Enjoy the Moment!

My brother once said to me that everything in your life is a moment only a moment.  So that means the good and the bad are only moments.  We shared this past weekend with my darling niece Faith and her delightful husband Tim.  They arrive Saturday morning and left Sunday
afternoon.  They were only with us a little over 24 hours but wow what a fun packed 24 hours we had.  The weather was great on Saturday so we loaded up their bikes (with ours) on to the boat and off we went to Middle Bass Island. We had a bit of a choppy ride over to the island, but we arrived without a problem.  We decided to take the bikes and explore the island.  We road all over the island, they saw Lonz Winery, well at least what is left of the building, we skipped rocks, well the guys did, Faith and I collected them to paint, they kissed the fish.  Kind of a tradition for us.  We had dinner at the local (only) restaurant and after dinner the guys did some fishing.

While the guys were fishing Faith and I went to the other side of the island and watched the sunset.  While we were there we talked about a lot of things, but one of those were of my mom Faith's Gma.  We laughed, we cried, we enjoyed the moment.  It was lovely just to spend some time with her.  We had a wonderful breakfast of pancakes Sunday morning and then headed back to Sandusky.  We beat the rain and ended the day with lunch at Tofts, yes ice cream for lunch.  Yummy.



After the kids left Mike and I piled back into the boat and headed back to Middle Bass Island.  Our plan was to spend the night here and get a start on our trip to Michigan tomorrow.  Yes we are going to try it again.  The weather was extremely over cast but oddly enough the waters were calm as was the wind and the boat traffic was just not there.  We made it back over in record time.  Just as we were docking the rain came.  But we were able to get docked and settled in without to much trouble.  We are now snug and in our boat and praying that the weather tomorrow will forward us in journey.  But until then and hopefully during we will just enjoy the moment.

Family aboard

Okay not sure where my head was when I made the last post, but we aren't hauling out until October 10th.  Whew menopause brain is at it again.  We are currently back home for exactly 2 (and a little) days.  Long enough for Mike and I to get in 2 days of (paid) work.  Actually 3 since Friday we will be helping some friends of ours do a catering gig, but then we are back up to Sandusky.

Linner (lunch & dinner) at Tony Paco's

Look she is a shutterbug like me

Gary and Christy

This past weekend my brother Gary and his wonderful wife Christy joined us.  We had an absolute blast of a weekend.  We realized that this was the first time the four of us have spent the weekend together without the kids and or parents along.  We definitely need to do it more often.  The weather was not cooperative for the cruising, but we were able to get in one sunset cruise.  The waves were way to high and there were rip current warnings.  Christy too is a shutterbug and it was so fun to spend the weekend with someone else who makes everyone stop so that they can take a picture.  The guys were very patient.

Christy took this wonderful picture

A visit to Castalia's Quarry Metro Park

This coming weekend my niece Faith and her husband Tim will be joining us for an overnight stay.  I am really looking forward to that visit too.  Then we hope to attempt our trip to Michigan the week after.  Our last attempt was thwarted by the weather.

Visiting Ft. Meigs

Yes that's us.

Fun Saturday night at the Marina concert

 I have really got to keep this blog a little more updated.  I seem to be able to keep the Facebook one updated but because our internet access on the boat is so sporadic.

Mother Nature had a different idea.

Mooring Ball

A little relaxation

I can't believe that in less than a week we will be hauling out the boat.  What a season it has been.  We have been on several successful trips.  This past attempt went not quite the way we had expected.  We had planned to go to Michigan this week, but Mother Nature had a different idea.  We left Saturday morning for Put in Bay and got on one of the mooring balls there.  We actually had no problem getting on the ball, luckily it wasn't very crowded. After arriving we spent some time just relaxing on the forepeak watching other boats coming in. After a time of rest we called the water taxi and went over to the island to get a bite to eat for dinner. Well the mooring balls might not have been very busy but boy the island was full of people.  We walked down to the end of the strip to find a quiet restaurant for dinner and found a nice Italian place.  But as most people know we are doing this adventure on a budget.  Well as nice as this place was we should have looked at the menu before we sat down.  It was WAY to nice for our budget.  We literally each had a cup of soup and shared an antipasti plate (seriously it was cold cuts on a plate) and can I say it was way to expensive for what we had.  Lesson learned.

First Mate at the helm

Lady J in lovely light

We then went and got some ice cream and yes on the way out of the ice cream place while we were paying I saw some chocolate covered bacon.  Okay I confess we tried it.  It wasn't horrible, but I doubt that we would ever have it again.  After dinner we went back to the boat for a quiet evening watching the sunset.  We woke up the next morning to windy conditions and fears that our excursion was going to be diverted.  We checked the weather as all good mariners should do and what did we find?  The area in Michigan that we were headed to was in for a big rain storm.  Ugh, 10-15 knots of wind and 4-6 foot waves definitely not the kind of weather to be out in.  So we made the decision to return back to our marina and make other plans.  The trip back was one heck of a ride.  The boat was rockin and rollin, so to speak.  After a 3-1/2 hour trip back we realized it was the right thing to do.

So we are back in Sandusky hoping the weather calms down so that we might be able to get out a little this week.  We are excited about this coming weekend.  My brother Gary and his wife Christy are coming up for the weekend.  Again I hope the weather cooperates.

I love this photo.  This says it all...

The Captain enjoying the sunset

So much to catch up on

Wow I can't believe how much time goes by in between posts on this site.  So much has happened since I last posted.  I will add a bunch of photos.  We have gone on several trips now.  Over the Labor Day weekend we went to Vermillion with Amanda and Kent with a stop at Huron to avoid a rain storm.  We really enjoyed their stay with us.  Amanda has always liked boating since we owned our sailboat, but it was great to see that Kent fell right into it like he had done it all his life.  We hope they come back to visit.

Sunday of that weekend we spent with Mike's side of the family at their house they rented that weekend. It was a total blessing that we were actually going to be in Vermillion the same weekend that they were going to be.  We spent the day, playing in the sand building a Merman out of JB, digging huge ditches, talking, laughing, eating watching luminaries lift into the sky.  The whole day was just magical.  Everything went perfectly. We even took the "older" children along with Jim and Maggie for a short cruise around the lake.  It was bittersweet though.  Brother Jim is in the final stages of stage 4 brain cancer.  He had a good day and it was so great to spend such quality time with him.

This week Mike and I decided to take a small trip on our own to try some thing out.  So we came to Middle Bass Island to spend the day and then the following day go to Put in Bay.  It so far has been an incredible trip.  Mike and I are becoming much stronger in our abilities to run the Lady J so it's making things easier.  We moored today for the first time at a mooring ball, took our bikes along so that we could get around the islands.  Toured parks and museums, ate great food, watched beautiful sunsets.  Put 26 miles on our bikes and have enjoyed "the good life".  This weekend our daughter Katie and her husband David will be joining us.  I wonder what adventures await us then.

Bikes will accompany us on all trips

The Lady J docked so nicely

The bow of the Lady J on  her way back from Vermillion.

Right before the sunset, oh what beautiful lighting

At top of Perry's Monument.  The Lady J is just to the left of Mikes head.

Jana enjoying Lobster Bisque at the Boardwalk

Oh the view

Penny for his thoughts.

Enjoying Vermillion

Longest Bar in Put in Bay

Saturday night in Vermillion

A dream come true, we finally are docked here instead of just watching the boat traffic from the land.

Lobster Bisque

Having a beer at the Round House Bar

Yeah that is our boat on the right.

Some times you just have to kiss the fish.

Mike being so patient while I take pictures.

Gorgeous sunsets at Middle Bass

Enough said