To the States and Back

There were so many things going on back in the states that we had to put the boat on the mooring and fly back. Ragamuffin was kind enough to take us to shore, watch the boat while we were gone, the water line didn’t go down any so it must be alright, and brought us back to the boat when we returned. Just before we left we happened to call Aron to update him on our arrival. He said he was in the truck driving to the hospital in Orlando as Madison had fallen off  the top of a slide and broke her right arm. It was a double compound fracture. We kept in touch the next few days and she had 2 surgeries to clean and reset the breaks. We arrived to see here in her new cast. She even let us sign it!

Madison with her cast

The class gets together

We then spent two days going to Winter Haven for Leslie’s reunion. That was a fun time and she got reacquainted with a number of class mates and their spouses. 

Missing Arlene

We then drove to Missouri as our other son, Eric, and his family are going to move on to a 47’ Cat they have just bought and go cruising. As a consequence they are selling their house and we had to move all our stuff out and put it in storage. The timing was good as their after school daycare was closed for a few days and we were able to be with the kids so Mom and Dad didn’t have to take vacation days. It was a ball with the kids, as always, and while they were at school we moved all our stuff out and into storage. They have a big job ahead of them as they have given themselves a short time frame to leave. The house was looking great! New kitchen counter tops, newly refinished kitchen cabinets, newly painted rooms, are part of the preparation, but they still have a lot to do. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures.

Cloe is into gymnastics

Daryl walks the stage with her diploma

The graduate's happy family
no more college bills!

When we returned to Florida we went to my niece’s college graduation in FT Myers and stay with old friends from Newport, Mike and Trish.  It was great seeing their FL home on a lake canal. It was great to see our niece walk the stage and receive her Engineering Degree.  Now the job hunt begins.

She is a nice looking boat

Look at all the solar panels!

We also took advantage of being in Ft Meyers to drive over to Lauderdale and look at Eric and Kelly’s new boat. It’s a 47’ Leopard that has just gotten done a long family cruise. So it has a lot of stuff, and needs a bit of maintenance, but she is a big good looking boat.

Look Mom no more big cast!

Back in Tampa, we stayed to see Madison come out of her cast and into a soft cast, and finally her arm was free for her to perform in a ballet with the company she is in. They limited her to only a couple of dances as they were careful about her arm. Unfortunately they do not allow pictures at the ballet.

Everyone came in costumes

The concentration was intense!

We were exhausted so we headed back to the boat! We did a couple of day resupply and headed to Brewers Bay. There we put together a murder mystery dinner with a group of friends. That was really funny! It was a tough mystery, but one guest convicted the right person.

Neat skydiving!

We also went to Nanny Cay to help friends with their boat. They had a number of electrical issues after a rewiring of the entire boat, so we helped them resolve them. While we were there we saw these weird skydivers come land right at the marina.

Eric at the helm

Going down the waterway

Eric was going to bring his new boat to the yard to haul out and have some repairs done, so I flew down to be a deck hand for him. The day after I arrived we went to the boat to take it to the yard. Unfortunately Eric felt terrible! He said he felt he had a huge hangover except we hadn’t had anything to drink the night before and he felt he had pulled a muscle in his groin. But he worked through it and we got the boat to the marina just before a squall came in. However, after doing the paperwork he felt really bad and he let me drive back to the friends where we were staying . Fortunately she is a doctor and she confirmed what I told Eric, that he had an infected lymph node, but that was because his left leg above the ankle was all pink. He had a bad case of cellulitis.  She gave me a prescription and I went and got it for Eric. He was done for the day.

Eric's leg at the hospital

The next day he felt better and we went to the boat and got some projects done, but my noon the leg looked red and red streaks were going up his leg. He texted a picture to his friend and she said’ “Go to the hospital now!” So we did. We went to the emergency room and by 3 he was on IV drugs and by 8 he was admitted. He spent the rest of the week in the hospital on IVs and when he was released on Friday he had a 3 hour drug infusion. I spent the week between the hospital and doing the list of boat repair  Eric had make.  Actually, we got all the necessary things done.   

Aron, Katie, and Julie at the beach

kids in their natural habitat

more natural habitat

Since he couldn’t get a flight until Sunday we went to Jenson beach and visited is brother Aron, who was there on vacation, and had dinner with my brother Bret and his wife Val.

Our hosts, Russ and Dr. Lisa

The family Drew and Maddy

Eric left on Sunday and I dropped him off as I couldn’t get a flight until Monday. So I did a couple projects on the boat that day, and spent some time with our hosts and their family.

Carl wishes he was there

 I missed Leslie’s birthday, the King of Wings contest, and the Floatapluza. There is always so much going on.

Carl gooping the drain hole

What a beautiful job!

When I got back, parts had come in to fix the head door latch. So I did that, and we put 3 patches on the dinghy in an effort to not have to pump her up every other day. We also re-beded the dinghy drain plug, in an effort to stop getting water in the lower hull of our Caribe, but to no avail.

Adventure of the Seas glides into port

Oh no! The Brigands are beating
my warriors!

Now life is back to “normal” and we will see what the rest of the season brings. We already have Tropical Storm Bret ravishing the Venezuela coast, and Cindy setting her sights on the Texas Louisiana border. Summer brings hurricane season and we are already seeing activity. However , it is now calm and we watch the cruise ships come in across from us and enjoy a game of "Dark Tower".