Ft. Lauderdale.
We had a really nice evening with Ben’s grandpa & went to Miami to stay on Hamish’s boat “FREE @ LAST” We stayed with him about 4 days I think (it’s been a while) and had an awesome time catching up & Ben got to help a bit with boat stuff & getting sails put up. We went to the beach & Henry had his first dip in the ocean at Miami Beach. He was a little wary at first, but warmed up to it quickly. The waves hitting him didn’t seem to worry him at all. He seemed quite at home.
From there we went up the East coast a little way to get Ben a little surfing in & Henry took another dunk in the ocean. Then we headed west across Florida, Louisiana bound. We made it to New Orleans! The plan was to spend only 2 days there, but we had no idea that we arrived just 3 days before Jazz Fest!!!! We had to stay! There was no way we could miss such an awesome show. Who knows if we will ever get back to that city again. Jazz Fest is even bigger in New Orleans than Mardigras believe it or not. We were on a limited budget, so we only went to one day of shows, and had a blast despite the torrential downpours we encountered. The pavilion we were in flooded almost a foot deep. We were sitting watching the show with water up to our shins. Henry slept through the shows mostly. He does really well with loud noises. He sleeps best when there is a lot going on. We wrapped a pair of his little pants around his head with balls of fabric over his ears to muffle the sound a little. He looked really funny.
We walked around the French & garden districts for days & saw one of their famous above ground graveyards. We also took another ghost/history walking tour in the French Quarter. I had no idea that New Orleans had such a crazy & violent past! I could write a whole blog on just the history that we learned about it. We also ate some awesome local cuisine. Ben loved the gumbo, muffaletta, and brioche royale. I loved the Jambalaya, Cajun duck Po boy, & alligator sausage.
We sadly left New Orleans with much left to see. We were on the way to Colorado. I’m going to have to say Texas was the least driver friendly state in my mind that we encountered. The speeds were lower than other states & the rest stops were all closed after dark, so if you had to stop for a bathroom break at night you were out of luck. We would drive for ever trying to find some silly little town & hope that they might have an open gas station…which they usually didn’t…. The multiple rattlesnake warnings made sure we never just pulled the car over on the side of the road to get out. Anyway, we made it to Mesa Verde which was really amazing!!! I have no idea why the Indians in that area decided to build their houses and villages into the sides of sheer cliffs, but it makes an amazing sight to see. They farmed the plateaus above their houses & had to climb tiny foot hold “ladders” carved into the rock face to get food & water. Not the life for me. Mind boggling to visit though. I highly recommend everyone see this as well.
We spent one night here then hurriedly got on the road towards Utah. We made it to Moab where the Arches National Park is & spent an entire day hiking & driving around to the different arch sites. The arches are spectacular & even though they explain how they are made it’s still hard to believe they stand there. You can’t help but just stare at them wondering how the middle has so much strength no to just cave in to gravity. I loved arches!
So, after a whirlwind tour of the US, we were on the way home. We had to finish quarterlies etc… and take care of things at home. We had been gone almost a month & a half. Home looked like heaven when we arrived. Our own bed, finally!!
We didn’t make it at home very long. Still more people & places to visit, so we went to Blakely Island to see John & Laurie & take Henry prawning & he was in his first ever boat parade.
We once again made it home, had a few visits from family…Mary & Martha came by & we went to Port Angeles & Port Townsend & saw Chris, Mary, Spencer, and Cy. We stayed out there for 3 days or so & here we are again at home.
My mom Lori has been staying with us a few days a week & is getting as much Henry time in as possible before we leave for Australia. She is really excited about being a grandma & loves playing with the little man. Since being home Henry has been making the rounds locally to see everyone. We spent mother’s day out at grandma’s in the Teanaway & he was happy to see My grandparents, great aunt Becky, auntie Jessica, Unlce Tyler, Serina, his new little cousin Alice….the list goes on. He also recently go to see great grandma Gwen, Doug & Janis, and a bunch of friends who haven’t seen him since he was a new born. There’s lots to do when you are as in demand as our little man. J
As far as Ben & I, we have been trying to find work & clean out the basement getting ready to leave. Lots to do. We managed to have the biggest yard sale ever memorial weekend. We did it Sunday only & had a yard filled with things. We had Ben’s scaffold set up with planks as shelves three sections deep full of things, three tables, stuff on the ground, and a clothesline full. We ended the day with only one table of stuff left over & we even sold the suburban which came as quite a surprise considering it was a last minute thought to put a sign on it.
I got a part time weekend job at a local coffee stand and little bits of work have been coming in for Ben. Looks like we will make it alright for the summer. It’s nice to have mom around to watch the little man while I’m working weekends so Ben can get some things done.
Well, that’s just about it. Thanks for hanging in there & waiting for us to finally fill you all in. Hope to hear from you all soon & hope to see as many of you as possible this summer.
Love, Kristen, Ben, & Henry the busiest most non sleeping baby ever.
Oh, forgot to give you an update on the little man :
Weight 22 lbs! Age 5 months, chews on toes, talks all the time, grabs anything he can get his hands on, can get knees worked up under his booty when on his tummy, but no crawling yet. Stands on his own feet, but needs support. Sitting well alone, but needs a spotter for when he tips over for a soft landing. Rolls over & over. Can’t leave him alone for a minute.

Anchored in Ocracoke

2010-04-05T11:44:00.000-07:00

Hey Ya’ll,
We’re out here on Wind-Borne happily anchored in Silver Lake on Ocracoke Island in North Carolina. Really cool place! We came camping here in the car on our first trip to NC. Awesome little village with lots of great little shops & beaches that you can drive on. Awazing coffee that is the best we have had this side of Montana, maybe even one of the best lattes ever actually.
This is where Black Beard lost his head. After he was beheaded, his body was thrown overboard & his head was attached to the bow of the navy vessel that captured him as a prize. It is said that Black Beard swam around the ship headless 7 times & still haunts these waters to this day seeking his head. There is a Blackbeard museum here that we intend to see during our stay. It is also said that he left his treasure here, but no one is allowed to look for it, because the part of the island that is believed to be the treasures hiding place is a nature preserve & no metal detectors or shovels are allowed.
We are currently listening to the most ridiculous radio traffic ever on channel 16. There was a boat that didn’t know its vhf button was down & two hillbilly fellas were talking about installing beer coolers & one said he could swallow a Coors right about now & no they couldn’t afford to get power, & needed showers badly. Then, on came a lovely back woods voice yelling to “red dog” to “come back, because we have a brunette as a seat cover…come back, come back…..”Now we have two boats with what appears to be teenagers taking turns screaming & yelling at each other into the VHF. Good times all around really. Quite entertaining, but the funny part is that the coast guard isn’t intervening at all tonight. Usually they come on giving warnings to people misusing the radio. They don’t’ really seem to want to do anything tonight. They were almost refusing to help a boat grounded in the channel on the way in earlier this evening as well. He eventually got help from a local power boat. It’s been an interesting evening listening in on the local vhf radio. I’m sure we haven’t heard the end of it yet either. The night is still young.
Well, off to cook dinner. Will write in soon. Pictures to come!

Out of Oriental

2010-04-05T11:43:00.000-07:00

So, we left Oriental on the first (HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA!!!!!) and anchored at Cedar island. We had a great sail over with nice winds. Henry couldn’t resist the noise of the engine & the rocking of the boat & slept well for about 2 hours. I (Kristen) joined him. I never get a mid day nap, so it was pretty amazing!!!
Ben found a new beer that he reckons rivals Sierra Nevada for the best beer ever. Ive never heard him even put another beer in the category of his Sierra before. He always tries a new beer, then the first words out of his mouth are “it’s good, but it’s no Sierra” The reaction to this one was “this might be better…no…it couldn’t be…yeah, it might beat Sierra….oh no, I hope they keep making it…better stock up. “ It’s a New Belgium “ranger IPA” It’s funny, because he doesn’t really like the other New Belgium beers anywhere near as much as Sierra, but here it is Ranger IPA! Great name too!
Ben & Henry are sitting in the cockpit across from me right now reading a book. The sunset is beautiful & we are having a great mini vacation on Wind-Borne. We can’t put her up on the hard until our broker/boat hauler Paul gets back from seeing his boat in the Bahamas this next weekend. So, on Monday the 12th or so, we will be out of the water & on the way back home.
We have to shorten the drive on the way home, because we are staying on the boat longer than we intended. We may not be able to take the southern route home like we wanted, because we need to get home. We were hoping to see New Orleans, and lots of southern states on the way, but looks like the farthest south we are going to make it is Oregon. We had plans to stop in tillamock on the way home & see the cheese factory & the air museum ,and we hope to make it there still. We also might catch a bit of the redwoods too if we can make it. Just a bit of a detour instead of the big one we had planned, but I’m still excited about it.
Ok, got stuff to do, talk to you guys soon!

Road trip so far

2010-03-31T07:52:00.000-07:00

We're off Superman style

Uncle Scott & Vito

New baby

A dog his size

Angry mom about to charge

riding an elk cowboy style

cold baby going to the barn to get warmed up.

awesome Wind-Borne blanket

Tyson & Neris

Chloe & Henry are good friends

Henry & Dad walking the docks

Obviously loves his life jacket.....even though it may squish his cheeks a little.

Part one of Team Davidson's road trip across America:

First stop: Bozeman Montana to see Uncle Scott & Vito.

Made it to Bozeman in one day. Henry did really well. We were pleasantly surprised! Came in to Bozeman around 9:00 pm, ate a late dinner & stayed the night at Scott's. Hung out a little in the morning, then on the road again.

Second stop: Buffalo Gap South Dakota to see family.
Arrived at Dad & Karen's house just before dark. Just in time for dinner, then out to the barn to pull a calf. It's calving season on the ranch & there were tons of cows ready to have babies all at the same time.There was one in the barn that needed a little help, so we watched as Jerry & Karen pulled it out. It's an interesting sight if you've never seen it before. They carefully attach a small chain around the hooves, then slowly pull the calf out by it's front legs.

We went out several times during our stay to check on the cows & see which ones had calves, would be expecting within hours, were having trouble, tag the calves ears, etc... It was really a lot of fun. We found a newborn calf that was still wet alone out in the field, then later found it's confused mother trying to steal another cow's baby thinking it was hers. The other cow was not to pleased as you can imagine, but couldn't get rid of her. We brought the confused cow & the abandoned calf back to the barn where they were reunited. We then headed out to the field again, because on the way back into the barn with these two Jerry spotted another lost newborn calf. Turns out it belonged to a cow that was in the barn already...oops..not sure what happened there. Anyway, they were reunited also & all was well. Back out to the field again the next day to tag some ears. You need to run down & capture the newborn calves before they get to old & can outrun you,(about 2 days old) then put ID tags in their ears. The hard part is trying to separate cranky overprotective cows from their babies long enough to do it. I'm not sure if any of you have had a mad cow after you, but I can assure you it's pretty freaky. We brought a pitchfork along to keep mad cows at bay & drove around the field. When we spotted a new one, we would pull up right next to it & someone would jump out & wrangle the calf & someone else would run over & tag & hold the pitchfork in the direction of the mama cow, then back in the truck & off we would go to find the next one. Ben took a few turns wrangling & had quite a run after a particularly fast calf & just as he caught it here came it's big mean mom running & mooing at him. Needless to say, he dropped that calf & ran for the car. Pretty funny actually.

Overall, this was a really fun stop with lots of action. We also got to see Grandma Elaine!! Henry's Great grandma. We were really excited to see her & Henry couldn't keep his eyes off her. The little man stared at her the entire time she was over. It was a great visit, although we wish it could have been longer.

Karen made Henry an awesome quilt with Wind-Borne on it!!! It's awesome & we will post a picture of it.

Third stop: Omaha Nebraska to see Tyson & Neris.

Got in late. stayed up a while & hung out. Poor Neris, we didn't know it at the time, but she had a benefit to attend the next day & needed to work until midnight. Henry could not get enough of her though!! He giggled & laughed so much. She even told him stories in Spanish. Tyson was a hit too & so was Chloe their golden retriever.

We were there the whole next day & went into the city to see Neris for lunch & take a tour of her workplace, which is a beautiful old building in old down town. I wish we had gotten pictures of it, because it was an amazing building. We all went down the huge slide outside her building & then went back to the house for some hang out time. Neris got to come back home for a little while & we had fun just playing with the the little man & watching tv. We went to the farm after that & saw all the cool stuff they have going on & all the animals. They have 5 golden retrievers there (Chloe makes 6) and they are all related. They have the coolest dog pen with like 5 acres to play on & a house that includes a real queen size bed complete with comforter & pillows, two chairs to sit on, and a heater. It's really quite posh for a dog house.

Henry met Tyson's brother Zach at the farm & his little boy who is 16 months old & walking & talking is the same weight as Henry!!!! He's about 22lbs now! Getting quite heavy to carry actually.

Off we went again in the morning destination Oriental.

Oriental at last:

almost 2 days on the road & here we are. We will update you on that in the next blog. Seeing lots of old friends & having a good time working in the boat. I'm sue I Left some stuff out, but I'm a little distracted trying to type one handed while feeding & entertaining Henry.

Will post more soon. Miss you all.

Almost on the road again

2010-03-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

All ready to travel with his new passport!

Open mouth..insert frog

Happy little boy having a chat with mom

Hey Ya'll,

We are on our way to North Carolina again. We will be most likely leaving on Monday, making stops in Bozeman MT, South Dakota, Omaha, then on to Oriental. Wish us luck on our first road trip with the little man. He hates to be tied down in his car seat for any length of time & can stay awake in the car even on the freeway...we had to have the only baby on earth not put to sleep by a moving vehicle...Should be alright though. One of us can entertain Henry while the other drives.

Here are a few new pics from the last week. Henry got his first passport & is all ready to go to Australia at the end of the summer! He's really excited about it. You can see him clutching on to that passport all ready to go.

He's a happy little guy & smiles all the time. He grabs toys a lot now & puts everything in his mouth! He is still super active all the time! He just can't stop kicking & bouncing & punching his arms all over the place. He is extremely talkative too. He has so much to say & we can't wait until he makes sense.

Ben is at work today (saturday) finishing up a project & we will finish sewing up the spinnaker sock & packing for the trip tomorrow. We need to get taxes done too...yay.. Alright, gotta to get some stuff done. We'll be reporting from the road soon!

Potty time!

2010-03-15T19:15:00.000-07:00

Newest accomplishment for Henry....Going to the bathroom in the froggy potty!! He actually loves it & he really goes potty in it every time you set him down on it!! You can see how happy he is. We are on our way to slowly getting him out of those yucky diapers! Wish us luck!

Sundays are fantastic!

2010-03-14T23:16:00.000-07:00

Nap time.

Henry holding himself up quite well.

Found his hand & loves to put it in his mouth.

Loves to put bunny & everything else in his mouth as well. He's grabbing & holding toys all by himself now. Very fun!

Nap time again! Oops on the repeat pic.

And, nap time again! Sundays are great!

Sundays have become our favorite days by far! It's the only day of the week that Ben doesn't work, so I get to sleep in & Ben gets a nice long nap mid day. It's funny how used to a schedule you can get. I'm definitely getting better with the night shift that I have with Henry & Ben is so good at getting up anywhere between 2:30 & 4:00 am to take him after me. I don't find it as hard to get up at 7:00am as I used to either, but when Sunday rolls around... I get to stay in Bed until 9:00 am & sometimes a little later if I'm really lucky & I love it!!

Henry is slowly adjusting his schedule recently. He will sleep 2 1/2 hours at a time on rare occasion & more increasingly over 1 1/2!!!! This is a miracle, since for the most part of his life so far he has refused to sleep for more than one hour at a time & only took 10 minute naps (which he still does) during the day....leaving no time for me to nap with him. Thus, I was only receiving 3-4 hours of sleep nightly & feeling less than perky. It didn't help that our little munchkin has a need to bounce nearly every second of his awake time in order to stay happy. It's difficult to have the energy for that on no sleep. Somehow we managed, and now the hard work is starting to pay off. Henry is starting to sleep in his crib, which means we each get to go to bed in...of all things...our BED instead of on the couch & on occasion get to snooze more than an hour at a time. Things are looking up!!

On another note, Grandma Betty's birthday was on Friday & The family got together at her house to celebrate on Saturday! Happy birthday grandma!!! It was so nice to see everyone again!! Henry loves going to his great grandparents house! So do we!

We tried to measure Henry again today & with all the wiggling we got a few measurements, but ended up with somewhere around 26 inches, so he has grown one inch since 3 weeks ago. He has been averaging 2 inches per month, but it looks like he may finally be slowing down, although he is growing out of his 3 month clothes quickly. He's in a lot of his 6 month stuff already. We do not have a weight, but are guessing somewhere between 18 & 20 lbs! Big boy. I'm getting a really strong left arm from carrying him around all day. We don't get him officially weighed at the doctors until he is 4 months old & I can't wait!

I'm currently finishing the sock for our spinnaker & it's HUGE! I keep finding these ridiculously large sewing projects to do. The sock is just a foot shorter than the sail.. I can't remember how long it is exactly off the top of my head, but it's nearly a thousand square foot sail, so it's really long! Lots of material to sort through & wrangle. It's taking up the dining room at the moment. I'm also preparing to sew the sails for Doug's sailboat!! Finally!! I'm so excited & honored that I get the job. We are in the material ordering & design process currently & I'm hoping to finish the sails before we get too far into summer. Wish me luck!! This is a beautiful boat & it deserves beautiful sails. I hope I can do it justice.

Also, we are headed to North Carolina before the end of March to move the boat onto the hard. We will pull Wind-Borne out of the water & get her all covered up & squared away before leaving the country at the end of summer for Australia. We will be making the usual trek across the country by car so that we can visit family & friends along the way...should be interesting with a baby who hates his car seat...hmmm. We may be leaving next weekend depending on Ben's work situation etc... Of course we will keep you informed.

Ok, gotta go. Have a good week everyone!!

Blakely Island Diving etc...

2010-03-06T13:05:00.000-08:00

Henry in his big boy bouncer.

Nap time

So much effort to go diving in cold water!!! There is an insane amount of gear involved. Ben & John took forever to get ready just for freezing cold diving with almost no visibility & no fish.

Brrr!! diving with snow on the mountains. Water surface temp 46 degrees.

Happy baby!

Here are a few pics from the latest adventure! We went to Blakely Island to see the parents/grandparents last weekend. Ben went with the plan to dive with his dad since they both recently got outfitted with new cold water gear. They tried a beach dive first to make sure everything worked well, then we all went out on the comet to a few rocky areas nearby. First dive from beach had way too much current & they could barely fight their way around. First dive from the boat had about 5-7 foot visibility & the only life seen were starfish & a sea cucumber....second boat dive had 10 foot vis and still no fish, but an interesting slug thingy & rock crabs... Hmmm...apparently we did not go to the right areas... It was a lot of time & effort for such a lame reward in the end. They will try again, but I think if it sucks just as bad Ben will give up & go back to tropical dives.

Anyway, Blakely was awesome & the weather was really nice. On the way home we stopped in Issaquah to get a few things for Henry. We got him a bouncy door jumper although he is technically too young for it. He is huge & wants to be bounced 24/7, so this gives our arms a break. He loves it!!! We also got him a mobile & as you can see in the picture above he loves that too. He is starting to want to be entertained all the time now. He is so busy & active & just can't sit still for a second. he is constantly kicking & throwing his arms around even in his sleep. He's almost always happy, which is nice, but he almost never sleeps. He loves to take 10 minute naps. The other day he actually went 11 hours without any sleep... & you just can't make him sleep! Even if you just leave him in his crib alone with nothing to look at he will flail & giggle the whole time & eventually get mad at you. So, until he decides to sleep someday we will just have to try & keep up with him.

Henry also uses his hands a lot more now, thats his newest thing. We could never get him to grab anything but fingers & unfortunatley my hair before a week ago, but now he grabs evrything! He holds his blankets & toys & reaches for his bottle a lot. It's really fun watching him change so much so quickly!

Hope you all enjoy the newest pictures!

More pictures

2010-02-25T13:57:00.000-08:00

Alice Elizabeth

Kristen & brother Tyler with the babies. Alice looks so small next to Henry...oh, & there's the dark hair I told you about.

Henry & his new cousin Alice.

Thanks for checking in again. Enjoy the pics.

xoxxo Team Davidson

Baby Alice is here!!

2010-02-24T17:03:00.000-08:00

Alice Elizabeth, Henry's new cousin

Henry and his adorable toes

Tiny couch potato ready for movie time.

Tyler & Serina finally had their little

girl Alice Elizabeth this morning! She was 8lbs 7oz & 20 inches long. She is beautiful!

mom, Ben, Henry & I drove over to see her a little after 8. Serina looked great, although understandably tired. Tyler looked a bit worn out as well. I think he had envisioned it going a little differently on his part. He ended up being a bit more involved in the action than he expected to be. Luckily her delivery was speedy! Two hours after arriving at the hospital out came Alice! Hope you enjoy the pics!

Oh, yeah, and I died my hair (Ben picked the color) a really, really dark brown just to see what it would look like, since I've been blonde my entire life. We like it, but I still feel funny not being blonde. It just doesn't seem like my hair. I think I'll keep it this way for a while though.

Hope everyone is well. Not many comments recently. Let us know you are checking in. We will be trying to keep you all as updated on the little guy as possible on here.

Rollin

2010-02-22T11:36:00.000-08:00

Holding himself up

in the mariner's baseball glove at Safeco field

Hey ya'll!

Team Davidson had a fairly busy weekend. We went to the big city for the Seattle boat show, but had a hard time staying indoors long, because it was such a gorgeous day. We ended up going to Gas works park & watched sail boats race around & people fly kites. It would have been a perfect day to sail! We went to Freemont after that & had ice cream (which Henry was pretty jealous of I think) he stared at us the entire time we ate it.

We have a fun update on Henry. He is officially rolling over from front to back on purpose now!! He did it 3 times in a row yesterday & now that he knows he can do it he's really into it. Very cute! The picture at the top is actually him getting ready to roll again. We love seeing him figure new stuff out everyday! He's so active!!!!

Also, he may be getting a new cousin today..or very soon!! Serina is having early labor contractions finally! Little baby Alice will be joining us any time now! We could not be happier about it!

We will keep you informed!

Big little boy

2010-02-19T17:55:00.000-08:00

Cheeky

Story time with dad...a little light reading about world cruising routes...

Henry with a very dirty Toy

Hi!

Just a quick update & a few new pictures..

Henry had a check up with Doctor Walters this week & he is a perfectly healthy boy! He weighed in at nearly 16 lbs!!!!! He is 25 inches long & his head i s 16 inches around now. He is WAY off the charts for size, but it's ok, because his height & weight are in proportion, so it's healthy, but he's just huge! He is outgrowing his 3 month old clothes & is not quite yet 2 months. he is really strong & talks a lot! (no real words obviously, but he's trying already.) his legs are ready to run, but his arms haven't caught up yet. When he figures out how to work his arms he will be ready to crawl. He still doesn't seem to realize that those little arms belong to him yet though, so we've got a while.

Ben & I got a 4 hour break from Henry on Valentine's day last weekend! We went to see Avatar & ate dinner out. So much fun! We didn't have to worry about The little man, because he was in good hands with his three Valentine's dates. My mom Lori, cousin Jessica & her roommate Bree. He also had his first meeting with Jessica's big goofy horse Toy. Toy is an unusual horse to put it mildly. He is more like a dog actually... He likes to play tag & loves to hold things in his mouth. If you have buttons on your clothes he wants to hold them in his lips...he won't rip them off..just holds them. He also likes to kiss & lick people. Anyway, he took quite an interest in Henry. Henry seemed to like him quite a bit too. He was smiling & kept sticking his little fingers out to touch toy. Ben was doing his best to keep Toy's lips separated from Henry, but it was difficult.

Spencer came over for a little while last night which was awesome & earlier this week John & Laurie & Buster stayed a night on their way down to see the redwoods. I am a bit jealous! I love the redwoods! Having them over was really nice! Henry loved seeing his grandparents & Uncle Spencer again. If anyone else wants to visit feel free! We'd love to see you!

I've got dinner to make,so I'm gonna quit writing, but we will update again soon.

Henry's photo shoot

2010-02-04T08:49:00.000-08:00

Handsome little guy

Team Davidson

Henry holding himself up! Crazy!! He can do this for quite a while. Ben's creepy new beard....Henry & I want it to go away soon.

Hi again,

Finally managed to get ome pictures on here! YaY. Hope you enjoy them!

henry 6 weeks

2010-02-03T15:59:00.000-08:00

henry's balancing act

Hey everyone,
Henry is officially 6 weeks old now. He's grown up a lot in the last few weeks & gained a ton of weight. We don't really know how much, but will soon after he goes to his next check up. We have tried time & time again to post pictures on the blog, but our internet connection is so slow recently that we can't. I managed to get this one on today, but it won't let me add more..... not sure why. lame!
Henry is a happy baby & very strong! He can balance for a second standing up with daddy's help & can hold himself up on his forearms when on his tummy for a few seconds and look around all by himself. He kicks & squirms a lot when awake & even flails in his sleep. He is starting to "talk" a bunch (just vowel sounds & cute little squeaks.) He just started to smile really big too & does it all the time.
He has recently met lots of family members & friends. He got to see his james side ( Mary, Chris, Emily, James, Martha, & Spencer) his aunt Cy, Doug, Janet, and Duke, Dana, Kevin, Kelly, and April, and many more. He's loving the attention & can't wait to see you all again. He's still waiting to see all his out of state relatives.
Henry had a photo shoot with our friend Danielle who is a great photographer a few weeks ago & the pictures came out great!! We love them!! Danielle, Courtney, Alllison, and Megan came over for the shoot & we had tons of fun & got some amazing shots of the little guy! I wish I could download them!!! We will keep trying! If you want to see a sample go to www.criativophoto.blogspot.com We have tons more, so I hope to show them to you soon.
After I post this I will see if I can get more on. The picture above is from a few days ago. Ben was messing around with him on the couch holding him up on his lap & realized that Henry was actually locking his legs and attempting to hold his own weight, so he slowly let go with one hand & sure enough, he was really holding his own weight. He can only hold it for a second before those little legs give out, but it's a great start! We were thrilled! Henry did it several times & seemed to really enjoy the challenge. He was also holding himself up off Ben's chest while on his tummy for fairly long periods of time the same night. Crazy!

As for the two of us, we are good. Not getting much sleep, but have taken a lesson from our time on the boat & started to take night watch shifts. I take him from the time Ben goes to bed at night until 3 or 4 am & them Ben gets him from then until 7 or 8 am so we each get a solid block of sleep instead of us both waking up randomly throughout the night. We find that we are less grumpy in the morning with this routine.(even though I often only get 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night & Ben only gets about 5 or 6) I have him all day while Ben the breadwinner works & then Ben takes him when he gets home so I can cook dinner & get some house cleaning and alone time etc...in.
This schedule seems to be keeping us sane & happy. It's nice that we had all that experience with similar schedules on the boat to get us ready.
We are having a great (although tired) time with Henry! He's an awesome new addition to team Davidson & we are loving watching him grow up a tiny bit every week. We can't wait until he starts sleeping regularly. I love that he is so easy to care for right now though. He only needs to bed fed, changed, and loved. No crawling, solid foods, or any other complications to worry about just yet.
We will try to keep you better posted.
Thanks for checking in!
xoxox Kristen

Bath time!

2010-01-12T16:02:00.000-08:00

Henry's first real bath. His cord finally fell off, so we were able to put him all the way in the water & he actually liked it this time!Yay!

He's about two weeks old in these pics.

Henry is here!!!!

2009-12-31T15:00:00.000-08:00

Here he is; Henry Ranger Davidson

Our adorable little man.

Proud papa at home with the little man.

I finally got to hold him. One happy mamma!

Henry is having his first checkup here right after birth. You can see the forecepts mark on his cheek. He's already cute.

Hey everyone!

So, I know we are a little late in announcing this, but with the holidays & all we've been a bit busy!

Henry Ranger Davidson was born on December 20th at 12:14 PM. He weighed 9lbs 2oz and was 21 1/2 inches long.

We had a long (31 hours, with 7 hours of pushing) traumatic delivery, but made it through ok. Henry finally decided to join us & we couldn't be more thrilled! He's perfect! (I know....every new parent says that...but I can't help it. He's really perfect.)

We had John & laurie over for about a week which was really nice & Scott came to join us for Christmas too.

We are getting into our new routine around the house & trying to sneak in sleep where we can. Luckily Henry is a great baby. hardly any crying, but he has his hours backwards, so he's up all night & sleeping all day. We will try to get him switched around eventually, but for now, we are trying to adjust ourselves to his nutty schedule.

Hope you all have a great New Year & enjoy the pictures!! We hope to see and hear from you all soon. It has once again been too long since we've seen many of you. Hi to Brian & Alicia on Sarabande by the way!!! Great to hear from you!! We'll check your blog next. I'm curious to see where you are now.

Nope, No baby yet.,

2009-12-16T18:08:00.001-08:00

Just to let you all know, there is no baby yet. I assure you that we will be posting when he arrives. We promise. Kristen is doing well & so is the baby. He's big & healthy & we saw a 3-D ultrasound the other day & he already has a little hair on his noggin. Very cool.
Sorry for the delay, but the little man just doesn't want to come out yet..apparently. We are getting pretty anxious. Especially with Christmas being next week.
Hopefully you will all be hearing from us very soon. Happy holidays if we don't talk to you before then!!! We will most likely be staying home.

Keep up on the blog. We will post pics as soon as possible!!
-Ben & Kristen

Nine Months Pregnant Pictures

2009-12-04T15:36:00.000-08:00

From the side

Seriously HUGE!!!

Outside all bundled up.

Ok, so I've been asked by a ton of people to please post a picture of me pregnant.

So...here I am in all my glory at 9 months along. This is as big as it gets.

I'm due any day & wish I had some older preggo pics to share with you, but this is it.

Any time now!! We'll make sure to let you all know when he shows up!!

-Kristen

Any day now!

2009-12-03T10:17:00.000-08:00

Hi guys!,

Thanksgiving was really good. We had a bunch of people over at our house & had a Big turkey & a ham plus all the stuff that goes with, so we still have some leftovers. I love Thanksgiving leftovers!! hope everyone else had a good one too!! It was funny having one at home again. last year it was our first full day out on the boat after leaving Oriental, so the three of us were all alone. It was nice not to have to travel this year too.

We are still just waiting for the arrival of the little guy. I went to the doctor on Tuesday & she said he's on his way for sure & she would be surprised if he waited another week. I haven't been sleeping the last two nights because of cramps and contractions, so thats a good sign that he's getting ready. These contractions could last up to two weeks though. I hope not!!! We went to another class last night & that was good. It was about all the scary stuff like epidurals & creepy tools etc... I'm glad I got to see everything.

I have been told that if I go bounce around or walk up a steep hill etc... I could go into labor pretty quickly, but I'm hoping to let him come out when it is his time. I figure if he comes out when he's ready instead of when I bounce him out labor might go more smoothly... Thats my thoery anyway. We'll see. I am really excited for him to show up & today would be great...so wish us luck!

We will update you soon. Probably when he's born....I hope!!

I put a few pictures of the roosters up to entertain you & show you what they look like in case anyone is interested. They were taken with our camara that is dying, so they arent' the best quality, but thanks to Doug & his early Christmas present we are the proud new owners of an amazing camara as of yesterday, so we should have awesome baby pics when he arrives!!!!!

Thanks again Doug!!!!!

Roosters!

2009-11-21T09:49:00.000-08:00

Hey again,

there has been a lot going on at the Davidson household for the last few weeks. We are getting ready for the little man of course. We are painting his room Monday or Tuesday & we had two showers last weekend. One here in Cle Elum for the Eastsiders & one in Bellevue at Doug & Janet's house for the westsiders. They were both really fun & we hope everyone had a good time! We really loved seeing everyone!! Especially people we haven't seen since as long ago as our wedding! I still can't believe we have been back home since summer & have missed out on seeing so many people!! We will try to be better about visiting friends in the future!...although, we may be a bit busy with the baby for a while.

Our house is quickly filling up with baby stuff. I am trying to keep it contained! We are hoping to keep his room as the guest room for a while, and have him staying in our room at first, mostly so I don't have to go trudging across the house at all hours of the night to feed & change him. I figure that all those extra minutes that I save wandering around are extra minutes of sleep I will be getting. It probably means much less sleep for Ben, but some sacrifices need to be made. It's funny, because our guest room bed is a king & the baby's room is tiny, so not much room to maneuver around once all the little man stuff is in there. Oh well. Guests will understand I'm sure. It just looks a little messy.

We are on our last "vacation" right now before I am not able to travel anymore. We are in Port Angeles at Cy's house finishing up her deck & getting Ben a bit of surfing in. We should be home on Monday. I could be due any time, so I have to stay near the hospital after this weekend until he shows up. It's funny to think that this is the last trip we will be on alone together. We are so excited to be having this baby! We can't wait.

We were out of town all last week as well starting Cy's deck project & had my mom watching our chickens for us. Thanks again by the way! We got home & on Monday morning realized that the "hens" were crowing!!! they had never done that before!! Ben had a suspicion that the supposed female chickens were roosters, but I wasn't convinced....until Monday. Turns out that out of the 4 "guaranteed Hens" that we bought we are really the proud owners of 3 roosters & one poor hen. Over the last week they have really started to develop their crows. At first they were just tiny little half crows, but they are quick learners. Now we get three roosters competing for loudest longest crow of the day....all day long! They chase poor eggbert (our hen) around & sit on her quite often. I think they are claiming her. She has become a pretty fast runner. We will put pictures up soon. Who knew chickens could be so exciting! Ben wants to eat them, but I raised them & am quite attached, so I am only willing to give two away to happy homes who promise not to eat them. If anyone is interested, they are Buff Orpingtons. They are a fancy rare breed layer chicken known to lay double yolk eggs & are also known strangely enough for their personalities. They bond with people & become attached to you. They are quiet chickens...yes, the roosters crow, but really not too loud. We can't even hear it in the house most of the time. They are HUGE chickens. bigger than a small dog or cat.

Well, other than that,we are getting ready for the holidays. Thanksgiving will be at our house this year! I can't go too far, so we are bringing the party to ourselves. We have an estimated 16 people on the way as of right now...but the way things are going, we will have more than that by the time the day arrives. I hope everyone is up for getting cozy, because we have a small house! I'm excited though! It's going to be nice to see everyone, especially since we have no idea what we are doing for Christmas this year. If we have the baby early enough, we will be able to travel...If not, well, I guess we are on our own. I know we will be tired, but we are hoping that we can still drop in on the family for Christmas. We will just have to hand him off & take naps if it works out time wise.

Ok, well gotta go check out the farmer's market with Cy now. We will put pics up when we get home.

Hope to hear from you soon!

love, Kristen & Ben

Land life update

2009-10-22T09:01:00.000-07:00

Skip dog at home in Washington.

Kristen at the farmer's market

Ben with a fish he caught up at lake Cle Elum

Our house in Roslyn..bit messy. we were still moving in.

Some of the wonderful weather Ben encountered on his way home.

freaky clouds creeping in

Hi!

Kristen here, I know, I know, it's been months & months since we last wrote to update anyone. So much has happened that it is going to be way too much to fill you all in on, so I'll give you the quick cliff notes version of life after Panama.

We left Panama after realizing that the boat along with ourselves were not up to the challenge of taking on the Pacific Ocean this season & also found out that we are having a baby!

Took on a new crew member to help us back up to North Carolina where the boat was to be stored. Ben was my hero! He was so good about taking almost all my watches for me while I was feeding the fishes over the side rail, but there was no way either of us could live through the whole trek back with me that sick & him that sleep deprived, so our new crew member Russ was crucial.

I was sooooo sick (yay morning sickness combined with being in the middle of the ocean) that it was no longer safe for me or the baby to be on board the boat any longer, so I jumped ship in Grand Cayman & left the boys to take the boat up to North Carolina alone.

It was a nerve racking few weeks for me, because I was not used to being without Ben after all that time together on the boat & the second I got on the plane I missed him already. I was also worried about him out there with a new guy on the boat. We had a routine down & it worked really well for us. I also had little to no contact with him until he reached the states, which did not help me feel any better about the situation. The only thing that made me happy was the fact that I was now reunited with Skippy & we spent all our time hanging out & taking walks together. It was great! Meanwhile, although he did miss me he was having a lovely sail back up around Cuba with the brand new spinnaker that we had just made together & the trip could not have gone better.

The story changed dramatically when he reached Florida! Luckily I could talk to him on a real phone again! Unfortunately, the weather turned bad in a hurry & unless he got the boat out of the "hurricane area" quick Wind-Borne was uninsured until he hit North Carolina waters. He encountered the craziest storms & lightning showers. We had seen nothing like it before. He still gets a worried look on his face when he sees lightning after that. I'm not sure if you all know what lightning can do to a boat, but it can pretty much annihilate it immediately. There you are bobbing around in open water with a 50 plus foot metal lightning rod sticking straight up from the middle of your boat...... so,that's not a good start. If you do get hit it completely wipes out all your electronics. You have no AIS, no GPS, no radio, no depth finder...you get the point. It does this and can damage several other things on the boat as well. Long story short, he spent much of his time sitting under bridges in the ICW & anchoring out as close to boats with larger masts than Wind-Borne as he could get in the hopes that if lightning did strike, maybe it would hit the bigger lightning rod first..... Good news is he made it!!

So, now we had to decide what to do with Wind-Borne now that she was back home.

Russ took off for his home (Canada) and I flew back to Oriental NC to help Ben with boat prep & loading up the suburban (which we left at the boat yard) for the long drive home. I was sooo happy to be back with Ben & both be on land in the US! We decided to put Wind-Borne up for sale, because we didn't know when we would be able to return to finish the journey with the new baby & all, so that added a lot of work for us. We cleaned, re-stained, re fitted, & rechecked everything on the boat along with finishing up a few small projects we had put off & after about two weeks of working steady we were ready to go. We put her in her new slip, said a tear full goodbye & off we went.

We made two stops on the way home. One in Nebraska to see Tyson & Neris & one in South Dakota to see my dad & family over there. Nebraska was sooo much fun & we loved the chance to hang out with old friends again! Dad's was fun too. We just so happened to arrive the day before a big cattle brand. Ben was amazing!! He was assigned to be a cow wrangler, which I think is the hardest job & he looked like a prop doing it! He did manage to get his hand branded on accident, which was lame, and also bucked off by a nice sized cow, and had an impressive showdown with a big mean black cow with long horns that had it in for him. It charged & there was no time to get out of the corral, so Ben help his ground & armed with only a little plastic paddle he kicked that cows butt. It never knew what hit it. (I guess all that baseball practice really paid off) he whacked it upside the head so quickly & so furiously that it stopped in it's tracks & when he just continued to beat on it non stop it finally backed down. Very impressive!...and pretty funny when it was all over.

So, we made it home!!

Skippy was so happy to see us & have the whole pack back together again!! It was perfect.

We stayed with family until we found a place to rent in Roslyn. We have a nice little two bedroom house built in the 1920's right in town with a big yard & I started a nice little garden.

Ben got back to work and I settled in.

I started baking for the farmer's markets which was awesome to make some extra money & because I love to bake & Ben's business started to pick up. Things on land were starting to look pretty good.

We bought chickens. Yes, chickens... we had a big enough yard & we thought it would be cool to get our own eggs. Skippy was not amused by the chickens, but didn't dislike them either, so that was good.

Life on land seemed like it could not get any better, although we do miss Wind-Borne & the adventures we had. Not to mention the friends we made out there.

We found out we are having a little boy & he is due in December! He is very healthy & we could not be more excited!!

Life was indeed perfect for team Davidson. (or as close as it gets) then tragedy struck.

I'm sorry to inform you with some really bad news. We are still not over the shock of it, and are still unable to really talk about it, but about three weeks ago, Skippy was hit by a lumber truck at work with Ben & died almost instantly. We miss him everyday. He was with us constantly & made our lives better. Ben had him more than 13 years & they have traveled everywhere together. We never imagined life without him. Especially since he was so healthy & happy still at his old age. It has left a huge hole in our lives...

So, we have been trying to move on & continue getting ready for the little man's arrival. I am due in a month & a half, so that's great! We can't wait. Next step is getting the nursery together. It's a disaster area with all our extra furniture etc... crammed into it. I think we will paint it next week.

Farmers markets are over for the year, so I'm just doing side orders for custom cakes etc, but nothing big. We have had our first snow although nothing stuck to the ground yet. Its' been a roller coaster with the weather being warmish, then freezing cold. Today I accidentally went ice skating across the lawn in my slippers when I went out to feed the chickens. Brrr!!! Luckily I did manage to stay on my feet & did not end up on my backside.

We have a baby shower coming up soon & John & Laurie (Ben's parents) are coming over to stay with us tomorrow. We are excited! Oh yeah, and Ben's birthday was last week!!! he's 33! That went pretty well too!

Ok, so that's all the updating I have for now...I'm sure I missed a ton of stuff, but you get the gist of things I think. Keep in touch & we hope to keep this blog going even though we are land lovers now. We will have new things to blog about when the baby comes & maybe if we keep this up long enough it will turn into a sailing blog again someday. Who knows.

Hope everyone is happy & doing well.

-Kristen & Ben

Panama U-Turn

2009-05-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!!
We are here in Portobello Panama waiting to...come home.
Yup, Wind Borne is coming home!..To North Carolina that is! We are not doing the Pacific this year due to unforseen electrical & other circumstances & the fact that we are getting to be late. We want to come home, because we miss everyone & are not ready to miss the whole pacific just yet. We want to leave when we have more time & money to do so...so here we are all the way in Panama preparing for Wednesday when we will hopefully be on the way back.
Don´t be too excited yet!! We won´t be there right away!! It take some time to get back up the coast, but we are going to go as fast as we can. We are so excited to see everyone & take a break from the adventure! We miss you all so much & should be home in 2 months or less...
We will be driving our suburban back from Oriental to Washington & leave Wind-Borne in the care of sailcraft services. We would not feel right leaving it anywhere else!
Well, we are headed back to the boat to work some more, but we will see you all soon & are very very excited!!! Keep in touch. ...the adventure is not over, it´s just taking a break for now!

Love, Kristen & Ben

Isla de Providencia, Colombia

2009-04-28T15:55:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!
I’m not even sure where to start on this one. It seems like it has been a month since we last posted a blog. We are here on Isla De Providencia & have been far longer than we expected. We were supposed to sail from Grand Cayman to Providencia, have a quick (one day or so) layover to catch up on sleep before continuing on down to the San Blas Islands in Panama, but the weather had different plans for us & we have been unable to escape for 10 days now!!! We are still unable to post on the internet here, so I will probably just add to this in the San Blas and you will end up with a lot of reading material. There will be no internet in the San Blas, because it is very remote & the Kuna Indians inhabit them. They try to live the way they always have, but they do have a few more modern conveniences now. We will tell you more about that when we get there though… Back to the trip so far…
So, I think we already talked about Grand Cayman, that was really fun & the water was absolutely amazing! We left there on Thursday the 16th of April & arrived at Low Cay (which is a little piece of coral above water with lots of coral surrounding it barely under the water’s surface just outside of Providencia) there is nothing there but a little light beacon on the “land” and we anchored in the protection of the reef. The plan when we arrived was that to avoid the fees in Colombia and shave off some time on our travels we would only stay in Low Cay for a night, then leave again for Panama, but the weather started to act up & was supposed to be getting better in two or three days, so to avoid an uncomfortable passage we pulled into Providencia the next day after a great snorkel in the morning.
Providencia turned out to be a great place & we are really happy that we stayed here. The people are nice & it’s a safe place. They all speak English too! Very convenient.
We met some new cruising friends including Jim & Laura on Nilaya another Bayfield 36 the same size & color as ours. Although I have to say they have a way better dodger & the floor in theirs is beautiful.(ours is very dinged & scuffed) Their Bayfield is a year older than ours & the layout is also a little different. They do not have a table that folds up against the wall like ours, instead the table is mounted to the floor in the middle of the salon area & the leaves on both sides fold up so you can eat at both couches & it can be used as a convenient lee cloth to make a double sea berth. It takes up more room than ours & although you can feed more people more comfortably I like that we can get rid of ours completely when it is not in use. The galley cabinets are different as well & where we have a chain locker door in the vee berth they have a plain wall….among some other small differences. We had a good time getting to know them & a few of the other cruisers here as well. We didn’t get as social as we would have liked, or explore the island a bunch either, because we were downstairs the whole time sewing up the new spinnaker.
The Spinnaker is a huge light weight 1000 square foot sail that you attach to the front of the boat in light winds so that you are still moving at a decent pace when the normal sails would not be doing much at all. We bought the kit online and have been planning on sewing it in Panama when we get there, but then we realized that we aren’t going to have much time there at all, so we needed to start here. We have done three huge panels out of four & have lots of work to go after we get all those together. We have a few pictures of the process so far.
Anyway, back to Providencia… We checked in with Mr. Bush. He is the guy that checks all the cruisers in & he is very kind & loves to see boaters coming in! He will do anything to help you that he can. You can call him on channel 16 & ask for a mechanic & he will go find one for you & have them meet you at the dock. Very cool. We went to the horse races on the beach on Saturday & it was crazy! We rented a scooter at the grocery store & drove over to the beach it was at. We arrived early & decided to get lunch first at a little outdoor restaurant on the beach. Turns out our table was the finish line! We stayed there & waited for the race to begin. Men kept piling up down on the sand in front of us & as the race got closer & closer the conversations they were having (in some foreign language) got more & more heated. They take their betting seriously here & they were apparently arguing over who would win. The horses were running up & down the beach before the race to try & show off & get bets. Children were all over the beach & the riders had to swerve around them. Finally they got down to it & the race was on. Two horses erupted through the crowd at the far end of the beach & as they got closer the yelling intensified and it was over. One horse won by a nose & the losing horse tossed his owner into the water. We though there was more coming, but nope. Only two horses today! The betters inspected the horses for a long time to make sure noting funny was going on & everyone went on with their business.
We had rented our scooter for the entire day & wanted to get our money’s worth so we scooted around the entire island three & a half times. We took turns driving & took lots of pictures along the way. There were lots of horses loose in the road. One was taking a nap in the road & seemed completely unfazed by our presence. Then there were the herds of cows crossing the roads & being herded up them by their owners on scooters & bicycles. Usually one person per herd. One man was on his bike & he had the last cow by the tail & was directing it by pulling on it’s tail in the direction he wanted it to go & smacking it with it to go faster. It seemed to be working….I for one would not want to be that close to a cows hind end. We also saw a big Blue lizard & some other cool huge lizards & took lots of pictures of the island as we passed.
On our last lap around the island we got a flat tire!! We ran over a nail & had to stop. We were way up on a hill in the middle of nowhere & Ben was pushing the scooter down the road towards town while we were trying to figure out what to do since we were so far from anywhere. We passed some guys on their front porch& they yelled out to us that they knew someone who worked on scooters. The guys flagged him down for us & he took us to his house just down the road where we sat in his lawn as he fixed the flat. He ended up having to put a new tube in, because we punctured ours in too many places to patch, so he gave us one of his. The funny thing was that every time one of his family members would come out of the house to do something they would spot us there in their yard & do a quick double take before running to another building quickly & telling someone else that there were strange white people in their yard. then another family member would pop out from somewhere & do a double take & run to the house or wherever & so on & so on… I think we freaked out like 4 family members by the time the tire was fixed. We thought it was hilarious. It was like if you came out in your yard at home in Washington & saw a rhinoceros in the yard. They just froze for a minute took another look….tried to focus their eyes…then ran for shelter…They were nice though. Just confused. The tire change took about twenty minutes & cost two dollars! Ben tipped him & gave him three. Big spender! We were very pleased!
The island is pretty. I found it funny that almost all the houses looked uninhabitable to me. No doors or windows in the ones in the country & if I were to pass them anywhere else I would have expected them to be abandoned, but all of the locals are really clean & well dressed in new clothes & their hair & make up is always done nicely....odd combo. They also have three grocery stores on the same block all with the same stuff & two bakeries & anything else they could need. Very nice little town. We ate out at a restaurant in town & after a dinner for two with 5 (very small) Colombian beers the tab came to 8 dollars! Awesome!
The mayor of Providencia threw a big celebration for the cruisers in the town square on Friday & that was really fun. The children danced traditional dances for us & a local band played music & they explained their culture to us & welcomed everyone to their island. Ben got picked out to dance with the local girls in the dancing show twice. I have it on video & when I figure out how to put it online I will show it to you. Very fun!
I guess we are going to town now & we are going to try & put this on a thumb drive & take it in to put on a local computer & try to get it online,,,, so I hope it works. Sorry, no pictures for now. We will have tons to show you when we get to mainland Panama. We are only going to be spending about a week weather permitting in the San Blas, because of our delay here. I think it will be ok, because fishing season is closed there & you are not allowed to dive. I am still looking forward to seeing it though. I will try to get a picture of a Kuna Indian for you, but I know they shun pictures. I have heard that if you pay them a dollar they will gladly let you take a picture though, so we will see.
Ok, well, gotta go top town & get some stuff done. We are off in the morning hopefully!! We tried to leave Monday, but decided not to on the morning of, because of the high seas & squalls coming in. It will not be too much better tomorrow, but lower seas. Keep up on the spots & we will check back in when we can!
We miss you all so much. We really really miss Skip Dog too!! We talk about him all the time & just want to get home to see him (& you guys of course) as soon as possible. The boat is not the same without him though. We are pretty sad. Doug & Janet, give him a hug & tell him hello for us!

Kristen

Ben here! We have been so busy working on sewing up our new beautiful Spinnaker, we have hardly had time to see this island… We did go and snorkel some rocks and a cave where the notorious Captain Morgan stashed his loot. We also saw a stump of a fish that looked like a fat lizard. I expected him to have little feet up front and shook my flipper in front of him to see if he would move. We bolted away super fast and scared Kristen and I. Weird fish though, he had markings like a rattlesnake.
On another note, observing our anchorage in a more distant port… We are tied for the smallest boat. We are actually exactly tied as the other boat is a Bayfield 36 with a very nice couple, Jim and Laura on board. Other observations… There are no Beneteaus… Almost half of the boats have a furling main sail. There are about 24 boats now… Everyone is patiently waiting for the moderate winds to subside. Most people here are full time cruisers and spending the hurricane season either in Panama, Colombia (Cartegena) or heading up the Rio Dulce in Guatemala. Some are on their way back to Florida, but not many… We haven´t gotten to know many people though, as most of the fleet seems a bit leery of our young crew. Or maybe we do not take enough showers… Not sure which. We have met some really nice folks though, and in truth, we have mostly been sweating away belowdecks slaving over our new Spinnaker. I sure hope we like our new sail! We should be heading out tomorrow and have a solid two day passage to the San Blas Islands where the Kuna Indians make their youngest son into a girl (transvestite) if they haven’t had a girl yet…Can’t wait! Beautiful Islands and hopefully surf-too lucky! We will not have internet, but will spot while there. We only have about a week or ten days there though before we need to get through the canal… Doug-thanks again for watching Skip-Dog! Hope he is being a well behaved gentleman. I am also hoping Spring has sprung back home after a fairly nasty winter as I hear it. Miss you all!
Ben (el capitan)

Cayman Islands are awesome!!

2009-04-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone & Skippy Doo!!
It's Monday & we hope everyone had a great Easter Sunday! We are still on Grand Cayman Island & we love it here! There are an insane amount of reefs to dive & it's a really clean friendly place to be! We are in town getting our dive tanks filled as we can go out & see some more! We went snorkeling a few times & had two really good dives. We saw plenty of tropical fish, a stingray, some turtles (Kristen's favorite)a mermaid (statue)a wreck with coral growing on it, and believe it or not a 4 foot long puffer fish that was like 2 feet across in it's belly. Crazy! We have never seen water this clear & pretty before! Where we are moored it's like 50 feet deep & we can see the little ripples in the sand on the bottom clearly. They are pretty serious about protecting their reef here & it shows! I've never seen so many fish!
Ben made a rope swing off the boat using the whisker pole which is pretty cool! He was doing back flips off it yesterday! Like I said..no complaints in the Caymans! We really love it here. We are leaving on Thursday though I think. It seems like there will be a good window in the weather to get us to Isla De Providencia off Nicaragua. The trip should take three days or less from here.
We are both excited to get to the San Blas islands in Panama, but Ben just informed me the other day that you are not allowed to dive there, so... we will have to get all the diving in that we can while we are here. The San Blas look amazing though!! Little islands of Palm tree forests surrounded by big white sand beaches & blue water.
We also wanted to say hi to ma & pa Davidson & say thanks for letting Skippy vacation on Blakely with you this week! We know he loves it there! We loved seeing him today on the skype camera too!!! He looks great! It was also good to talk to you. Hope you have good luck with your new chickens!
Ok, the Internet cafe closes in 10 minutes, so I have to go, but we will keep you updated & put some Cayman Pics up when we get online again!
Miss you all!!
Love, Kristen & Ben!

2009-04-10T16:34:00.000-07:00

OK Here are the Pictures!!!
This is our current anchorage!

The water is so clear and blue with coral reefs about 200 feet from the boat! Grand Cayman seems pretty cool so far!

This is our boat... off to the right, yeah that little guy.

The sunset crossing the Florida Straits before the front came through.

Cabo San Antonio. The Western Point of Cuba. This is the Closest we came to Cuba. Legal or not, we tried to avoid some currents around this point.

Another Sunset from the Cockpit. Florida Straits?

Kristen obviously overwhelmed by the freighter traffic. Oh, we installed a new AIS that transmits the data to and from the big ships. Lets them know were here and lets us avoid them and know where they are going. My new favorite toy!

This Fillet...

From this Mahi-mahi! Our big excitement on the passage. Not the biggest fish we hooked though. We hooked on to something that took the line without slowing down at all for 200 yards didn't seem to notice us. When we got the line back the stainless leader was mangled like 16 inches past the lure... Big mouth! We didn't get to see him though...

This is Key West City Harbor. A place well worth visiting. About the only place in Florida well worth visiting.

Here is my model of the Dinghy. Cutey!......(ok, so I still can't figure out why Ben put this picture on here, but it's the worst picture we have taken of me so far on the trip. I can't figuire out how to delete it...if anyone knows how to delete pics please tell me quick!!!)

This is supposed to be the best beach in the Keys. You can see it all. The view:

Is bridges on both sides... We thought it was kinda funny...

This is Boot Key Harbor in Marathon, FL. Sooo many boats spend the winter here. We had our alternator tinkered with here. We requested that he replace some parts so it would all blow up about ten hours later. He succeded.

I am thinking this is back in Miami. We had some beautiful sunsets and sunrises here.

There are two Dolphins (porpoises) off to the left here that Kristen got a pic of. I think there were waterspouts reported this day as we left Miami for Key Largo.

Another anchorage in Miami area.

Skippy with his second favorite chin rest. We miss him sooo much, but keep thinking he is sooo glad to not be here...

This was cool! We saw the Space shuttle launch from Miami.

Sorry for the quick commentary, the Mosquitos are eating me up. Miss you all!

Crew of Wind-Borne

Four and one Half days later...

2009-04-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

Well, we have suvived our first multi-day ocean passage. We are all cleared in and ready to explore the sights. We set out from Key West Saturday about 9:30 in the morning and motored for two days against currents to reach the west point of Cuba... Pretty uneventful except a Cuban Guard boat(unmarked) with a spotlight at night yelling at us, a blown alternator, and a Mahi-mahi! We got arount Cabo San antonio before a front was supposed to arrive and headed SE towards the Caymans. The front came through a little after midnight and started to blow pretty good from the SW. Seas were 4 to 6 foot with a small window of 8 footers and Kristen swears 10 on her night shift(I don't doubt it) Wind-Borne sailed like the champ she is and the Monitor self-steering vane we have named Hank was our best friend. He steered and corrected as we surfed down swells and we just basically read a book and tried to stay awake... So when you are sailing 24 hours a day, you need someone up at all times, so it pretty much broken into shifts. We had two 6 hour shifts from 06:00 to 12:00 and 12:00 to 18:00 and three four hour shifts through the night. 18:00 to 22:00, 22:00 to 02:00 and 02:00 to 06:00. We both thought the 02:00 to 06:00 was the worst. So as soon as you get off shift, you basically crash and hope to actually fall asleep before your next shift. Kristen made lee cloths for us which is like a hammock that comes up on the side of the couch in the main salon that keeps you in bed. It worked great! No one fell out of bed.
So we made it in to the Caymans and it is a beautiful place! The water is full of coral and really really blue water! Can't wait to go diving! Lots of cruise ships though. Three yesterday and two today. Sunburns everywhere!
We made it down here in four days and 6 hours and it was 550 Nautical miles. that is 129 miles a day on average. We were fighting a 1.5 to 2 knot current for most of the first two days, so I think that we made up for it on the last two... I know we were moving right along! I know we made a good decision with Skippy because I kept thinking I was so glad he wasn't having to go through this... Kristen did a great job as admiral and held all of her watches and did a wonderful job keeping us safe. We are planning our next move, but think we should be here for a few days anyways!
Love you all and miss you! Especially Skippy-Doo!

!!!Pictures & Changes!!!

2009-04-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

PICTURES:
Key West photos & pics of other stuff too:

Mallory Square: people line up all the way down the boardwalk every single night waiting for the tall ships to sail by & to watch the street performers do their thing at the nightly sunset festival. Pretty cool.

Big wooden schooners that sail by every evening at sunset. Very pretty.

Kristen with a big banyon tree in the old town district where all the huge houses & cool trees are.

Ben's most recent catch!! He realized that his tiny little 50 inch mahi mahi wasn't impressing anyone, so he went out & caught this bad boy! What do you think now!?

Jack of Free @last having a run on the beach with Skippy

Free @ last on our Starboard side. We were ahead...for a minute...then they beat our pants off. ..

Relaxing underway while Ben mans the helm.

Brian & Alicia on Sarabande! Where are you guys? Are you still near Georgetown?

us with Jack & the crew of Nauti Girl out of New Jersey. Ben had just gotten out of the water after a diving expedition looking for dinner. He didn't know it, but he was swimming with a large white tip on the reef! Like his cool new dive knife?

Big foot Ben

The view from the top of Chub Cay. We went down this little river all the way accross the island in our dinghy.

Traveling down the river.

Mr. Doo & his adorable sandy face.

Ben working in the locker again. Looks comfy huh! You should have seen us trying to get him out of here upside down & backwords.

Hello!!

Everyone is asking for more pictures, so I'm going to put some on, but they are not all super recent. I hope you enjoy them.

Also, plans are changing as usual on Wind-Borne & a MAJOR decision has been made by the crew to send the big guy (Skippy) home to his aunt & uncle Doug & Janet while we cross the big blue. We have thought about it for months now & have come to the conclusion that although we will miss him every minute it isn't in Skippy's best interest to be crossing big oceans & going long periods without letting him go to shore. He just does so much better when he gets walks & has little creatures to chase.

Doug, Janet, & Rex have graciously offered to take him in & watch over him while we are away. They are a perfect home for him & We are sure that Skip will be thrilled to have some good front porch sitting time with his cousin Rex. We have already sent his things back to Washington & he will be boarding his flight with Delta on Friday morning at 7:20 AM. He is excited to see some cold weather.(and his extended family) He's been far too hot here despite being shaved.

As for the rest of the crew, we will continue on with the plan to travel from Key west & make our way south to Panama. If weather permits we will be on our way Saturday. Please keep in touch via e-mail, comments, and keeping an eye on our SPOT. You will always know where we are even when we can't talk to you. We will be able to get internet access again after leaving the Keys, but we aren't sure exactly when, so please be patient. It may take a week... or it may take a month... we just can't tell right now. Just check in occasionally.

We really miss you all & wish we could catch a flight home with Skippy to see everyone. He's a lucky dog! We will see you soon enough though! December is not that far away! Thanks again Doug, Janet, & Rex!!!

Enjoy the pictures everyone!

Check out the SPOT

2009-03-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

Our SPOT website is: http://sh are.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=09GSAiPTTFXn5LSfvHcSLmWKCn7rGBi9j

If you click on this it will show you where we are and where we have been! As we set sail around the coast of Cuba and down across the Caribbean this will be the only way to check in on us!

Miss you all!

crew of Wind-Borne

Our Aussie friends: Hamish, Sarah, and Jack

2009-03-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!!
Thanks for writing!!Sorry no pictures yet. We are working on it. ...Speaking of pictures...Ben wants to know what he has to do to impress you guys! He caught a 50 inch Mahi & no one commented on it! He keeps checking to see if anyone saw it, but no one has mentioned anything about it.... He wants to know how large the fish has to be before anyone gets excited about it. ...Did I mention that he caught it on a Salmon Rod with standard sized reel? ...IF you haven't checked it out go down a few blog entries & take a peek.
Moving on....
We are in Marathon in the Florida Keys right now & Heading to Key West soon. We are just waiting for a part to show up.
Miami gave us the wonderful parting gift of a seriously bad cold! I lost my voice for three days & had little blisters in the back of my throat...still do & Ben has been sneezing, coughing, etc... for a week straight. Not much sleep being had on our boat these days. We are on our way to recovery though. Work slowed up for a few days so we could try to rest & get better quicker, but we have almost the entire list of things done that we wanted to do before leaving the states again. We are both excited for Key West. IT was really fun the last time we were there & should be again. We will, receive all our last minute packages & mail & hopefully head out on Monday. They are calling for some calm weather then, which should be ideal for crossing the gulf stream again & heading around the western end of Cuba.That's pretty soon though, so we'll see! Just keep in mind that it will be increasingly difficult for us to use the Internet as we get closer & closer to the Pacific! We will be out at sea for longer periods of time and near marinas less & less. Keep up on the Spot though & you will always know where we are at.
I really will work on getting the pics up soon! Have a great rest of the week everyone!! We miss you all & can't wait to see you again!!

love,
Kristen, Ben & Mr Doo the healthiest crew member of team Davidson...how is it that a 14 year old dog is feeling better than we are out here?People keep asking us if he's a puppy.... Very strange.

Still in Miami

2009-03-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

Hey.
Just a quick hello from Wind-Borne. We are still in the Miami area, although we have moved anchorages. We will be on our way to Marathon tomorrow. Unfortunatley we will be leaving our good friends on Free @ last behind which is really sad, but we will see them again.
We will be on our own again traveling down to Panama soon.
Hopefully everyone at home is doing well. We are good here in Florida. It rained really hard last night & our dinghy filled at least half way up with water. I will try to put the pictures of it on when I get time. It looks pretty funny. Ben had to bail it out with a mixing bowl this morning. The boat got a nice fresh water rinse though, which is really good. And, it's cooler out for the next few days, so Skippy will be pleased. Another shave for him is on the agenda, so wish us luck on that one. He always comes out with crazy chunky fur.
Well, I'm being timed on the internet, so I should go. We miss you all & hope to hear from you soon. We have not seen a comment in a long time....I know we haven't written in a long time though. I will try when we get to Key west or Marathon (which is a Key north of Key West)

Ok, have a good week everyone. Talk to you later,

Kristen, Ben, & Skippy

So here's the plan....

2009-03-12T13:18:00.001-07:00

Ok, so it's been a while!
Sorry guys! We have been traveling and working hard the past few weeks. As you know from reading the last entry, we are in Miami. We arrived here last weekend on Sunday.
We made it down to Georgetown in the Bahamas & met up with our good friends on Free @ Last (not sure if we mentioned that yet or not) and we were trying to figure out what we were going to do..head down to the lower Caribbean and stay there through the summer.... go back up to the east coast & put our boat up for hurricane season.... or just go for it & do what we wanted to do in the first place, which was going to the Pacific. We chose Pacific. We had had enough of the Bahamas, although beautiful they are expensive & on top of eating up all our funds the islands just weren't what we thought they would be. The land was almost all bare with coral sand, growing only shrubs, and mangroves. The water was the most beautiful color you can imagine, but it was lacking culture, mountains, and shady trees for us. We also want to be somewhere they can actually grow fruits & veggies! We missed fresh food sooooo much!! (Other than fish, obviously..we had plenty of that)All in all, just not paradise for us. I think Washington is far more beautiful personally.
So, now that we had our plan the question was how to do it. We wanted a few more upgrades on the boat before making the big crossing & also had Skippy to think about. How would he do? Where could we take him? What were the regulations? We found out online that we can not take Skippy to most of the islands in the south pacific where we would ideally like to be. Our dream is to go to Australia & New Zealand. New Zealand almost completely forbids foreign dogs & would litterally be impossible for us to bring Skippy to on a boat...Australia too. We wanted to go somewhere we could work & make some money, so we picked Hawaii as a possible destination next. Turns out we can make it to Hawaii & take Skippy, but it is extremely difficult & there is only one lab in the united states that they will accept blood tests from & he had to have everything done four months in advance of when we would arrive....so up to Florida we went.
Luckily Free @ last was going to Florida as well, so we made a whirlwind tour back north to Miami from Georgetown in about a week. We had a ton of fun with them! Ben & Hamish got to go spear fishing while Sarah, Jack, Skippy, & I played on the beach. We had fish dinners every day around sunset on each others boats & went to a new island every day. Very cool.
When we got to Miami we started to finalize plans & get the boat ready. We realized on the way back up from the Bahamas that we really love our boat & it performs better than we could have imagined. We had a lead on free @ last for a little while which is no small feat considering their size & the captain & crew's sailing capability. We feel fully confident in the capabilities of our boat & are feeling a lot better about our own as well.
We got our AIS system which tells us where big ships are at night & tells them where we are & we are fixing up the bow sprit right now which has been seriously been needing some attention, put in new window screens, did some more bright work(wood work) boxed up things we wont be needing & sent them home, got all the charts for the pacific, Panama, Costa Rica, Marquesas, Cuba, Caymans...etc.....got guidebooks, more food for us & Skippy, worked on our water maker, bought parts, returned parts (because it turns out we already had everything on board)oops. Took the spare starter in to have it checked, got rebuild kits for the toilet, bought impellers, filters, gaskets, new jugs for spare fuel & water, books, cards, more music for my violin (so I can torture Ben with it all the way across the Pacific) :)....the list goes on....
Anyway, here we are & we have the plan pretty much set, so here it is:
We will go to Marathon & Key West next week, see what there is to see there, pick up some things we haven't received yet, wait for good weather & head out around the western side of Cuba down to the Cayman islands. We will stay there briefly & wait for a weather window & head south to Panama. We will get our assigned day for passing through the canal which is usually a two to three week wait & pass the time traveling through the San Blas islands of Panama exploring & taking it easy...well...Ben will be taking it easy, I will be sewing our new Spinnaker!!! That's right.. I am sewing us a huge spinnaker. We have ordered all the bits & pieces to make it from Sailrite, the same company I bought my sewing machine from, & I will construct it before we leave Panama or Costa Rica at the very latest. We will pass through the Panama Canal then check out some of the islands on the Pacific side before heading over to Costa Rica. We will leave there on my birthday (may 10) ideally, but I think we may push it back into June...not sure right now. We will head straight to the Marquesas which is about 3000 miles out into the ocean off the coast of South America. It will take us somewhere between 25 & 35 days to reach it. We will stay there as long as we like, then make our way to Hawaii by the end of summer most likely. We will fly home for Christmas.

Thats the plan & we will try to stick with it. Bring on the questions.

love, Kristen, Ben, and SKippy Doo!

P.S. Happy Birthday Grandma Betty!!

a few new pics..updates coming soon!! Promise!

2009-03-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

leaving Nassau harbour

the enormous amount of meat we got from the 50 inch Mahi Mahi Ben pulled in on the way back to Florida! We ate fish for days!

Ben's big fish

Hi everyone!!

So here we are in Florida! We are in the Miami area & yes everything is fine! We are gearing up for a new adventure & will tell you all the plan shortly! Here are a few pictures of our last few weeks in the Bahamas!! Story & plans to come!

Pics

2009-02-16T10:28:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks. enjoy!

yes, thats my finger in the pig's nose.

Skippy wanted to get them soooooo bad!

My barracuda

Ben & the lizard having a stand off

cute little birds

great hunter

2009-02-16T10:27:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
We finally made our way to Georgetown & caught up with our Aussie friends Sarah, Hamish, & Jack & are really excited about it! We thought we’d never catch them since they left the states so far ahead of us. We’ve been having a blast & have finally got some real provisioning done with some actual vegetables & fresh fruit, so we are feeling good! It’s unbelievably hard to find real produce here! No one can grow it, because the ground is all coral & limestone & has no nutrients in it. It’s all low lying bushes & an occasional palm tree & sparse scraggly pine trees.
Georgetown is a world all in it’s own. It’s the hub for cruisers in the Bahamas. Some cruisers spend the whole season here alone visiting hardly any other islands. There are nets on the radio every morning announcing the events coming up & the activities offered for the day. We were told by a man in the coffee shop in Oriental North Carolina that Georgetown is like day camp for adults & he was correct! You can choose to do yoga on the beach at 9am, church on Sundays, volleyball, bridge games, Texas hold ‘em tournaments, trivial pursuit in the evening, valentines dances,
Races, cocktail hour on the beach, etc…… it’s so funny! I really do feel like I’m at camp! We have never done any of the activities, because we are so busy doing our own things, but every morning when the radio announcements go on you can hear it echo across the harbor like a loud speaker, because every single boat has it on & even if you don’t you can hear it. Everyone keeps their vhf on channel 68 & it’s really busy all day everyday. People here snoop on other people’s conversations & it’s actually really fun to do so sometimes. We have been known to do it to friends. When you call on it, it feels like your phone is being tapped though. You have to be really careful not to offend anyone, because everyone is listening to your conversation.
The whole group of us from Free @ last, Wind-borne, and Nauti Girl hiked across the island yesterday & the guys went on the hunt for some fish with their spears. They didn’t have too much luck, because the reef was relatively empty of good eating fish & the one big grouper they did see was out of season, so they couldn’t spear it. We all had fun though. There was an 8 foot black tip shark in the water with them towards the end. It was right next to Ben, but he was so concentrated on fishing that he never saw it!
We are heading into town again today to work on the internet for an hour or so, I’m writing this up in the Boat right now & we will paste it into the blog when we get over there. They charge for Internet by the hour here in Georgetown, so we are trying to write things up now to make it cheaper. We have tons & tons of photos to put on & will try to do as many as possible this morning!
After we wrote at Staniel Key last week we went to the island just above it called Big Majors Spot. We found Sarabande there again which was awesome & we also found the “wild” pigs of the island & had a blast with those! These pigs know you are going to feed them, so they swim out to your dinghy as you are coming in & open their mouths so you can toss food in! They get so excited & squeal & swim over each other to get closest to your boat! Skippy touched noses with the biggest one! He was so excited about them he was shaking! He wanted out of the boat really really bad, & we had to hold him down the entire time….Thaat’s why he is in all the pig pictures…we were trying to contain him & feed the pigs while keeping the dinghy from floating away, & also take pictures. Pretty hectic, but fun!
We also had a really nice fire on the beach & cooked dinner with Alicia & Brian. Their dog Louis & Skippy got to hang out. Skippy wasn’t really into sharing his prime space in front of the food cooking on the fire though & was a little snappy at poor Louis most of the night though. Louis didn’t seem to mind. He was thrilled to be on land!
Well, we hope to update you again fairly soon. Hope everything is going well at home & we look forward to hearing from you! We still miss you & can’t wait to see you when we get home!

-Kristen, Ben, & Skippy the wild pig hunter