2019 - Year in Review!

Making friends in Puerto Rico!

It's that time again .. a look back at the past year. Damn, it goes fast! So much happened in 2019 ... as with every year that passes by us. We wrapped up 2018 in Puerto Rico, and spent the month of January, 2019 there as well. Ken & I fell in love with Puerto Rico ... the beautiful beaches, the lush rain forest, and the amazing people. We knew we'd be back!

We returned home just in time to celebrate our grandson's first birthday with our family in February .. he's so cute, and growing was too fast!

February was also Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and we always take part in the fun!

By the end of March, we were back in Puerto Rico ... buying a beach house! 

Our beach house needed a lot of work, and for 3 months we worked our butts off getting it ready to rent on Air Bnb.

While we made many new friends in Puerto Rico (and now have open invitations to return), we sold our investment property after just a few months. It was a difficult decision, but our investment turned out to be more than we anticipated, so we cut our losses and moved on. Our plans didn't turn out as we'd hoped, but we have no regrets. Living in Puerto Rico for a few months was a great experience! One of these days I hope to write about the fun times and beautiful places we visited. Until then, you can read more about why we sold our house and see the work we did on it here.

We recovered from our disappointment by celebrating the 4th of July with family in Destin, Florida!

We then settled back on Nirvana and began more projects.

We finally got the sails back on Nirvana and got her back on the water!

In August, we were headed off again! This time, we were headed to Colorado to help our daughter, son-in-law & grandson move. We helped them load up a U-Haul and followed them in their vehicle for a two day road trip. We hated to see our kids leave Louisiana, but were excited for them. They wanted to live near the mountains, and they settled in a beautiful town just North of Denver and near Rocky Mountain Park. At least we'll have a great place to go when we visit them! 

When we got back home we took a boat trip to nearby Mandeville and stayed overnight. It was so good to be back on the water and using our sails!

In October, we were back in Colorado to have fun with our kids and family. The last visit was mostly work and we wanted to check out more of the many breweries and sights nearby. We can see why our kids love Colorado .. it's beautiful!

Once back home on Nirvana, we finished up some more boat projects. One of the projects was to add solar panels ... we're now able to anchor without worrying about draining our batteries!

On November 18th (and two days before the 10th anniversary of buying "Nirvana"), Ken and I finally left the dock! We took Nirvana into the Mississippi Sound for new adventures. We'd been working towards this day for so long .. it seemed so surreal! We had a great time heading towards Pensacola, Florida and wondered why this passage had been so intimidating. We had great weather, which makes all the difference. 

With a few unexpected setbacks and cold weather on our backs, we decided to dock Nirvana in Pensacola for the Winter. The Florida Panhandle has so many beautiful areas to explore when the weather is warmer! 

With Nirvana secured, we rented a car and took the 3-hour drive back home to visit family for Thanksgiving. Before we knew it, we were flying to Colorado to spend Christmas with our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson. We enjoyed a "White Christmas", which is rare for us southerners!

We're now back in Louisiana, living in one of our vacant rentals while fixing it and waiting for another rental to become vacant. We're splitting our time between our "condo" in Pensacola and our rental in Louisiana, which isn't a bad way to get through Winter. There's always something going on in New Orleans, and the beaches in Pensacola are beautiful!

For the past 10 years, I've been writing an annual review. When I take the time to reflect over the past year, I'm always surprised at how much we've done .. and how many unforeseen experiences we had. While things don't always turn out as we'd hoped, we look back and agree ... life is good!

Hasta luego .. until then. Mid-Life Cruising!

2018 - Year In Review!

Wow, I can't believe we're well into February, 2019 and another year has flown by! I'm so far behind on my blog, but I don't wanna give up on my annual tradition of looking back on the past year. Not only is it a great way to keep track of our lives, but it always makes me feel grateful when I realize just how much we've done .. 2018 was no different. In fact, it was extra-special because we had a new addition to our family!

The year started off with a baby shower for our daughter at my mom's house. We were excited to celebrate the upcoming birth of our first grandchild .. a boy!

A couple of weeks later, Orson was born .. what a wonderful day!

With a healthy baby boy & Mother, we were able to uphold our annual tradition of celebrating Mardi Gras in the French Quarter with our friend, Judy.

We squeezed in a few boat projects before our next adventure, which included replacing our galley table and removing our old alcohol stove. We then added a new propane cooktop & had extra space for a microwave and storage underneath.  Another project off our list .. boat curtains!

With these projects done, we hopped on a plane in March to meet our friend in Key West!

Charlie invited us to join him on his Hylas 47' sailboat for a 3-day passage to Isla Mujeres, Mexico!

We had an amazing trip, and were excited to get some more work done on our boat for her own passages. The first big project was being able to use our new propane cooktop, which meant installing a propane system on Nirvana.

In July we took a road trip with our daughter, son-in-law & grandson to Indianapolis, Indiana for our daughter's graduation. She received her Master's in Education while teaching first grade and raising her new son .. we're so proud of her hard work!

Once we came home to Nirvana, we tackled a very stressful project .. an entire new battery system. We were so glad when all the research and work was done on this!

After many years in storage, we pulled out our "new at the time we put in storage" inflatable dinghy & Tohatsu motor. The dinghy didn't need much TLC, but the Tohatsu required some cleaning.

We installed a new Garhauer engine hoist to make raising "Mr. T" much easier .. we already love it!

With a list of boat projects still ahead, Ken added new 12 volt circuits throughout Nirvana. Running wire in a boat requires turning removing everything out of the way .. did a tornado hit?! With this done, we installed a few Caframo fans and outlets inside our lil home. 

All of this work made us want a good night's sleep .. meaning a new foam mattress in our v-berth!

We can't just focus on taking care of Nirvana .. we have to take care of ourselves as well. I noticed an unusual spot on my shoulder, which turned out to be basal cell carcinoma (a common skin cancer). I had it cut out, which required a few stitches. Everything healed well (looks much better now), and I'll continue to protect my skin from the sun with hats & clothing!

This lil guy spent the day with us after my "surgery" .. a great way to chill on the boat. We're really enjoying being grandparents!

In August, we did a very rare thing .. dressed up! Our daughter's father-in-law was elected as our city's new Mayor, and we went to the inauguration ball. My Dad (in pic below) & Step-Mom attended too, and it was fun to wear a dress & heels for the night.

 

As Summer came to an end, we continued to enjoy many sunsets and great times with our dock neighbors!

Just when we thought the rigger was done with small projects on the mast, we were told that our standing rigging was looking pretty rough .. another big project!

We took the rigger's advice and had him replace our standing rigging. We also (on our own) replaced our running rigging, installed new clutches, put our main sail back on, added retractable lazy jacks, and installed our new sail pack that had been in storage for a few years. Nirvana was finally looking like a sailboat again .. a great feeling after so many years!

We also had a new stainless steel bimini frame made to replace our flimsy aluminum frame. Again, we pulled out our "new" bimini top out of storage after many years.

After years (literally) we took Nirvana out for a sail in the lake. It was such a great feeling to be back out on the water .. on our own sailboat! The engine ran great, the main sail raised easily, and we loved our new lazy jacks and sail pack! Nirvana's almost a full sailboat again .. we just need to remove our roller furler to replace the forestay, then put the roller furler and head sail back on. We feel we've come a long way this Summer!

We were sorry to see Summer come to an end, as we were finally getting Nirvana ready to sail. We HATE the cold, and were not planning on spending another Winter in Louisiana. However, we ran out of time but not projects!

We decided to celebrate Thanksgiving & Christmas with family, then escape Winter for five weeks. We spent Thanksgiving in the country at my brother's place, and were so glad our daughter & her family were able to spend Thanksgiving with us. Our lil grandson is growing so fast!

Our 1st Christmas with our grandson .. what could be better?

On Christmas morning, we loaded up the gifts and headed to our daughter's house. We just love that smile!

While celebrating Christmas, we were prepping Nirvana to be alone for a while. We packed our few valuables and brought them to our daughter's house. To keep Nirvana well ventilated, we kept a fan running in the salon, raised our new v-berth mattress, & removed our settee cushions from the hull (stood them upright on bottom settee cushions). We also added a few generic "Damp-Rids" throughout Nirvana and wiped down the interior of the hull with vinegar. We contemplated winterizing Nirvana's engine, but we ran out of time! On December 29th, with two hours of sleep, we caught a cab at 3 o'clock in the morning to head to airport. Luckily, Nirvana never experienced any freezing while we were gone.

Where did we go for five weeks? We went to Puerto Rico! I'll have more posts about this soon, but we found a cheap Air Bnb in Luquillo. We'd never heard of this town, nor had we ever been to Puerto Rico. We weren't sure if this cheap Air Bnb would be a good thing .. or a bad. It turned out to be a great time, and a beautiful location! The beach and the river (photo below) is just steps away from our apartment! Puerto Rico was indeed a great way to escape Winter, end the year, and begin a new one. We've been to a lot of tropical places, but Puerto Rico is probably our favorite!

A "sand man" is always better than a "snow man"!

It's now past mid-February, Winter is almost over, and we're looking forward to more adventures in 2019 .. I think it's gonna be another great year!

Hasta luego .. until then. Mid-Life Cruising!