driving home to new jersey

August 23-27

Well, you aren’t here on our website to hear about our life in New Jersey, but I will share some thoughts about our trip home as it pertains to our journey.

Kristin and I get pedicures with our girls

There are two things that jump out at me as I think about our first time at home in two months.  The first, and toughest-to-share aspect is that being in New Jersey was so much more intense than being anywhere else we had recently visited.  The pace of life is faster, and the energy feels unsettled.  I found it difficult to breathe after being surrounded by the pure ocean air of Maine.  And I found the driving to be even more maddening than I had remembered.  I had expected to feel some security in the familiar surroundings, so I was surprised at how upsetting it was to be “back in civilization”.  I missed Maine, like I missed Sweden after moving back to the US after living there for six months.  I am much more suited to a less urban/suburban lifestyle and this experience has really opened my eyes to that understanding about myself.  Of course, being back in civilization meant that I could go to a real salon and spend half a day getting primped and poufed back to my presentable self!

back with friends from home

The second, and much more positive aspect about being back in New Jersey, was the opportunity to be with friends and family.  We were not in town for long, so we only saw a few people, and we had to focus on getting the kids together with their friends.  After being by ourselves for so long, it was lovely to be around the familiar and supportive energy of our friends and to hear about what they have been up to over the summer.

Reese visits with our dear babysitter Stacie

We couldn’t possibly see all the people we love and missed, but we did get to meet up with the Kuenzels, the Cecalas, the Grays, the Materetskys, and the Danzas at the school playground.  The kids loved seeing their friends, and I just soaked up my precious moments with my buddies.  I felt a little strange, knowing that I wouldn’t be there for all the things they were talking about, like the first day of school.  I had a creepy sensation, like I was a fly on the wall, watching the world go on without me.  I wondered if everyone would forget me by the time we got back.  Then I remembered that Porter said the exact same thing to me the day before we left in July.  I told him that his friends love him for who he is and will love him when he returns.  That physical distance between true friends doesn’t change the friendship, just the type of interaction between them.I forced Tracy to say goodbye to me again, which caught us both unexpectedly.   It was too cruel to have to go through another round of goodbyes.  It was tough to watch Bryson and Olivia say goodbye as well.  They hugged, fist-bumped, and smiled their almost-self-conscious 10-and-11-year-old smiles at each other and I could sense the sadness that they couldn’t openly express.  Luckily, we had one more day before Reese and Kelli had to say goodbye again.

Kelli Reese Chase

(BTW, I love that our friends are following along on our website and send comments on our blog posts all the time.  I wonder if you all know that when I post a blog late at night, the first thing I do in the morning is grab my phone to see if anyone posted a comment yet.  Thank you Steffanie and Lisa for making me smile within moments of waking up on those days!  Getting comments, emails, and phone messages allows us to hear what is going on in everyone else’s life as well!)

Bryson with Ryan and James

I told them to sit properly. Comedians.

Of course, Carolyn and Aaron’s wedding was wonderful.  We wouldn’t have missed the chance to watch Chris’ sister and her new husband Aaron start their life together.  There was a flurry of pre-wedding activity when we first got back: picking up tuxes, getting Reese’s flower girl dress pressed, and the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

The cousins catch up at the Ho Ho Kus Inn

Chris and I with the bride and groom at the rehearsal dinner

She wanted straight hair for the wedding so Cheryl blew it out for her.

Finally, it was Saturday, and it was time for the wedding.  Reese got to be with all the bridesmaids and Carolyn as they finished getting ready.  She got to go in a limousine to the church, which made her feel so grown up.  Bryson was the ring bearer and took his job very seriously.  Once he had the rings in his possession, he refused to usher any more guests down the aisle so that he could focus completely on guarding the rings.  Porter handed out programs with his cousins.

all ready to go!

Porter, Jenna, and Brandon hand out programs

Steve gives the rings to Bryson

Carolyn looked beautiful and radiant and Aaron looked like he could see Carolyn and only Carolyn.  Bryson and Reese were so excited to be part of the ceremony and did a great job delivering the rings and leading the way down the aisle.  We enjoyed a cocktail hour out on the patio at Indian Trail Club in gorgeous weather while the kids played with their cousins.  The highlight was watching Porter and Brandon walking around together holding hands.  Then Bryson, Reese, and Porter went off to sleepovers at their friends’ houses while we stayed to enjoy the reception.  Food, dancing, and spending time with Chris’ family ensued and soon it was time to say goodbye again.

The rest of the weekend was spent with Larry and Cheryl, our friends in Franklin Lakes, who generously hosted our circus of five the whole time we were in town.  They watched us come and go six thousand times and were there with big smiles and open arms whenever we landed for a few minutes and got to spend time with them.

SOMEONE has to take them to NYC…(not me!)

The kids enjoyed the loving energy of their log home, which was built with the intention of embracing the exuberant energy of children.  Their favorite was spending the day in New York City with Larry and Cheryl.  They went to the Museum of Natural History and were spoiled rotten by the Grogin’s love for them.

dinner at The Barn

We loved spending time with Larry and Cheryl, whose spiritual and emotional connection to us has changed our lives over the past few years. We rode bikes together, stayed up late talking and listening to music, made food together, and meditated together.  It felt like college all over again but better, because our time was not squandered nor spent in a haze and our conversations were about things that Matter.  Plus, Cheryl makes an amazing peach pie at 0130!  Oh, and did I mention that our acupuncture appointments only involved walking down a flight of steps???

yes, she made pie at 1:30 in the morning. yum!!!

Let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit. –Khalil Gibran

Before we knew it, it was time to drive back to Rhode Island.  We drove “back home” to Patronus with mixed emotions, knowing it would be 10 more months before we returned to Ho-Ho-Kus but excited for the rest of our journey.  These images will sustain us…

more Reese/Kelli photos than you can shake a stick at…

at the playground…

at Matthew’s Diner…

eating breakfast and making friendship bracelets…

one more flower girl picture…

Chris dancing with his sister Kathleen

dancing at the reception

Frank being really mature:)

Chris and his brothers Tom and Frank

I got to borrow Cheryl’s Christian Louboutin’s (a far cry from the flip flops I’ve been wearing for 2 months!)

Reese and Daddy at the wedding

Wickford, Rhode Island

August 21-22, 2012

Whoosh!  Up went the anchor Tuesday morning after I swam another ¼ mile in the lovely, flat water.  It was great to be back in the water after several days of unswimmable harbors, but was still really hard to swim that far.  I also can’t swim a straight line to save my life, which must be hilarious to watch.  But I am so inspired by my friend Lana, who completed a triathlon last week, as well as my high school friend Ben, who became an Ironman this month.  So I am going to keep plugging away until I get back to New Jersey, when I will sneak in some cycling in between wedding festivities and visiting with friends.

Historic Wickford

We got underway, leaving Dutch Harbor for Wickford, RI and by the time I finished cleaning the dishes, taking a shower, and tidying up, Chris was pulling into Wickford Harbor and it was time to do the fuel/water/pumpout routine.  We grabbed our friend Bryson’s mooring and took the dinghy to shore.  Bryson’s mother Muriel lives right on the water, with a dock, a pool, and one of the most amazing harbortown views you could imagine.  We spent the day swimming in the pool, catching up with Muriel, eating lunch in town, and browsing some of the shops in this historic town.  Chris stayed back and pulled up all the floorboards to clean the bilge and attempted to locate the source of the odor coming from the forward head.  Isn’t that lovely?

the bilges are clean as a whistle, but the head smell remains…

Enjoying the colonial architecture of Wickford

In the evening, we went to dinner with Cindy and Bryson.  Bryson proceeded to scare the dickens out of me with his stories of ocean passages gone awry.  Bryson is an experienced sailor and I know his rough trips span a lifetime and were few and far between.  But it got me thinking that night and I wondered if bringing the kids along for some of the longer passages would be difficult and miserable for them, and thus, Chris and me.  Something to think about.

Wickford has amazing sunsets

The next morning, we packed for our trip to New Jersey.  The rental car came at 1600 and we loaded it to the hilt with laundry, clothing, and all of the gear we no longer needed.  We hoped there would be room to bring back all of the “Caribbean Gear” still stored in our house, included the school supplies donated by our amazing friends back in Ho-Ho-Kus (we will be donating these supplies to less fortunate schools down in the Caribbean).

The kids with Muriel, Bryson’s mother

We jumped in the car at 1800 and hoped that we waited long enough to miss the traffic on I-95 through Connecticut.  On the car ride, we talked about what we had missed about home, what we were looking forward to doing, our favorite parts of the first part of our voyage, and, of course, Aunt Carolyn’s upcoming wedding!  The trip was uneventful and we pulled up to our friends’ house at around 2230.

The Armitage clan comes to visit from Newport

more Wickford sunsets

moonbeams leading from Patronus to the sky…

The first part of our trip was officially over.  We had travelled to 27 ports in 52 days.  We had been together as a family almost 100% of the time.  We came to see Patronus as our home.  We met untold numbers of new friends and acquaintances.  We had seen a few storms and we had dealt with a few minor maintenance issues.  We had witnessed the beauty of Nature, the silence of the night, the strength of the sea, the grace of dolphins and whales, and the wonderful, wonderful Wind.  We had emerged different people, after such a short amount of time, and we look forward to what is yet to come.

“Cruising has two pleasures. One is to go out in wider waters from a sheltered place. The other is to go into a sheltered place from wider waters.” -Howard Bloomfield

swinging on the boom in the moonlight

see you soon, Patronus!

Our last family picture before leaving northern New England

August 19-21, 2012

Onset, Massachusetts

We left Boston on Sunday morning, still unsure about our destination.  We wanted to stop in Plymouth, but the information we found on the harbor didn’t make it sound like an easy anchorage.  We hoped the weather predictions were correct and we would get perfect winds from the Northeast to make it through the Cape Cod Canal to Onset, MA.  The predictions were incorrect again, but we motorsailed, determined to get through the canal during the best possible currents.

Eating lunch underway

If you remember reading about our trip through the canal on the way North, it was rough, full of tug boat traffic, and had a heavy current.  Our trip back was like being in a completely different body of water.  The water was flat, we barely saw any boats, and we cruised easily at slack tide/slightly with us.  It was lovely and we enjoyed watching the runners and cyclists along the banks.  But it was also bittersweet.  No.  I’m not a big fan of that word.  It was just plain sad to be leaving the northern New England area.  The Cape Cod Canal felt like a symbolic separation between the familiar Long Island Sound area and everything North, which we had just explored, enjoyed, and will miss.

taking out the garbage is fun on a boat!

We sailed all day long, but it was very pleasant.  We got a mooring in Onset and dinghied in to the town.  We had pizza for dinner and bought some ice cream at a market to bring back to the boat.  Onset seemed like a little beach town that had seen better, quainter days.  The crowd was a little rough, so we didn’t mind that we were leaving first thing in the morning for the long ride to the Newport area. The water was weedy, so I didn’t even get to swim.

we had fun climbing the steep dinghy dock ladder

like mother, like daughter

Right Back Where We Started From

We got to Dutch Harbor, just off of Jamestown, Rhode Island, on August 20^th.  This is the Newport area, our maritime homebase.  We will be leaving the boat in nearby Wickford while we drive home to New Jersey to help celebrate our sister Carolyn’s wedding.  When we return to Rhode Island, we will be staying in the area for a few more weeks and then moving on to Martha’s Vineyard and Block Island in September.

reading books during our long sail from Onset to Dutch Harbor

It was a long ride from Onset, MA, but once we started seeing familiar sights on the shore, we had that feeling of “coming home”, and the last two hours flew by.  Instead of staying in Newport Harbor (at the lovely but very expensive New York Yacht Club), we decided to check out Dutch Harbor, which is popular with cruising boats.  We soon found out why.  While Newport is full of excitement, impressive yachts, shopping, bars, and dramatic tradition, Dutch Harbor was stately, quiet, and serene.  There were many boats, but they were all quietly swinging on their white ball moorings with plenty of room in between.  The land surrounding the harbor was a smooth crescent of trees, dotted with cottages (I am using the Newport definition of “cottage”, which is “Gigantic Mansion”).

Bryson and Chris out in the dinghy at sunset

We didn’t have any need to go on shore, but Bryson and Chris took the dinghy for a ride and noticed that the little town seemed a few blocks away from where you would land.  Back at the boat, Chris and I did a ¼ mile swim and we finished the last of the food in the freezer.  We wanted to keep things simple for when we left the boat for 5 days.

everything’s aglow

After a calm but somewhat overcast day, we were treated to one of those lovely Newport sunsets, where the whole world is lit up in tones of gold and the sky can’t decide which shade of purple is the loveliest.  We slept peacefully, knowing we were only an hour’s sail away from completing the first big leg of our journey.

Reesie-Teesie

Porter climbs the boom for the first time!