Backtracking

Time for a little history.
Bermuda Sloop Foundation Home Page
also check them out on facebook for a more up to date look at their porgrams and even voyages coming up; Spirit of Bermuda facebook page


Adam and I in Maine



Arrival of Spirit 2006



We first became involved with the Bermuda Sloop Foundation in 2005 when they had a meeting for people interested in the construction of a Tall Ship for Bermuda. Mark and I both attended and although we were the youngest people there with the least amount of money our hearts were connected to it from the begining.  The Spirit of Bermuda is a an 86ft cedar fitted schooner with carbon fibre masts.  Historically she is a replical of traditional sailing vesseles built in Bermuda.  This purpose built sail training vessle has full classroom amentities including a projector, whiteboard, electronic capabilities like laptops, dvd etc. and is the most beautiful charter vessle anywhere near our waters. In 2006 I had the opportunity to go to Maine just after the launching of Spirit to assist with the development of the school curriculum for voyages.  Unfortunatly the maiden voyage was delayed and I had to return for my second year of teaching middle school.  Mark was able to fly to Maine where he met Adam who had been there since the launch and finished final preparations for sail and then sailed home to Bermuda together.  It was such an amazing expereince seeing Spirit coming in.  I remember driving along South Shore the afternoon the arrived in Bermuda waters and calling school for them to announce over the intercom she had arrived.  It still gives me chills because all I could think of was how that was what Bermuda's coast would have looked like 400 years ago.  A truly amazing expereince!!!



First middle school trip



At Risk Voyage 2007

 The next day I had arranged for my school to take a charter boat out to be part of the official arrival of The Spirit of Bermuda with the entire flotilla.  It was a charter never to forget, the kids all made signs and our choir even took part in the welcoming presentation at Albouys Point.  A short month later my middle school boys were the first middle school voyage to ever sail on Spirit.  Another unforgettable voyage.  Adam was my watch leader then and then again on following voyages.  One of the voyages I will never forget is the "at risk voyage" I helped organize the summer of 2007.  We asked for the most 'challenged/ behavioral problems' at each of the 5 middle schools on the island and took them out for 5 days the summer before they would all end up at one of the two only public high schools in Bermuda.  It was one of the longest and roughest voyages I have ever been on.  I cried every day o f that voyage, I know Adam felt the same struggle too but there was no one else better to lead those kids even though he was only a few years older than them.  All my years of teacher training could not compare to the way he was able to relate and get through to the kids.  When I wanted to beat my head against a wall or thrown one of them onto the deck he would be calmly teaching them knots or explaining flags.  In 2007 I also sailed on Europa on a 2 week voyage from France to Portugal in the Tall Ships race.  It made sail training stick with me and made me even more excited about Spirit. Then in 2008 I spoke at the STA Tall Ships conference in Liverpool on behalf of the Bermuda Sloop Foundation on linking sailing to the school curriculum.  It was a great networking expereince that solidifed my work with the ship.
It was only fitting that Adam be burried at sea by way of the Spirit.  That was not unlike the arrival of her 4 years prior.  After his death Mark and I and his family along with the Sloop Foundation (the foundation that is the charity that runs the Spirit) organized a scholarship in Adam's name.  Mark works on the Spirit as engineer on charter voyages when he can and is overall still very invested in the program.  He finds kids and sometimes apprentices to take part in the overseas voyages and everyone he has recommended has really benifited from the program. 



Adam's funeral flotilla

 This is why this last week was so important to me.  This is why I will continue to sail on my middle school voyages even when it is a double edged sorwd because missing my kids aches but sailing with the future fills my ache for all the children. 

Weekends on a boat

First of all highlights from the week!
Most recent- for the last two nights Jacob has slept through the night!!! Please Please let this stick.... going to bed at 10pm and waking up at 6:00am with no feeding interruptions in between is all I want for Christmas! :)
Secondly, Marley was a STAR in her Christmas Concert.  She truly stole the show and had us all cracking up. Videos to be posted to facebook soon.
Finally, Mark and I had a successful date night for the first time in probably over a year and a half.  Our last one was the summer before last on our anniversary.

We live in paradise!

This weekend (Sunday night) I realised I had not driven my car since Wed! Thursday night Grammy and Popop picked up Marley and brought her home and on Friday Jacob and I took the ferry into town to Marley's concert where we met daddy on the Scout (the work boat), on Saturday oh no wait.... Saturday we drove the car to pick up our Christmas tree (the last Cedar Tree for sale on the island and def the runt of the litter). Either way, the point is we finally spent some time actually behaving like we lived on a boat!  On Friday we had the tender in town for Marley's concert and the weather couldn't have cooperated  more for a beautiful moonlight cruise home after a celebratory dinner with the family.
On Saturday after our decorating errands Mark and I had our first date night where we took the tender into Flatts for a wonderful dinner and then home again.  Although we should really have 1) taken part in the boat parade or 2) at least gone to see the boat parade by boat; we had decided on this weekend weeks ago and were determined to spend some time just the two of us.  It just happened that it was the biggest boating weekend of the winter as it was the Bermuda boat parade and that it was a perfect weather weekend.  Really we should have taken Blew Horizon out and anchored off somewhere with the kids but i'm glad we finally took time for us, it was well over due.  Don't worry my steady followers, all jokes aside, we are not expecting anymore for a while.  Having an almost 3 yr old and a baby on a boat is plenty for now!
Yesterday we also decided to take the boat in to visit with Nana and Pa before a beautiful tribute to Adam and others who have died.  There is a World Wide Candle Lighting that takes place for children who have died and will never be forgotten.  Friends of Mark's family who also lost a son the month before Adam invited us round along with another family who recently lost a son to take part in this event.  If there are any readers following this who have lost or know someone who has lost a child it is a beautiful ceremony and worth reading about if you don't know about it already. 
The ride back along north shore home was a little different than the calm weekend cruises we had experienced.  The wind had picked up a bit and the wind direction was not in our favour for a smooth ride home.  With a worn out toddler on one knee and a zonked baby on the other I clutched them for dear life while holding my food against the cabin door to keep it from slamming back and forth.  Mark at the helm, kept glancing over and asking if I was ok, all I could do was grind my teeth and smile and give him the one thumb up, after all this is what its all about; riding the seas both rough and calm because as a very famous person once said; "You can never cross the sea, unless you have the courage to loose sight of the shore".

Weeks flying by

Can't believe it almost been a week since my last post.  I guess its that time of year and WE ARE EXPECTING AGAIN!!!!
Yes thats right...
Christmas will be here again. LOL, sorry wish I could claim that for my own but saw that joke on someone's facebook a while back and it cracked me up. :) Nothing like a little holiday cheer!
This weekend we attempted to get ready for Christmas.  We didn't get all that far.  Thats one thing about living on a boat.  You end up putting seasonal things like winter clothes and Christmas decorations in different places of storage and trying to remember where all those places are can be quite a challenge!
Luckily we found the Christmas decorations but left them at nana's because they didn't fit with all of us in the car.  We also went to buy a Cedar Tree which is our version of a Christmas tree for the boat.  However they were all out.  Finally we started talking about how we were going to decorate the boat for the Dockyard Lights Competition but didn't buy any lights or anything.  A good friend recommended a solution to the lost goods issue... to send yourself an e-card dated the first week of Dec. and writing a personal message inside telling you where you have stored your Christmas decorations.  Pure Genius! Hopefully I can remember that idea by the end of this Christmas! I anticipate this week will be full of holiday festivities and the usual stress of trying to decorate and wrap before the time hits.
Last week I spent most of the week driving.  I have always heard people say thats how you feel when you have kids but I really did! Luckily Marley did not get sick this week in the car... we have new car ride rules for the morning... windows down, NO reading, and lots of singing! The tire went flat on the jogger stroller on Thursday and even when we have tried to reinflate it, it will not hold air.  There were also alot of airport runs.... Grammy and PopPop arrived back from VA on Wed. and Auntie Abbie arrived back from her trip to Brazil on Thurs.  My car also got fixed by Tuesday which is great :)  This week I have decided to buy a new jogger if I can find one reasonable on e-moo but for tomorrow I am going to try and do the morning commute with the other pram!  This week is also Marley's Christmas concert which I can't wait to see because we have been hearing about it for almost a month now.  I'm sure I know the whole routine already but i'm still so excited to see it!