Saturday, December 26, 2015

What a Year...Farewell 2015!

I can't believe that the time has come to bid farewell to 2015! I have been in a mood of reflection while I watch the girls play with their holiday gifts.  It is hard to believe how many changes we have made this year.  Even though we have a plan and things are falling into place within that plan, it all still feels very surreal.  I still wake up and can't believe that we have actually accomplished so many of our goals this year.  I stand back and look at Empyrean in her slip and can't believe she is actually ours, all ours!  We are really doing this!

This year has been such a whirlwind of happenings, really all for the good!  We launched Southwind, then we sold all of our belongings, moved into our trailer and purchased Empyrean! The girls have all adjusted so well, it is amazing!  We had a tiny Christmas, which was a change from our much larger Christmas tradition, but it really felt good.  The girls didn't ask for a lot and everyone was really happy with the few items that they each received.  Zoey, who is 3, asked only for a backpack from Santa and has been thrilled filling it with items that send the rest of the family into a frenzy searching for missing necessities. We all enjoyed family time, sharing a meal, playing games, and looking at holiday lights.  It really was a perfect day.

As I look at what we have accomplished this year, I am super excited to see what 2016 brings.  Each day we are learning more and getting closer to making our sailing dream a reality.  It is sometimes scary to think that this time next year we will be celebrating the holidays on Empyrean somewhere in Mexico!  The coming months are going to be filled with lots of work and tons of new experiences for the whole family.  We will be working hard to get Empyrean ready for our travels, getting paperwork such as passports, registrations and licenses taken care of as well as lots of doctor visits to ensure we are all healthy and up to date on any required immunizations for travel.  I am expecting a flow of emotions to accompany all of this activity as we prepare to leave family and friends plus no one really likes to get shots ;)  and I am sure we will all have some apprehension to leaving the familiar.  Overall there will be lots of excitement for what lies ahead.

We can't wait to share all of the adventures of the coming year!  Hopefully we can inspire others to realize their dreams no matter what those dreams are!  It is possible to make a dream a reality! Stay tuned as we set out to achieve our dreams!

Happy New Year!


Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Happy Holidays! Big News!

Wow! It is hard to believe that Christmas will be here in just a few days and we will be closing out 2015 in a little over a week! Time sure does fly.  We are having a blast in our tiny home, getting ready  for the holidays, preserving some holiday traditions while also creating some new ones.  We were able to put a small tree in our tiny space.  We have kept presents to a minimal but this Christmas will definitely be one to remember... 

We bought a boat!!  After several months of working out details and negotiations we are super excited to say that we have purchased our new sailing home.  She is a beautiful 1979 Mariner 48 and we are super excited to move aboard.  She is in need of some work so it will be a couple of months before we fully transition to living aboard, but we are one step closer to realizing our sailing dreams.


We had searched for months before finding Empyrean but, the moment we stepped aboard, we knew she was the boat we had been searching for. The buying process took several months, as we went back and forth with surveys and negotiations. It was definitely a test of our patience but the wait paid off big as we were able to get a boat that was just what we were looking for at a price that didn't break the bank (at least not yet).




We will be working on Empyrean over the next months outfitting her for offshore.  We are currently working on replacing one of her diesel tanks.  Upcoming projects will include new rigging and new electronics. We will also be removing the old heads and holding tanks and replacing them with composting heads.  

Follow us on the biggest adventure of our life as we prepare our new home to depart for Mexico in the fall of 2016!  We will be adding lots of pics and videos of projects that we are working on!

Happy Holidays and Fair Winds From the Wada Family