01-June-2010 our life. daily.
Babies really are amazing. The way they are constantly changing, growing, and learning. We started solid food ten days ago. At the time she could hardly get any of it in her mouth and down her throat. Now we can’t shovel it in fast enough.

02-June-2010 our life. daily.
We were out walking today when we came across this batch of flowers perfectly matching Ouest’s hat.

03-June-2010 9:46 AM
Boat broker ineptness continues to bewilder me. There are a total of five boats in Florida that we’re interested in taking a look at this week. I emailed the brokers of four of them and emailed the owner of the other one directly. The owner got back to me within an hour and said he’d be happy to show us the boat when we came down.

Of the four brokers I contacted I’ve heard back from none of them. Not one of them bothered to reply to my message telling them I’d be in town this week and would like to have a look at the boat they have listed for sale. The boat they’re being paid 10% of in order to market and sell. I wish I could find the owners of all four of these boats and let them know why their boats are sitting on the market indefinitely. Lazy asses.

03-June-2010 11:50 AM
The final issue of the three part series on our VW trip has hit the French bookshelves.

03-June-2010 1:03 PM
We just returned from lunch at the Best Steak House. A hole in the wall place that has been a mainstay of its strip mall since 1973. While there Ali and I realized that we’d been eating there for over twenty years. Ali first went with her family as a little girl, and my first trip was with the guys for lunch on our high school hockey game days. In all that time they haven’t changed one thing. The food is exactly the same, the dishes are chipped, and the wood panel walls and vinyl booths remain unchanged as well. We only wished Ouest was old enough to join us in our steak burger meals.

03-June-2010 our life. daily.

04-June-2010 our life. daily.
Ouest had her fifth laser treatment this afternoon. It went exactly like all the others except this time we felt like she’s finally becoming more aware of what is happening. She came back into the room crying a little harder this time, but stopped immediately upon her mama’s hold. We dread what it will be like in a few more months. Even though we know her pain is really short lived, the pain of handing her off to the nurses when she realizes what is coming is going to kill us. I guess that’s like telling her, “This is going to hurt us more than it’s going to hurt you.” To which she would surely reply, “Get bent.”

The doctor did tell us again that he’s very happy with how things are going. It appears that the superficial hemangioma is virtually gone. That was the fast growing bright red area in the beginning and what caused the most worry. What remains now is the deep hemangioma which fortunately doesn’t seem to be advancing.

06-June-2010 7:53 PM
We flew out bright and early this morning and ended up in Fort Myers, Florida, by noon. Ouest traveled like an old pro and soon we were in the rental car headed for Naples. Some Bum friends were living here recently while looking for a boat. They’ve since found one and moved onboard and when they heard that we were searching for a boat ourselves they graciously offered up the condo they’d left earlier than they expected. We’ve never met these people but they had no qualms about sending their dad out to rendezvous with us this afternoon and hand over the keys to a condo. Nice.

We spent the rest of the day running around between naps, buying diapers and the like. When we finally settled down we walked over to the pool, soaked up the 95 degree heat, and wondered, “How in the hell does anybody live here in the summer?” Much like we now wonder, “How in the hell does anybody live in Minnesota in the winter?”

06-June-2010 our life. daily.
This, apparently, is Elvis. An ugly duck of unknown sex gently tending to eight big duck eggs directly underneath our bedroom window. One of the first things we had to buy today was a loaf of white bread. Because as we all know white bread is what ducks need in order to stay strong and healthy.

07-June-2010 9:13 AM
I saw on the local news this morning that a pedestrian was run over near here. And while sad, that’s not news that would normally surprise me much. But in Florida in June I found it amazing. Nobody walks anywhere here. And not just because it is so damn hot, but because you can’t walk anywhere. The local roads here in Naples are like six-lane highways, and absolutely nothing is within walking distance of anything else. A block here is equal to something like 1.8 miles. I sort of feel bad for the driver that hit the pedestrian. I’m sure he was like, thump-thump, “What the hell was that!? What? A person! Walking? In Naples?“

07-June-2010 our life. daily.

08-June-2010 8:13 PM
We drove north to Tampa today to have a look at a Fisher 37. We love the look of this boat, but had a sneaking suspicion it was going to be too small. It was. It’s a cool boat with wooden bulwarks, a sturdy looking pilothouse, and a sweeping hull leading up to a tall bow. As far as pilothouse/motorsailers go I’d say it’s the best looking boat out there. Unfortunately they didn’t design it in a 40 foot version. It’s amazing what a difference a couple of feet can make.

We’re still trying to stay somewhat simple this time around and thought we might be able to do that with a smaller boat, but we knew right after we climbed aboard this one that it wasn’t going to work for us. Number one problem was that there wasn’t a space big enough on the boat for Ouest’s exersaucer. Her favorite toy. We pressed on though and really liked what we saw. The pilothouse view was awesome with big windows all around. And Ouest’s room was much larger than either of us had anticipated. But when we got to the front of the boat we found the teeny tiniest bathroom/shower ever, and a v-berth master bedroom so small that I wouldn’t have fit in bed without curling my body into a v-shape as well. Ali would have had to sleep outside.

So anyway, it wasn’t a huge surprise. We need a boat a little bigger. But we also need a boat good looking and unique enough that we actually want to take pictures of it. That rules out 99% of fiberglass boats out there. At least in the price range we’re interested in. We’ve got another boat in mind now though and have a good feeling about it. We’ll see once we get on it in the next week or so.

08-June-2010 9:59 PM
Ali and I were talking tonight about sunsets and how living on a boat you seem to watch every single one of them. You really see them. The sky changes color and you stop what you’re doing to sit out on deck and watch it. But unless you are on a boat you just don’t ever do that. I’ll bet entire years went by in our lives that we didn’t see the sun set even once. And certainly didn’t take the time to stop and enjoy it. We’re looking forward to seeing them again. The days sort of feel unfinished without it.

08-June-2010 our life. daily.
Hey, we’re here for a couple of weeks, a baby needs her exersaucer.

09-June-2010 2:47 PM
So this morning I set up an appointment to have a look at a 43′ pilothouse style boat. From the pics it looks to be in pretty rough shape but we figured that at least it was the same style boat as the one that had come on the market in California just two weeks ago. The one that I really liked the looks of and Ali was coming around on. Unfortunately five minutes later I went online to have a look at that Cali boat again and sure enough, after just two weeks listed, it was sold.

At the moment we really have no good solid feeling about any boat on the market. We thought we had two boats that were pretty good contenders. The first turned out to be way too small. The second has now been bought before we could even see it.

09-June-2010 our life. daily.

10-June-2010 8:12 PM
My mom flew in today to spend a little time with her granddaughter. It took about three seconds for the two of them to reconnect. Grammy has a way of getting big smiles out of her with just a look.

In other news today, Elvis is missing two eggs. Ali is very upset. She was already stressed out about the poor duck and now she is ready to cry.

11-June-2010 7:15 PM
It really struck me today just how much our lives have changed. Nothing really important happened, but the events just really struck it home for me.

We went out to the beach in the morning. We walked to the water’s edge, the sky was blue, the sand was like flour, the water clear and warm, and the heat index in the hundreds. A great day for an umbrella and a cooler full of beer. Not a great day for a baby. We lasted fifteen minutes before we made our way back to the respite of the air-conditioned car. Ouest was already asleep. The gentle lapping of the waves and the sauna like air had knocked her right out.

Then in the evening we all went out to a restaurant. We ordered quickly. Ali got the chicken wrap only because she knew she could eat it with one hand if need be. We ate quickly. Had the check brought before we were done. And cleared out of there in a hurry. All for no reason really as Ouest was just fine.

In fact as often as not Ouest is just fine. But we always feel like we need to head off any problems before they happen. There isn’t a whole lot of relaxing. And that’s just the way it is. For now that’s how our lives have changed.

11-June-2010 our life. daily.

12-June-2010 our life. daily.
This is Ouest’s “I don’t think I like Squash” face.

13-June-2010 ouest lill. six months.
Six months now and I think you’re ready to move out on your own. I mean, since you now know how to roll over at lightning speed, and seem to be just days away from crawling, it’s probably time for you to head out into the world and assert your newfound independence.

The changes in you just seem to happen overnight now. A month ago we were cheering because you rolled over once. Now you’ll do six in a row to get from one end of the room to the other as quickly as you can. And the rolling brought on another big change as well. You went from sleeping exclusively on your back to flipping over onto your belly the instant you touch the mattress.

Since your last birthday you’ve started up solid foods and you haven’t looked back. The bottle is quickly becoming an afterthought that you only want in order to wash down your delicious meal of rice cereal and pears. Your eating has taken off in such a way that Mama and I can no longer eat in front of you without the most pathetic look from you making us feel totally guilty. I think you’ll be moving on rather quickly from rice cereal to hamburgers with the works.

You flew again this month. You’re six months old and I’ve already lost track of how many times you’ve been in an airplane. Your mama didn’t fly in an airplane until she was nineteen. Yeah. Nineteen. Seriously.

You’ve been fun Ouest. You make us laugh every day. You make us smile every time we walk into your room/closet to wake you from a nap. Even when you’ve been screaming and fighting us for the previous half hour. And I swear if you would ever sit still we would just sit and stare at you for hours. Of course you won’t do that. You’ve always got to be moving, rolling, stretching, arching your back, or beating the crap out of your sea lion toy. Anything, basically, but sitting still.

So on this day we raise our glass to you Ouest, to another month of delightful baby goodness. We’re always looking forward to what’s next.

14-June-2010 6:18 PM
We drove out to Sanibel Island today. Ali and I were last there when we were nineteen and went with my family. We had a lot of fond memories of the island including getting pulled over on a scooter for not wearing helmets. It’s one of our favorite pictures of all time. Then of course there were the solid shell covered beaches.

We went back today to pick through the shells again. Unfortunately the heat index was well over a hundred degrees again. There is no way to keep a six-month-old cool in heat like that other than to get her into an air-conditioned restaurant. We probably didn’t need to drive an hour to do that. Man, Florida is a tough place to spend time in during the summer.

14-June-2010 our life. daily.
Cue ball on blue felt billiards table.

15-June-2010 our life. daily.
Grammy and the girl known as “the delicate little flower.” She’s been called this, sarcastically, because of her latest noise. A guttural moose call. Or possibly a bull that is scratching his hoof in the dirt getting ready to charge. Either way it is slightly less than feminine.

16-June-2010 our life. daily.
Another tooth is on the way. About five days ago Ouest had a two day period of terrible naps and fussy, grumpy wake time. The naps improved considerably but the grumpiness has sort of stuck with her. Well today I was holding her up over my head while she cried when I finally saw the telltale white gums. A rub with the finger and we realized the top tooth is through already. I don’t know how we didn’t read the signs.

16-June-2010 8:59 PM
So we’re looking at another boat on Friday even though it already has an offer on it. It’s similar to the boat we looked at in Seattle, so we figured why not. The other boat we came down to Florida to see turned out to be unnecessary since the good looking sistership located in California already sold. So really it looks like our time down here the past couple of weeks was for nothing more than hanging out.

We do however have a new plan in the works that should land us on a boat soon. We’ll know how that turns out in the next week or so. We need to get moving as I think Ouest is starting to realize that she is always sleeping in closets. She may want her own room soon.

17-June-2010 our life. daily.

18-June-2010 7:41 PM
We were about to walk out the door today when Ali went to shoot a quick email to the boat broker we were meeting to let him know we were on our way. When she got online she found an email sent a few minutes earlier saying that he had just talked to the owner of the boat who it turns out was out of town and didn’t want anybody on the boat. Yeah. We’d been talking with this broker for a week setting this up. We really just don’t get these guys.

A short while later we were having a look at the Island Trader in Seattle again and realized the seller had dropped his price yet again. We were happy to see this as we had already decided that we were going to make another run at that boat. It needs a bit of work and some equipment to get it ready for cruising, but it’s got everything else we want, including lots of floor space inside, a bedroom for Ouest, a dedicated shower/bathtub room, and oodles of outdoor deck space.

So we’ve emailed the broker with our new offer and are just waiting to hear back. We could be close this time.

18-June-2010 our life. daily.
Our apologies. We realized today that we can no longer take a picture that doesn’t include our baby. Look, what a beautiful yellow tree! Quick, hold Ouest in front of it. Look, that dog is foaming at the mouth! Quick, hold Ouest in front of it. Look at the size of that dead deer on the side of the road! Quick, hold Ouest in front of it.

19-June-2010 our life. daily.
In preparation for today’s flight back to Minnesota Ali and I stopped off for a beer while Ouest indulged in her toes. Not much to say about today’s flight other than no tears were shed. By any of us. And that’s saying something when flying with a baby who has got a tooth tearing through her gums.

20-June-2010 our life. daily.
First Father’s Day.

21-June-2010 4:20 PM
So we’re at Target picking up all of life’s essentials when Ali grabs a bottle of Folic Acid. Women know this is a must when they are planning on getting pregnant. Guys don’t know this, or care, but will eventually know more than they ever cared to on the subject of prenatal vitamins. Anyway, the conversation went like this.

Ali: (to Ouest) Mama needs to start taking her vitamins so she can get pregnant again.

Me: Really? I think Mama needs to go back and read the website from a few months ago before she gets all gung ho.

Ali: Really? Papa is buying a boat. A boat! Maybe he’s the one that needs to go back and read the website again.

Me: Touché.

For the record, there are no immediate plans for another baby. But one needs to be prepared for these things.

Also for the record, we don’t always talk through Ouest. Mama this and Papa that. We know it is annoying. We’re trying to quit.

21-June-2010 9:06 PM
We’ve decided to go after the 40′ Island Trader in Seattle again. We just can’t find anything that we like any better. The boat has a lot of issues. By that I mean that everything onboard is essentially original. Meaning 1987. It’s got original sails, a big original manual windlass, a radar with a face mask thing that you press your head up against like you see on the old submarine war movies, and many other gadgets like that.

From what I could tell though, and a survey will confirm this, the boat seems solid and in good shape. Plus we just like it; the style of it, the huge amounts of floor space in the deckhouse as well as out on deck, Ouest’s little bedroom, and the bathtub/shower. It just feels like it will work and be a nice little home for the three of us for a while.

We made a formal offer this afternoon and should know soon enough what they thought of it this time.

22-June-2010 9:01 PM
We heard back on our offer today. The seller came down a bit more and met us half way. We’re now only $4,500 away from making a deal. Thing is, though, we feel like we’ve already gone far enough. We’re going to have to get creative on this last bit, and I think the broker is going to have to kick in a bit of his commission as well if he wants to seal this deal. He tells us the seller has reached his limit, but he wants to make this happen. So anyway, we’ll see. I’ll throw something else at them tomorrow and see what they say.

23-June-2010 5:47 PM
One minute we’re just dollars away from buying a boat and the next we’re out. Ali and I spent the night mulling over what our counter to the seller’s counter would be. Normally with this little bit of money we would have just split the difference and been done with it. But this time we just didn’t feel right about it.

I guess we just didn’t feel 100% on this boat. Almost like we just didn’t see anything else on the market catching our eye so we figured what the hell we’ll just settle on this one. Plus we also felt like we were making what was already too good an offer on the boat but that the seller was trying to recoup his losses. He had paid to have the boat shipped from Florida to Washington and apparently felt that was worth something. And it may be, just not to us.

So anyway I called the broker this afternoon and told him we were out. If things don’t work out the way we want in the next couple of months maybe we’ll be back then.

23-June-2010 our life. daily.
This crib was in a closet at Ali’s parent’s cabin when they bought the place. We’re pretty sure it’s from around the 1960s. Wonder how many babies have slept in this thing.

24-June-2010 1:27 PM
As tends to happen in situations like this, one door closes and another opens. We had had our eye on another boat, a 43′ Spindrift, a few weeks ago. It came on the market and looked great. But before we could get out to see it it was sold. There was another for sale in California that just didn’t appear to be quite as nice, but after talking about it Ali and I decided we’d go out there to have a look.

So Ali gets on Google and starts searching around to see if there are any other Spindrifts for sale anywhere. And lo and behold she comes across another one in the Bay Area. This one is for sale by owner on Craigslist and is listed at an unbelievably low price. Now there is generally a reason for this, but we decided to explore further anyway.

We exchanged emails with the owner who sent us a few more pictures and told us to give him a call. The pictures of the interior looked fantastic, while the exterior looked a bit beat up. Anyway, the conversation with the owner went really well. I felt like he was being straight up with me about the condition of the boat and his reasons for selling it. Based on that we asked our friend Nick in San Francisco if he’d mind making the two hour run out to see it and he told us he’d do it today. In fact he’s probably on the boat as I type this.

Ali and I have our fingers crossed. It feels like this could really work out well.

24-June-2010 2:01 PM
We own Apple stock so I’m always happy, from a financial standpoint, to see that thousands of people are lining up to buy their latest gadget. Today it’s a new phone. A phone. The fact that thousands of people are spending days in a line to buy a phone makes me a little sad. I understand young kids lining up to see their favorite movie or get concert tickets. They’re kids. But to see grown adults doing this over a phone because it has better screen resolution, or whatever, than their current phone makes me really question where our country is as a whole and where I want to fit into it. And more importantly, where I want my daughter to fit into it. Or if I want her to.

24-June-2010 9:20 PM
Woohoo! We’re boat owners again. Just two days after walking away from the deal in Seattle, and only a few hours after finding this boat on Craigslist, we’ve got a deal made.

We’re excited. Here’s how it went down today.

Our friend Nick cruised out to have a look at the boat, a 1982 43′ Spindrift, and take some pics and video. When he got back he seemed pleased. The outside of the boat was in really rough shape. It has been sitting for five years basically completely neglected. We knew this going in. The question was the interior. And what Nick said was, “When I opened the hatch it felt sort of like an Indiana Jones movie.” The outside was all dirt and cobwebs while the interior was all diamonds and gold.

Well not exactly, but close enough. Really the interior of the boat is awesome. Anyway, I don’t know why I’m saying any of this. I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

So that’s it. That’s our new home. We’re really happy with it and feel like we got ourselves a steal. A lot of elbow grease and a good bit of cash should have us sitting on a top notch world cruising capable boat. It’s a huge departure from our last boat in a lot of ways. The biggest being the number of keels. I’ve harassed the monohull sailors for a long time. Now it’s time to become one so at least I’ll be able to state my opinion from both sides of the argument.

A few weeks back I talked about how our goal was to become simpler. To try and become a little more “hippie-ish” in our way of life. We didn’t want to spend a ton of money buying the fanciest boat with all the best gadgets money could get us. And now we feel like we really accomplished what we set out to do. To find a strong, comfortable boat that we’d be happy to raise a family aboard for the foreseeable future. And at a price, get this, of less than one-third of our catamaran. That’s craziness.

25-June-2010 our life. daily.
Ouest has been learning to sit up on her own for the past few days. As you can see it requires the utmost concentration.

26-June-2010 9:49 AM
Last week we got some bad news from some good friends. We first met these friends through our website years ago and have since spent a couple of visits with them at their home in Phoenix. They even took us in their plane up over the Grand Canyon. Yeah, those nice people.

And really, they are about the nicest two people one could ever hope to meet. Open, sharing, and adventurous.

A few months ago they set out to circumnavigate the globe in their boat. We were both thrilled for them and began to look forward each day to their newest blog post. They traveled from Mexico south through the Panama Canal, all over the Caribbean, and then back through the Canal again. A few weeks back they set out across the Pacific headed for the ever elusive Marquesas Islands.

When they made it we were very happy for them. In a lot of ways taking a trawler across that big ocean is riskier than a sailboat. One engine, no sails, and three thousand miles of open water. But they did it, and did it without a hitch. Except for one. The wife encountered some numbing in her arm that eventually spread down her left side and had her pretty well laid up by the time they arrived. All along they thought she had pinched a nerve in her neck.

Unfortunately when she reached the doctor in Tahiti she found out it was something much worse. She had a fast growing brain tumor. She immediately flew back to the States and has undergone surgery.

The greatest thing about these two is that they don’t complain about the unfairness of something like this happening to them. They simply accept it as another challenge. They believe wholeheartedly that God has a plan for them and that it isn’t their job to question it but to embrace it. I really respect them for that. If it were me I fear that I’d cry and complain and whine, “Why me?”

Anyway, I hope you’ll all put them in your thoughts and prayers.

This has reiterated to me that we all need to live the life we want, when we want. And that’s not to say that these two didn’t do that. They’ve lived an amazing, adventurous life, and this was just to be a continuation of that fun filled life. This is more to remind me that I’ve got a great wife, an incredible daughter, and a loving family. And basically as long as I’ve got these things I want to continue to enjoy them and put them ahead of what society might say I should be doing with my life.

26-June-2010 our life. daily.

27-June-2010 8:11 PM
Over the past couple of months, since announcing our intentions to get back on a boat, we’ve been inundated with advice, links, and websites regarding what everyone else thought we needed.

One thing about the boat advice that struck me was the incredible amount of money people seem to think needs to be spent on a boat. When we said we were doing this again I thought I made it pretty clear that we were looking to get back to a simpler life and even said we weren’t looking to spend the kind of money we did on the boat our first time around.

Keeping in mind that our first boat cost $157,000 the listings that were forwarded to us over these weeks have averaged right around $175k, with many running way up into the $200s and just a few falling in around $100k or so. Only two that I can think of off hand fell below $100k.

I guess the reason these numbers strike me is because so many people write us to tell us about their dreams and their long term savings plans that will have them out on the water around 2030. I guess I never really ask what type of boat they plan on getting. Maybe these boat prices are the reason why cruising and living on a boat seems so unattainable to so many.

27-June-2010 our life. daily.
With one top tooth now through and another on the way this has become Ouest’s face of choice. Always sucking on that bottom lip.

28-June-2010 9:31 AM
Yep, we are both full on ready to get back to the boat life. As one hippie chick girlfriend of ours just told us when she heard about our latest plan, “Life’s too short to be conventional.”

28-June-2010 9:45 AM
The boat. We’ve got in hand a signed contract for her sale and have been in constant contact with the seller. He seems like a genuinely nice guy and we’re 99% certain at this point that things will go through as scheduled. There was a small issue with the boat being in a corporate name that had expired, but within the day he had resolved that and got us back on track. We’ve got the title company doing their job and they’ve been great as well. We’ll be happy when this thing is officially in our name.

We’ve decided to take a bit of a leap of faith with this boat, in that we’re not having a survey done on it. There are two reasons for this.

Number one is that we had one done on our last boat and you can see where that got us. The recommendations on that survey were to add a battery strap and tighten a bolt on the rudder post. Three months later our boat was half delaminated. For this we paid something like a thousand bucks with the haulout. I’ll stop short of calling them idiots, but I do think surveyors suck. End of story.

Number two is that we’re fairly confident that this boat was a steal at this price and wasn’t going to last long. We moved quick and we got the boat. We’re happy with that, and happy to take the risks associated with that as well.

Basically a survey and haulout would have probably cost us $1,500 or so. The survey report would have listed a whole bunch of crap we already know about. The only major thing we don’t know about is the condition of the hull. But the boat is twenty-six years old so I’m going to go with the assumption that if it lasted this long that it is just fine. Time will tell.

29-June-2010 our life. daily.
Ouest has reached that point where everything she touches goes directly into her mouth for a taste. Plants, carpet, and my nose are all fair game.

30-June-2010 our life. daily.
Now that she is mobile one of her favorite things is to knock down book houses. Mobile and destructive, my girl.