They say sailing plans are made in the sand at low tide and apparently the same true when you plan to make daily blog posts! It’s been a busy week, coming up on 10 days actually, and the dailies apparently was an unattainable goal ;P

Living on Land for 10 days: A Brief Recap before the Long Drive Back

Surprises:

• We were NOT shocked by the huge amount of space in Greg’s parents’ house, wandering around like idiots

• We did NOT spend our downtime planning or progressing boat projects, but for a while kind of forgot about Matriarch (sorry baby!!) and then today started getting really paranoid that she was ok

• We did NOT find that driving the kids to friends houses, driving an hour down the road to see family, or driving ALL the way across town in 8 minutes was too much of a burden given leaving the boat to take a shower on land is a 45 minute endeavour

• We did NOT take 40 minute showers, though did enjoy them alone, without the rest of the family waiting on the other side of the glass for their turn

• We did NOT freak-out when we saw our house furnished by other people’s belongings

• We did NOT cry our eyes out this time saying goodbye to friends and family (the odd light tear appeared but not the messy, snotty, sobbing messes we were in July)

• No one aged, changed, grew or shrunk too much while we were gone (it’s not been that long but still…reassuring)

• I missed my big, comfortable, slightly swaying bed :)

Highlights:

• Walking with my sister, just the two of us, through the golf course of our home town early in the morning after she pinged me awake with each text being one letter…it worked, thank you Erin :P

• Talking with my brother about work at Silversmith brewery (he is the President and CEO) in Niagara On The Lake, Silversmith (they just won the Best Dark Larger in Canada at the World Beer Awards) …over a few pints of course

• Locking in our crew, planning flights, dates, arrivals and early anchorages for (GULP!!!!) our departure south in 6 weeks (don’t mind me I’m just pretended to NOT sh*t my pants over here) …Andrew, Heidi and Bill THANK YOU!

• Driving the kids by the two houses we I lived in before the one the are familiar with…they couldn’t care less but it was neat for me to see

• Watching the kids receive a pseudo-geology lesson from my mom courtesy of her rock collection and Greg’s additions of actual science (e.g. the rock cycle)

• Enjoying a clean car for the first time IN YEARS after Liam spent the afternoon really working hard on it…we need to sell our 2013 Pathfinder so if you are in the market let us know!

• Seeing all but one family member (way to miss the party Jason!) at my sister’s big bonfire party and being totally impressed with her smokeless fire pit…it was the craziest thing, I am wearing the sweater I wore that night and I swear I don’t smell like woodsmoke at all!

• Oh ya, wearing sweaters and not sweating your balls off everyday…sigh…I love Canadian weather!

• Seeing Greg and Liam fly drones with Bill and Andrew (Greg’s dad and brother) and more importantly…Aden NOT getting sick when she wore the goggles that give the crazy fast perspective from the drones point of view

• Having the girls attend their first in-person meeting of the 1st Matriarch Brownie Pirates with their Brownie Leader Auntie Owl-batross…also they sold their first 2 cases of Girl Guide cookies in about 5 minutes BOO YA!

• Breathing a sigh of relief when it appeared the tooth fairy could keep up with us and visited not once but twice on this trip back home!

• And of course…crushing it at work in Ottawa (it’s nice to be reminded now and then that you are good at your job…as consultants and owners of our own firm, Liz and I usually just congratulate each other hahaha)!

It’s been a whirl-wind 10 days as of tomorrow…and now it’s time to go. We need to (and want to) return to Matriarch to make the most of these last few weeks before our next big big big challenge (first time sailing offshore). We are trying not to focus on how long it will be before we are back home for a visit (probably 8 or so months) and HOW MUCH WE WILL HAVE DONE BETWEEN NOW AND THEN. Instead we are trying to stay positive, stay focused and never take once second with our wonderful family for granted.

So much love,

Megan