Wonderful Family Memories. January 27 through February 29, 2020

So, we often get the comment that because we are retired we are on constant vacation.  We don't agree entirely with that comment and we do schedule get aways off the boat (away from home).  One we scheduled a year ago was a family reunion trip to Maui for the first week of February.  All of our children, spouses and granddaughter too were able to join us there!  What a great family memory it was.
First, on January 27 we flew to Seattle for a couple days to attend the Seattle boat show.

We were able to view many boats in the water and got to share our likes and dislikes with our broker Matt.

Perhaps we should explain a bit.  We have a goal to do the Alaska Passage in our own boat.  We also have a granddaughter in Bellingham, WA.  So, we are planning on storing Sum Escape in Florida for summers and buy another properly equipped boat in the Pacific NW that we can use in summers (and store in winters).  We did not find anything that clearly fit our wants/needs and budget so the search continues...
We then continued on to Maui to arrive a couple days before the rest of the family.  The line up for take off.

We rented an Airbnb with an ocean view for two days prior to the rest of the family arriving, and we could see whales breaching and blowing right from our balcony! Airbnb was good to us on this find.

It was great getting to know the area a bit for a couple days.  The landlord of the home we rented for the family was very accommodating and let us drop off refrigerated items in the morning before our scheduled 4PM check in.  The home was conveniently located just steps away from Napili Bay beach near Lahaina and had 4 bedrooms and a pool.  It was wonderful.
Lucy had special attention including first class on Alaska Airlines on her flight.

The week was spent visiting, going to the beach, whale watching, floating in the pool

and just spending wonderful time with our children.  The crew at the beach.

We especially enjoyed caring for Lucy Jo, our almost one year old granddaughter while Mom and Dad were out exploring!

Part of the crew headed out to the beach.

We hit the Gazebo for breakfast and Merriman's for dinner...a couple of the local favorites and they were great.  We picked up Leoda's famous pies for dessert one night

and also hit the local seafood shop a couple times for great mahi-mahi, grouper and snapper.  We provided shuttle service to/from the airport and beaches with our rental mini van.  And we had a great day whale watching while grandma cared for Lucy Jo.  The first photo is a mom and calf right behind the boat next to ours.  We both just drifted until the whales exited the area.

We even had a birthday party for Lucy and thanks to the "pool guy" we even have a great picture of it! Yep, the pool maintenance worker showed up at the perfect time to snap this photo.

And we learned from him how important a one year birthday celebration is to the Hawaiians.

Julie and I had a nice walk along the Coastal Trail the morning after our family all had to leave.  This is Merriman's where our children treated us to dinner the night before they all left for the mainland.

Such wonderful family memories!  We hope to all meet somewhere again every two years.  This was such a blessing for our family to all be together.
Julie and I stayed for a couple more days in another Airbnb a little ways south in Kihei after everyone else flew back to the mainland.  We had some nice walks along the beach and visited the Kealia Coastal Boardwalk.

It is one of the remaining wetlands on this coast (most were destroyed for development of resorts and homes) and had much wildlife to view.  A nice stop and wind down prior to heading back to the mainland.
We flew to Seattle and drove to Bellingham for Lucy Jo's first birthday party. We enjoyed this family time very much.  HOV lane has a much better speed limit!  The infamous I-5.

 So big at one year old!!  

So much fun celebrating with both sets of grandparents, Lucy Jo's aunt and a few of Sarah and Joe's friends.

We looked at a boat in Bellingham too.  This is the marina we hope to be in some day.

We again stopped in La Connor and Seattle on our way home and viewed a few more boats.  Nothing really hit enough of our needs list so the search continues...

We took a red eye flight back to Tampa and an Uber to Longboat Key on Julie's birthday, Valentine's Day.  We immediately went to bed.  I woke up around 11 AM and found a text from our marine diesel mechanic that he would be here at 11:30 for a sea trial.  He had performed all of the 3000 hour maintenance on our engines while we were gone, thus the need for a sea trial.  We thought he was coming in the afternoon but he somehow "lost" that communication.  Our friends Ralph (Mazel Tug) and his friend Dianne were on Longboat and we scrambled to get them aboard for a visit (which ended up including a sea trial boat ride).  And we were lucky enough to have the dolphins of Sarasota Bay cooperate and give us a good show too.  Ralph and Dianne were leaving that day to return to North Carolina so it was great we could all make our plans mesh together for a nice visit.
We love our walks along Longboat Key beach....

And the general grounds too...beautiful bird of paradise plant.

And our rides in to downtown Sarasota are easy too.

And the Blue Rooster venue is a favorite blues rock locale.  We have been here about 4 times in the past couple years.  We had a nice dinner with all our friends from Longboat and saw a great show again.

Being at Longboat Key Club Moorings and leasing a seasonal slip allows us to participate in club activities.  One of them was a "Name that Tune" evening with a full dinner buffet, open bar, dancing  and of course the name that tune game.  We had a great time with Bonnie and Jon (Bon Voyage) Diane and Ed (formerly Coaster but land dwellers this season)  and Betsy and Dave (Frye Days).

We also were able to visit with George and Rachel (Rachel) and David and Tricia (Laurel Ann) while they stayed at Longboat for a month or so.  They are all headed north for the summer season and we hope to see them back here next year.  Thanks for making time to visit with us.
On Saturday February 28th, we met our friends Carole and DeVere (Job Site) and Brigitte and Scott (Putz'n Around) downtown Sarasota for lunch and conversation.  They drove up from Punta Gorda and Fort Meyers Beach and it was so nice to see our Bahamas boating buddies!  So glad we could see all of you again.  We had all originally planned a boating rendezvous but the weather did not cooperate. Hopefully we can do some boating later in the season along the west coast of Florida. The group enjoying a quick beverage at Marina Jack on that chilly February day...

Hopefully next winter the group can reunite for a trip back to the Bahamas!!  Thanks for driving up for the day!

Illness and Downtime but Still Time to Enjoy Longboat Key and Friends. January 6 to 26, 2020.

Julie had a reasonably good day with her flu bug and we took a long walk to the resort beach on Tom's birthday.  It was a beautiful day!  Thanks for the extra effort in making the day special Julie!

We walked to the resort beach and then to the Dry Dock for lunch and then back to the marina.  It was a great walk and day!

On Jan 7 we borrowed Betsy and Dave's mini van to go to Sarasota to see "The Book of Morman"  play at the Van Wezel Performing Arts center.  

The play was well done but some of the "mocking" of our Lord and Savior was offensive to us at times. It took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to get to Sarasota with all the snowbird traffic combined with road construction, versus the no traffic drive of about 15 to 20 minutes.  It's getting busy on Longboat!

As we both started to really feel bad with a nasty bug we pretty much were down and out for the better part of the month.  It was a nasty bug that we think we may have gotten from that Uber driver in late December.   We had no energy, terrible coughs and had to keep our distance from all our friends.  We did stay to ourselves but our friends Betsy and Dave (Frye Days) and Bonnie and John (Bon Voyage) threatened to put up our yellow quarantine flag to warn others of our condition.😎 

We had many of these symptoms...

And Betsy from Frye Days brought us chicken soup, veggies, crackers, reading materials and encouragement that provided medicinal support!  Thanks so much Betsy!  We really enjoyed the chicken soup!

Later in January we were feeling a bit better and were ready for a change of scenery so we shoved off for Bradenton Twin Dolphins Marina for a couple nights.  

It was so good to be moving again!  We explored the Riverwalk and downtown areas of Bradenton and had a nice stay there.  

Along the Riverwalk.

Not sure what this creature is.  Sort of pretty in our underwater lights.

Sunrise at Twin Dolphins Marina.

On the way home we arranged to meet Kevin and Debbie, Julie’s brother and sister in law,  at Egmont Key at the mouth of Tampa Bay.  It is a park area accessible only by boat.

They cruised up from Sarasota in their center counsel and anchored near us.  

We dinghyed over and got them aboard for some exploration of the key.  It is a park setting with trails and the entire island is a bird sanctuary so no pets are allowed ashore.  It was an almost windless day until later in the afternoon when we picked up a slight breeze.  We enjoyed the island trails and walking the beach back to the dinghy while spending time with Deb and Kevin.  We think we will definitely return.
A tortoise exploring the grounds too.

Abandoned Spanish American War era fort.

On Saturday we took the bus to Sarasota for the Seafood Fest.

Lots of live music and great seafood!  This is the second or third time we have attended and always enjoy the day.

 Sunrise on a randomn morning walk.

Later in the month, our old neighbors from Michigan, Rhonda and Paul were going to be in town.  They now live in Mesa, AZ but Paul had a consulting gig in Sarasota so Rhonda accompanied him.  We got together a couple times for dinner and the highlight was a “dolphin tour” boat ride up toward Cortez.  Julie’s brother and sister in law Kevin and Debbie joined us as well.  
Captain Julie and first mate Rhonda taking the boat out of the slip and marina.

A funny story, we had told Deb and Kevin about how our boat seems to draw dolphins. When we invited them along for the boat ride, we had texted to “join us, along with Paul and Rhonda for a dolphin tour”.  On the morning of the trip we got a text asking where to meet….they were understandably confused that this was indeed a boat ride on Sum Escape for a “money back guaranteed” dolphin tour!  And we saw lots of dolphins!   The crew watching them.

We also stopped at the new Shore restaurant on the north end of Longboat Key for a mid afternoon snack.  We will definitely be back here, a nice restaurant and good dockage.  Thanks to all for joining us!

Pat and Tim, friends from Michigan were escaping winter in Naples and drove up for lunch in Sarasota.  We rode the trusty bus into town and had a great time catching up with them.  Thanks so much for making the drive up to see us!

On the final Saturday in January, Julie joined in a group outing with a number of friends from the marina to go to the Venice Theatre to see "Menopause the Musical" organized by Betsy who drove the whole group there in her van.  A walk through the art fair and lunch preceded the play.  Thanks so much for a great outing Betsy!