Goodbye Summer...Hello Adventure

Summer is coming to a close and oh what a summer it has been.  A summer of so many firsts, a summer of so many finals, a summer of starts and a summer of finishes.  And as we prepare to move off of the mooring ball that has been our "home" for the last few months, our hearts pound with excitement.

Hanging out with some dinos at Universal Studios!

The summer months afforded us our first opportunity to live independent of land.  We have learned to manage living with limits...limited power, limited water and to some degree limited transportation...oh and let's not forget those moments of limited patience. Hey, even when life is great there's still those moments.

We have done an abundance of work on Empyrean while here in the harbor and she is now almost ready to begin our journey.  We have worked hard to equip her with all of the things she will need to provide our family with a safe and comfortable home as we begin life's next chapter.

Hannah is enjoying her new float!

The summer has been full of changes.  We celebrated as Emily graduated high school and worked her first "real" job.  She was able to put aside some money for her own cruising kitty.  And even though she is excited to begin our travels, saying goodbye to friends is always hard.  Hannah turned 13, she now joins the ranks of teenager.  Time sure does fly, it seems we were just in the toddler phase.  Even though Hannah is the most nervous when it comes to change, we can see her excitement with improved sailing skills and she is really working at her Spanish language studies.

The plan is to move onto a dock here in Newport Harbor today.  This will give us an opportunity to prepare for our upcoming sail to San Diego.  It will be easier to finish bringing on supplies and also make it possible to have friends and family visit with us. On Monday we will begin our sail down to San Diego.  We will spend about 6 weeks in San Diego Bay with more family coming from the east coast and of course a few more projects.  Our departure with the Baja Haha rally is scheduled for October 31st at which time we will head to Mexico where we will be spending the winter.

Within days our family will again be taking on the challenges of this adventure as we leave behind jobs, friends, family and familiarity. Their will be moments of tears, sadness, fear and anxiety, but this is the moment that we have been working so hard to achieve and we couldn't be more excited! We are beginning the adventure of a lifetime.  One chapter ending and a world of chapters awaiting to be written.

Enjoying a family dinner. Thankful to have Elainey with us!