We just finished a great three weeks in BC visiting friends and family, catching up on admin (home school HQ visit, dental readiness inspections and maintenance, etc) and actually relaxing. We based ourselves at my sister's and her family's house in Victoria where the like-aged cousins could play non-stop.
After about a week in Victoria we headed up to my parent's farm near Salmon Arm for some fun in the snow. Our little Mexicano, Benjamin, had never of course seen snow before so it was bit bewildering for him.
I also had a chance to visit my old squadron,
443 (Maritime Helicopter), and check out the massive new hangar that was just a specification in development when I was there. The areas where we made mistakes in the development were pointed out to me ...
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| Victoria presenting to her cousin's grade five class. |
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| The Shaw/McDonald Slingshot Cousin Team. They were briefed that swans were not be targeted. |
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Time for hikes on the beach
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Mount Baker from Oak Bay Marina
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| What ? Go out there in that white stuff ? |
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| Liz being a good sport as we trek to go tobogganing on the other side of the valley. |
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| Liz and Benjamin at the bottom of the toboggan run |
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| Hang on Benjamin ! |
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| More sunsets in paradise (the chilled edition) |
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| Tractor driving ! A road to be plowed. |
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| From the top of the toboggan hill. |
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| The new hangar at 443 (MH). (DCC photo) |
I started putting this post together while waiting for the flight from Victoria to Vancouver to start the long trek back to the boat ... We were rebooked for an earlier flight due to the incoming fog. That flight was then cancelled and then so was our original flight which the last flight of the day ... So ... we try again tomorrow.
Hi Fluenta,
ReplyDeleteThis is Rebecca, from Dark Horse Schooner. Strangely I have only just put two and two together. My parents and your's go to the same church in Halifax and they told us about your visit to Halifax at Christmas. Anyway, we have made our Atlantic crossing and are now in Antigua. We are now trying to figure out what we will do next and we were wondering how your Pacific crossing went. How long did it take? How were the kids, particularly Benjamin. We have three kids two, ages 7, 5 and 11 months. Did you take anyone with you on the crossing? How did you manage the watches and the kids? If you have already posted about this just point me where I need to read, but any feedback you could offer us would be great as we found the Atlantic crossing fine, but it wasn't thrilling. We also had some pretty bad weather. Hope your trip back to the boat went well. All best, Rebecca
Sorry for the delay Rebecca. The blog has been trumped by boat projects and home school ...
DeleteOur Pacific crossing was fine but it was made easier by having a friend do the longer two passages (Mexico to FP and Tonga to NZ) with us. Three adults is so much easier than two ! Our longest passage was 21 days from Mexico to the Marquesas. For the watches we have evolved from the traditional fixed three hour watch at night to a more flexible program. Liz does after dinner until as late as practical. I do from then, which usually includes the squall times, until as late as practical but usually no later than sunrise. During the day the program is less rigid but there is always someone keeping a visual watch. The bigger kids are a big help too but some far we have not put them into a formal watch rotation.
Good luck on your passage and hopefully our paths will cross.
Cheers,
Max