After extending our stay at the hotel about four nights we moved onto the boat. Before we could sleep aboard we moved the boat from the boatyard and then sailed to the Harborage Marina. Marina’s here only accept daily or monthly bookings, and after 7 days it is cheaper to pay the monthly. We really want to head south, but are realistic that we have too much to do to get out of here in less than 7 days. Oh well, now we have lots of time to get ready without any calendar stress about staying here too long.

Since then, the days have continued in a blur of organizing, cleaning, packing, unpacking, repacking lockers until we get it just right. All the while we have been trying to keep the boys involved at best or out of our hair at worst. Kids don’t change right away when you leave home; the “witching hour” still occurs every day at between 4 and 6 when the boys are hyper, near intolerable to us, each other and themselves.

They generally are crawling all over each other, fighting and getting hurt. This is the hardest time of the day for Leah and I. I recall having this same issue on Oscar this summer but that doesn’t make it easier now. Though I think it started to pass as the days went on. Also Ethan doesn’t nap anymore except by accident in the car.

To make matters more trying the weather here has been unseasonably cool with the temperature at night getting to about 5C and the day time hitting between 10 and 15C so using the pool is out. After three days cooped up in the boat we headed out to the Tampa Children’s Museum which was pretty good. The kids loved it. James worked at the mock grocery store for an hour, scanning peoples “purchases” and then re-stocking the shelves. Matty and Ethan drove the mock fire truck for a while then played pizza maker.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKIlpY5g5rg[/youtube]

One of the best things around is this bridge over salt creek.  We set the cruise and hit every chance we get because it makes your stomach rise.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8494Qh5BuNY[/youtube]

Right before we left it was witching hour and the boys finished the visit off with a dance party.

Of course on the way home we were stuck in traffic for an hour before we got home. The boys did pretty good but we had just switched vehicles from a van to an small SUV. We don’t have a third row anymore so everyone is cramped in the back. Ethan says “I don’t like this truck, I like the van.” This probably sums up everyone’s thoughts about the switch. It would be a great vehicle for two kids or a couple with no kids.

One surprising thing has been how comfortable Leah and I’s bed is. We bought a foam mattress from Ikea to put on top of the 3” foam Beneteau mattresses which are functional but not awesome. When we laid out the mattress on the bed at the hotel, we were both scared that no one was going to get any sleep, but so far it has been pretty good. My one complaint is that the extra 3” we added to the mattress now has me sleeping very close to the shelf on the side of the bed and I have hit my head or shoulder on it a few times sitting up when I am sleeping under it. One bonus is that the 3” of extra mattress also translated into 3-5” of extra mattress width as the boat gets wider the higher in the boat you are.

We also don’t sleep parallel anymore, Leah sleeps in line with boat but I sleep diagonally so that our heads are further apart than our feet. This gets me some extra roll over room and extra bed length too. I’ve read that a lot of people will sleep in separate quarters if they have the boat to themselves. Not really my cup of tea, personally. I like Leah’s snoring too much 😉

We should be able to post a tour video of the boat soon to show you all our new home.