Sailing Trip Log

The Sanctuary
June 16th – 19th 2008
Apostle Islands Lake Superior

June 16th
Arrival into Bayfield was pleasant with sunny skies and beautiful weather. Some of us toured the shops in Bayfield while awaiting approval to check into the Sanctuary. We were finally allowed onto the 49’ beauty at about 5:30 where we completed the inventory checklist and familiarized ourselves with our little home on the lake. I want to note that this trip was Sanctuary’s and our 1st time sailing.
We had dinner and drinks at a cute little restaurant called Maggie’s. The restaurants décor was quite unique. The outside was one of the brightest pinks I have ever seen and the inside was full of flamingos in every shape, size and form. We returned to the Sanctuary at nine or so and sat around chatting while waiting for the last couple to arrive. They had a late start to their trip and finally arrived just after eleven. We visited for a short time then went to bed.
June 17th (Mostly sunny with good winds to sail)
7:00a.m. we woke up to get ready to depart. The goal was to depart at about 9:30 however, there were a few kinks to be worked out first. We realized when we were loading the boat that the refrigerator was not cooling and the captain’s room bathroom was not working properly.
10:30a.m. was departure from Port Superior Harbor. Captain Jim of Port Superior marina took us out of the pier, checked the sails, took pictures and left us to sail. Five minutes into our trip Captain Phil announced it was “Miller Time”. I thought that was the first sign to a good trip.
11:00a.m. Captain Phil & Todd started to teach Joe the basics of sailing. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna be hooked.
12:00p.m. The winds got heavy for a short period and Ae-nan was thrown from her seat. She decided to stay there for a while.
1:30p.m. we arrived at Raspberry Island. We set the anchor and took the dingy to the island where we took a ½ mile hike to the Raspberry Island lighthouse. Tim Williamson gave us a wonderful tour of the head lighthouse keeper’s home and the tower.
After returning to the boat Todd & Phil decided to show everyone up and jump into to the frigid Superior waters. I am pretty sure Phil regretted that move as soon as he hit the water.
We had a 5 star dinner thanks to Chef Phil and Ae-nan. They made a spicy kielbasa ravioli soup for an appetizer and bulgogi with rice as the main course. WOW! We also had mojitos then went around the tip of Raspberry Island to watch the sun set. We couldn’t have asked for better weather today and the sun set was absolutely stunning.
Phil twisted our arms into watching “Waking Ned Devine” and we went to bed. I do have to note that I really liked the movie and am glad I watched it. (Thank you Phil)

June 18th Sunny skis with brief breezes
9:30a.m. we departed from Raspberry Island.
10:30a.m. We decided at this point that it would be best to use the motor or we were guaranteed to get to the next destination by 2020.
Noonish we arrived at the west side Devils Island where we monkeyed around on the dingy viewing it’s stunning caves. It was surrealistic to see nature at its best.
1:30p.m. At this point the bugs caught up with us and made it almost impossible to talk to anyone. I think some of the crew ate their fair share. It’s protein right?
2:00p.m. we left Devils Island by motor
3:00p.m. We are sailing once again however, the crew did several tacks to get any sort of wind. We did make it up to 4knots for a while.
7:05p.m. Most of the crew is pretty liquored up. We had lots of fun conversation including the teaching of “You can do it put your ass into it” by Ice Cube to Ae-nan. Thanks to Jeff for bringing his very diverse I-pod we had one heck of a laugh. After our conversation about just about everything imaginable we had Sam’s Club chicken wings of which Ae-nan decided to make her way even though it wasn’t her turn to cook. On this trip everyone learned that Ae-nan is the “Queen” of the kitchen and no matter what you thought you were doing in it she is in control.
8:25p.m. We have arrived at Stockton Island. We throw down the anchor and enjoy the evening.
Sometime later we notice that we have lost Jeff to the Rum & Cokes and he decides to sing to the crew. Chewbacca must be very influential in his life. The crew did their part in making sure Jeff didn’t fall overboard and called it a night.
June 19th Sunny skies with no wind
8:00a.m. we woke to eat breakfast and head out on the dingy looking for the shipwreck in Julian Bay off Stockton Island. The wreck was an old schooner named “Noquebay”. (No Jeff though)
Sometime later we leave Julian Bay heading towards the marina. Captain Phil & Todd decide to try doing a wing-on-wing maneuver to get some wind and failed since there was just no wind. Well I guess they didn’t completely fail – we would have made it back in approximately 28 hours.
12:30p.m. At this point Phil taught me all about the GPS since she was too afraid to do the whole sailing thing. (Brief appearance by Jeff)
2:15 We have arrived at LaPort on Madeline Island. We were going to go tour the island however, we ho-hummed around to long to go so we headed back to the marina.
3:30p.m. Jeff has decided to try to join us today but feels pretty rough.
4:00p.m. we are back on dry land at the Port Superior marina. We did a bug scrub down of The Sanctuary and said our “goodbyes”.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” –Mark Twain

As you can see it was a wonderful vacation away from our kids. I will post more pictures when I get them.

It's official - Our kids are getting older which only means Joe and I are doing the same. Hannah turned 8 last Wednesday and just loved her new room. We let her see it a day early because that is how we do most holidays around here. She loves it! I might love it more then her but, that's because I know how much work went into completing it. We stimulated the economy by getting her new dressers and a nightstand because her new room doesn't have a closet. Which is fine at this age because all their cloths are so little. In a couple years we will rethink the furniture situation. We also have some shelves that will go up behind her bed for all her little collectibles and such. Joe has officially wiped his hands clean of this project and is off to his garage again.

-BEFORE-

- AFTER-

(It's hard to get a good after picture with her room now having a door)

Then on Friday I did what any other loving parent would do...I let Hannah invite all her little friends over for her birthday celebration. There were 14 girls total with 7 spending the night. OH MY GOSH! Everything went wonderful except for the sleeping part. I last checked on them at 12:30 and only 2 of 8 were asleep. I thought a movie would knock them all out after playing outside all afternoon but, of course I was miserably wrong. They just don't stop! By the time I got to sleep Owen decided to wake up for his once nightly feeding then I dozed off again only to hear the girls playing "don't let the balloon touch the ground". This was at 7:00 A.M.! I knew they could be early risers but, I assumed that would only be if they went to sleep early. HA! Oh well they all had fun and Hannah said she had a great birthday and that's all that matters to me.

Owen eating cereal

I know 2 posts in one day seems to be a bit much right. I just wanted to share with everyone that Owen tried cereal for the 1st time today. He is still a few weeks shy of 4 months old but he always seems to be hungry. Well lets just say he's not impressed with the stuff. Did I actually think he was going to just gobble it all up and ask for more?

Memorial Weekend

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial weekend. We sure did and it was really nice to have a 3 day weekend. On Friday Joe and I went out with a group of new friends and it was wonderful. We went to a little place called Psycho Suzie's in Minneapolis somewhere. I must say their pizza was well worth the jaunt out there. We had a nice time being adults for a while. Funny enough though we had an 8:00 curfew. (Babysitter couldn't stay all night but, I think we could have.)

Then on Saturday Morning we went up to Brainard to celebrate my parents 25th wedding anniversary. It was supposed to be a surprise party but when there are more then a few people involved things just don't stay that way. Oh well it was still wonderful and my parents had a great time. We got in some 4-wheeling too and the kids actually used theirs almost the whole day. They are really brave and a little too daring sometimes but by the end of the summer they should both be pros. Hannah wanted to spend the whole day at the gravel pit by my parents house. I guess if I was 7 I would have wanted to too. It sure beats going around in a circle all day at grandma and grandpas.

Aside from a little hail damage to the back of the house it couldn't have been a better weekend.

Were children created to embarrass thier parents?

So today I had to run to Chanhassen to pick up stain for our house. Yes all the way to Chanhassen. We got their at about 12:30 or so and it was a little past Avril's nap time. When Avril gets tired she is quite the bear. Well instead of yelling at her in the quiet little office and showroom I just let her do her own thing. When I finally decided to get her she was messing around a display of different railings. Well I went to pick her up so we could go and she grabbed one of the railings and sent them all tumbling in a domino effect! All I could do was stair as they slowing toppled over one by one (about 8 in all). The noise was horrific! Thankfully we didn't leave in handcuffs and I surely didn't know what to do. Well a very nice man helped me put them all back up while Avril sat there with her hands over her ears. So next time your kids embarrass you just think of this little story and I think you will see that it could be worse a lot worse.

On Wednesday Isaac and me went to the Como Zoo for his preschool field trip. If you weren't planning on going to Como this year I would like to help you change your mind. First off its FREE (donations only) and secondly they have a new baby orangutan. He or she is so cute! We had a great time. It's not very often now that our kids get us alone anymore so that makes it more special.

Then on Thursday Isaac had his 1st ever baseball game. I only got to see him bat once which made me sad but, I had to go to Girl Scouts. He had a big cheering section thanks to Uncle Matt, Auntie Barb and grandma & grandpa being there. In minors baseball they don't keep score, there are no outs and everyone gets to bat before its the next teams turn. They learn the fundamentals and just plain ol' have fun.

We also brought Isaac to the Albertville Primary this week for a kindergarten open house. Surprisingly he's not afraid to go to kindergarten next year. I hope it stays that way thoughout the summer.

Weekend update

I finally feel like we are getting somewhere on the garage addition. This weekend we worked on the huge dirt pile that the diggers had in the back. It's down to almost nothing. Joe also got all the sheet rock hung last week and a large majority of the initial taping done. WOW! Owen was quite the little crab all weekend so these jobs were very difficult. But, the sooner Joe gets the garage done the sooner we can start Hannah's new room. For those of you who don't know...we are turning our silly little sitting room into a bedroom for her. Its going to be a little surprise for her. She knows she is moving however, on the weekend before her b-day she is going to have a sleepover at one of our families houses then she will come home to a completely finished new room. She's getting a some new furniture, bedding, different colored walls, and hopefully some shelves for all her nick-knacks. I am so excited about the whole thing. And this will get Owen into his own room. YEA! Well that's it for updates. Feel free to come over all of you to lend a hand anytime. We only have a million other things to wrap up this summer. :) I will post a before and after photo of her room soon.