Winter Boating

Its that time of year again where you feel like you are in a damp, dark cave. If we are going to take on the winter solstice we're going to do it aquatic style, but first our boat needed one key modification for battle. Brandon confidently drilled a large hole in the side of the boat and installed a cheap Chinese diesel heater followed by an expensive CO detector.  After that we were ready to give winter boat camping with a toddler hell. Bring it on 14 hours of total darkness and nonstop rain.

Brandon Drilling a big hole "does here look good?" 

Annabelle loves boat camping so much she can't wait until the morning to start the party. Around 4 am you can hear the pitter patter of her breaking free of her boat nest, a bunch of baby jargon, some "bahs"  a few "dooggie",  sometimes even the declaration of "poop". Then follows the crunching of wrappers and cheerios as she blasts through the provisions conveniently stationed on the other side of her duffle bag barrier.  You can hear the crashing of various things as she clambers around and regains her sea legs. She moves onto where daddy sleeps and surprisingly discovers he's still there, in the same place!  After shrieking  "DADDY"  and  giggling hysterically because he's so great,  Brandon gets to join the party. Annabelle makes it until 7:00 and then takes nap #1. 

Above: A peaceful creature lying in wait

So far we've gone to Cypress and James Island. We must tell a good story because our friends Jenna and Brennan were deluded into the romantic idea of winter boat camping with small humans. They joined us and thus we added a second toddler, Pete to the mix. 

The old girl sailing into the horizon which is only actually 100 feet away. 

We took Brennan's boat to Johns Island. The seas were calm and there was even a little bit of blue in the sky, reminding you the sun still exists. It was almost too nice, especially for Annabelle and Pete who decided to celebrate a beautiful day in the nontraditional way of screaming. As Brennan drove, the rest of the parents took turns "jumping on the baby gernade" trying to console the inconsolable. Maybe the lack of sun convinced them they had turned into baby vampires and they were scared of sun induced spontaneous combustion? Maybe their diapers were on too tight? We'll never know, but I applaud their commitment and dedication to their unhappy duet. In the end, we all survived, had a good time scoping out Johns Island and even got one picture of everyone happy. 

a moment of happiness