It Is Almost Go Time

 It has been a couple of months since I have written in this blog. We have spent the time in Missouri enjoying family and watching the grand children in their activities. We have loved our time with them, but we are excited about what is to come. We have to haul out the boat tomorrow to replace the prop and some other minor maintenance. I will probably do an entry about that in the coming days. 

We have big plans this year. We are planning to leave Demopolis next week and make the trip down the river. We will then sail along the coast over a number of day sails. Then we will cross the Gulf of Mexico to the Tampa area. Then sail on down the coast to the Punta Gorda area, where we will leave the boat for a month while we go to Colorado for Christmas. We plan to get back to the boat mid-January and then head down to Marathon for some time in Boot Key Harbor. When the weather looks good, we will make the move over to the Bahamas for our first visit. Our plan is to stay there a few months. Around June, we will cross back over to the US and then head up the east coast. Our dream is to make it all the way to Maine, but we will just have to see how it goes. If you want to see how far we make it, and hear about all of our trials and tribulations, check back to this blog. 

We had a great time in Missouri. We helped put on a motorcycle event at the ranch and did a bunch of riding. We did go through some health checkups that all turned out fine in the end, so we are good to go for a while. Mostly we went to Ozark to hang out with Shannon and Brian's family. Their 6 kids keep us plenty busy. 

I wanted to include some pictures of our family activities. We are so proud of all of them, but Will and Isabella are doing amazing. Will played both soccer and football in 7th grade. At the same time he has straight A's. 

This is Will's first year of football. He did very well, but he is still petty small. He will grow and with his desire, he could be a great player if that is what he decides to do. His team did finish undefeated. 

This is a shot of our 15 year old Grand daughter Isabella. She is the girl in the middle holding the flute in both hands. The band has done very well in competitions and at the High School Football games. Isabella has straight A's and has been inducted in the National Honor Society. 
 

Here is a shot of Kim with our youngest, Amelia. She just turned 6. They are making a sailboat on the light brite. 

I did not get any shots with the other kids, but they are all doing well. 

One thing we needed to do was to get back to the boat in Alabama without a car. The problem is that the rent car companies are not doing one way rentals right now, so our son Mark and DIL Callie brought us to the boat. Thanks again Mark and Callie! Mark works virtual, so he worked from the boat for the two days they were here. We did get time to take a short run up the river.

Kim, me at the helm, Mark and Callie. 

Mark took a turn at the helm. He looks very serious. I stole these pictures from Callie's FB page. 

That is about it for this entry. I can't wait to have some real content to include in this blog. I will end this entry the way I like to, with a sunset.

Sunset over Kingfisher Bay Marina, Demopolis, Alabama.