Disclaimer: This post turned into wordy family life updates. If you’re here hoping to find tips or inspiration for boating, traveling, parenting or cooking…you may want to skip this one! (Actually, if you’re looking for parenting or cooking tips- you’re probably on the wrong blog altogether.)
I always feel bad when people ask me ‘are you still blogging?’ In theory, yes. I have companies I write for, and companies who write for this website. But in reality, it’s been a while since I’ve personally updated on our life. Case in point: I started this post 2 months ago. It had a completely different title and now it’s morphed into a series of monthly updates.
The last couple months of our lives have been (semi)organized chaos.
To walk you through a brief timeline, we left Huntsville just after Halloween. After attending the AGLCA fall conference, we boated South as quickly as possible. Gulf Shores was our pre-Thanksgiving destination and then we waited for a crossing window. Catch our crossing story, here, if you missed it. From Clearwater Beach we crossed Tampa Bay, spent a night in Sarasota and arrived in Punta Gorda.
Since the docks in Fort Myers are still destroyed from Hurricane Ian, going back there is not an option right now. Although we had a blast in PCB last winter/spring, our hearts were always in Southwest Florida. So we are “home” in Punta Gorda for the foreseeable future.
December’s Life Updates: settling into our new home.
Arriving in Punta Gorda mid-December meant that every ounce of my focus was on Christmas. Not to toot my own horn, but this year I pulled it together rather nicely. We sent out Christmas cards for the first time in two years, baked cookies, made gingerbread houses, and Santa successfully secured all the wish-list gifts. I even found Christmas pj’s with palm trees on them!
Most importantly, we found a church to attend on Christmas Eve. We’ve since changed churches, but all that mattered at the time was having somewhere to attend on the 24th. Some of you may know that our Christmas Eve tradition is a hibachi restaurant. With Miller’s allergies, our sweet friend Michael offered to cook hibachi on the boat this year. Michael and Kim also joined us on Christmas morning, and then all of us went over to The Steins’ house for a special Christmas dinner.
Lots of special memories made in Punta Gorda this year! And then we headed north to spend time with family. Unfortunately, I ended up sick and we had to cut out some of our visits. However, we’re hoping to make up for that soon.
January’s Life Updates: Why does it always last a million days?
With Miller’s birthday in early January, I never feel like life goes back to normal after the holidays until his birthday is over too. So I can’t quite figure out why the month seems to last forever. But it does.
This year Miller got quite a surprise for his birthday, snow…in Florida! We spent the day at Snowcat Ridge snow tubing, ice skating and throwing snowballs inside an igloo. We all had a blast! Pizza with friends capped off the day of celebration.
In January both kids started activities. Mary Grace is on the varsity sailing team for Lee County. We had no idea the impact sailing would have on her. She thrives when she’s on the water and really loves being part of a team. Her coaches both inspire and push each of the kids to their maximum potential. Although Mary Grace is the rookie on the team, she certainly makes up for it with her boating experience.
Miller started basketball. Despite being the shortest/smallest child in his league, he genuinely enjoys it. There’s been a bit of a learning curve, but he also has phenomenal coaches that bring out the best in team. In true Miller fashion, he’s ALL IN. Basketball is his new favorite sport and he has a basketball in his hands at almost all times.
January kept Brent busy! I don’t even want to count how many days he was on our boat because it wasn’t many. But for that, we are grateful. He’s so happy and truly doing the job he was born to do. Our whole family attended the AGLCA Rendezvous in Punta Gorda (super convenient) and we even hosted about 200 Loopers on our boat during the Looper Crawls.
February’s Life Updates: Where did the month go?
I know the month is shorter than most, but why does February always fly by? I used to love it when we lived in a colder climate, but now I cherish SW Florida February days. Ironically, we started the month by leaving our dreamy 75-degree days and heading to Galena, Illinois for a family wedding. Everything about the weekend was beautiful and special.
If I assigned a theme to February it would be ‘meals on the go!’ Mary Grace even had to make us a color-coded calendar for the fridge to keep track of all of our activities. Almost every morning I need to check the calendar and figure out the day’s logistics. It’s always interesting and as I tell the kids often, we’re taking one day at a time.
In February Miller began soccer and for a couple of weeks it overlapped with basketball. Mary Grace also resumed tutoring for the SATs. She teaches high level students for the reading portion. It’s been really exciting to see her enjoy that role. She’ll take the SAT again in May and hopes to receive a score high enough to qualify to tutor for the math section too.
We also got to spend a lot of time in February with friends. We’re so thankful to have a wonderful community in the SW FL area. Additionally, the kids and I spent a day on Sanibel Island with a friend that I met in High School. Her family lives in Alaska, but spends the winter traveling. We’ve been able to meet up with them for the last 3 years and it’s always very special to catch up.
March-ing Forward Update
Lots of exciting things happening this spring for our family! Mary Grace will sail in her first regatta. Both kids have gotten very involved in our new church. Brent travels to Annapolis and we’ll all be going to Norfolk for AGLCA events. We’ve also got a super exciting Spring Break trip planned and we’re hoping to squeeze in a college visit or two.
When we aren’t actively cruising I’m bad at updating this blog. I do have a list of future posts, but really felt like I needed (for my own sake) to quickly update on all of these months. I am much more active on social media so if you aren’t following us on Facebook or Instagram, please connect:
As always, thanks for following along with our crazy little life! You might also enjoy reading:
Spring Break in Los Vegas: All The Things You Want to Know
Our Favorite Place: Discovery Cove
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