August 2011 San Juans

After leaving Seattle, we made our way to Port Ludlow where we hooked up with our friends on Ghost. The next morning after a scrumptious breakfast on Ghost, it was time to pack it up and say our goodbyes. We gave one last hug to our awesome friends and headed across the Straights of Juan De Fuca. Annie threw out a message in a bottle while underway (a yearly tradition). When we reached Hein Bank we were graced with the incredible presence of numerous Orcas. They surprised us by swimming right past our boat. What a treat!




Our goal was to arrive in Roche Harbor by 8pm on Saturday to catch the last performance of the summer by Island Stage Left. This year's "Shakespeare Under the Stars" play was "The Winter Tale". The acting was phenomenal, as usual. We came with our blanket, drinks, snacks, and of course, Salty. We love the casual feeling of it all. At one point one of the actor's surprised Salty and he jumped back, spilling wine all over us. It was pretty funny.

We enjoyed the rest of our stay in Roche Harbor relaxing, playing bocce ball, and exploring the sculpture garden.

I thought everyone might enjoy an updated picture of the girls. They are growing so fast!






We left Roche Harbor under cloudy, rainy skies and made our way to Prevost Harbor, Stuart Island.
Luckily the weather improved and we had a wonderful stay at one of our favorite islands.
Bob and I have been enjoying early evening dinghy rides. We are loving our "new to us" outboard. Dinghy exploring has been the best!


No trip to Stuart Island is complete without a hike to the school house (usually we hike all the way to the light house-but we were feeling lazy this time). While at the school, Salty practiced playing basketball. His jump shot sucks.



After Stuart Island, we progressed to Sucia Island.
The sunset was fantastic! Bob was able to enjoy it after diving on the boat to clean the prop and hull.


On this trip, the girls have become expert dinghy operators. If we could just slow them down! Just joking. They are very responsible, compared to some people I know (Bob).

And So It Begins

We "cut the lines" and departed Olympia on Saturday, August 13. We are on our way!



Our first major stop has been Shilshole Marina (Seattle). Bob is off flying his last trip before his vacation and the Pearl Girls and Salty are having a great time with our awesome friends from Ghost. The kids have been playing non-stop!

We will be departing Seattle on Friday, August 19 and working our way up to the San Juan Islands.

2010 October- June 2011

Okay, we’ve been a little lax on updating our blog. Sorry about that. Before I clue you all in to our present “happenings”, let’s back up and have a quick review of the past year…


Christmas 2010-


Here we are at the Space Needle in Seattle. The kids had been begging us for years to go and so we finally gave in.


Nothing like a dinghy ride in the middle of winter!


Ahhhhhh. Mexico-
5 funfilled days with our wonderful friends (Tami, Gene-in spirit, Christian, Abby, and Toby) in beautiful Puerta Vallarta!



Sydney turned 12 on February 9! Woohooo! One more year until the teens. Yikes!





Annie turned 9 on March 8. Good grief they grow fast!




In January we discovered our fuel tanks were leaking (barely, but we knew it was something that had to be dealt with or it could become catastrophic in the future). Our tanks run the width of our boat right under the companion way and galley. Imagine a coffin-that's how big they are-2- 150 gallon black iron tanks (read...very very very very very heavy). Well, Bob being the stud that he is, was able to tear out our galley and rig a pulley system with our boom and halyards and lift those big girls right out of there. Okay, it wasn't quite that simple. After much cursing, torn up teak, and bruises, the tanks were out.

This is our galley. The girls had to crawl through it to get to their rooms.


Taking the 2nd tank out of the boat.



Our pretty new diesel fuel tank. Isn't it beautiful!




After the interruption of the fuel tank issue, it was back to cruising!
Sydney brought her friend, Emily, with us on our cruise to McMicken Island (the girls came up with a pet name of Chick Chicken Island on this cruise- I'm afraid this may stick)



In May we switched out sailing dinghies. We became the new owners of an awesome nesting/sailing dinghy. So much fun!



We went on our yearly cruise to Penrose Pt. for Memorial Day weekend and had a blast with friends. We even had our friends/cousins on Pondo May(our previous vessel) rafted next to us.




The sun finally came out for a few hours in June so Annie decided to do her schoolwork outside.





Shari's mom turned 80! And she's still working like a dog (and loving it). We all flew to Oahu for her 80th bday party. We started to think we were cursed...It poured rain, thundered, and lightning cracked for 2.5 of the days we were there. What in the world?! Luckily it let up and we ended our visit on a beautiful, sunny note.
The Brooks/Murison clan



No visit is complete without a trip to Matsumoto's in Haleiwa. MMMMMMM!






So Sydney had her first dance in June. It was a costume party and she dressed up as Aphrodite. Isn't she beautiful!