Night Rider

Well its been difficult lately to find something to post about.  All day I think of things to tell the world but recently all the mini dramas and stories that come to mind do not have much to do with raising babies on boats.  It's important to me to keep with this theme although recently we haven't had much boat action.

On Tuesday night we went for an evening cruise with Auntie Lizzie.  It was the day after the government changed the ferry to the winter schedule.  Boy does it suck! Not only do I now have to wait until 10:00 until I can leave town in the mornings after my walk (I had gotten to the point where I could make the 9:10 ferry after only arriving at 8:20) but the last ferry to Dockyard leaves Hamilton at 4:15.  Although I am not a regular working commuter... that sucks! Anyone who lives on a boat in Dockyard- or even lives in Dockyard for that matter and has a regular 9-5 in town can not use public transportation to commute.  That is just silly.  There has been quite a bit of adjusting in our little community to this schedule.  Today and yesterday we were the only boaters on the ferry in the morning and there have been many people stranded in town.  On Tuesday night after we dropped Auntie Lizzie back in town to her bike and grabbed a little something to eat from that great grease pit on the wharf there was a lady who was stranded in town.  She had just moved onto her boat last week and was unable to get back to Dockyard.  I suppose like hurricanes a little distress with the new schedule will only bring our little growing community closer together.

Night Rider Strider!

Tonight in an attempt to get Marley sleepy (we have a bit of a hard time putting her to bed, even after a long day at school and then a play in the park with Nana and Auntie Abbie!) we took an evening walk out to the pier.  I used to do this every night when I was pregnant with Marley. That is the nice thing about Dockyard in the winter... just when you get sick of all the tourists the disappear for a few months and the place becomes quiet and peaceful, then when you are about to go mad with the silence they reappear with all their karaoke and silly questions.  On the way back to the boat, we stopped to my poor damaged car (I scratched it bad on Tues afternoon :( of course right after paying for it to be insured and tested for TCD) to leave the pram in it (we still don't have a dock box).  We also grabbed Marley's Strider bike (def something to look into if you have a toddler!) to put back on the boat.  She decided she was up for a little night ride to the dock.  She was hilarious with her little pink helmet balancing her way along the road and then down the rap to the dock shouting "RIDER coming through... RIDER!!!" LOL we gave her the nickname 'Night Rider" for the night and then off to bed. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my1TAI3rulo

Settling in

Its been almost 3 months since our little family moved fully onto Blew Horizon. As with any house it takes some time to settle in but even more so on a boat.  There has to be a place for everything as there is no extra space to leave piles of things you will get to later.  Finally our shelves for our bedroom came in so the piles of clothes without a place have now been arranged accordingly.  (and then rearranged and i'll probably rearrange them one more time!)  Things are finding their places. :)
Here is a list of some of the kinks that still need to be worked out storage wise;
1) the right size dock box.  Because we have two prams (one that is the car seat combo- great for just Jacob and I running errands or going for a stroll) and then the jogger stroller which is essential to our morning walk as it double as a skateboard for Marley depending on her mood) there is no standard size dock box that fits the strollers.  We are thinking we will probably need 2 dock boxes, one for the prams and the other for all the other miscellaneous things that are currently scattered along the dock next to our berth much to the marina managers disapproval!
2) a strong container to hold 1- 2 loads worth of laundry detergent... the tupperware ones I have tried can't withstand the laundry routine.
3) a crate that fits in the cupboard to hold the plates as they can't fit lying flat.
4) The right size baskets for Marley's clothes under her bunk.
and here is a list of the things that I have creatively found a place for and am very proud of!
1) Jacob's area- to be fair a had a little more insight from when we were on Alibi with Marley
2) use of the clothes closet space as well as storage for Mark's work clothes
3) box seats that double for dvd storage