Bonthorn: Living My Version of Life: Forever Learning

The kids were up at 6:20am today. What?! This was way too early.

Since we've been here they have been waking at a respectable 7:30am, so this 6:20am alarm was not what I expected (or wanted for that matter!)

We sent them back to their bunks to go and read. I must've fallen back asleep because a couple hours later they came back into our cabin to show off the long leash for their new puppy stuffy.

They each have a few pieces of string and sometimes they'll take out the Rope & Knot book to learn a few more.

This morning they had fabricated a great long leash using a sheet bend, a knot neither Matt or I knew. As you can imagine, they were extremely proud to know something that we didn't!

For us, it was just great that they were playing nicely together for hours and learning how to tie knots.

I started my morning with coffee on deck and a few good yoga stretches.

After breakfast, the kids did their journals and some schoolwork with Matt. I went with another liveaboard here at the marina to Chester for groceries. Him and his wife, both Swedish, still have their rental car so I had asked to tag along the next time they were making a trip into town.

Fresh croissants, milk, cheese and some treats for the upcoming long weekend.... We were definitely running low on fresh produce so it was good timing.

When I returned, we all played the boardgame PAYDAY and then started our mind-map of boat jobs. Tai especially took this seriously and then wanted to type it all up.

In the afternoon we all did various boat jobs together.

Aila helped fill the rest of the water tank.

Tai helped get some gasoline in Jerry cans for our outboard motor.

Both kids helped to pump up the dinghy and hoist it on the davits (arches on the back of the boat to carry the dinghy when not in use.)

In the afternoon Tai helped Matt and John rig up a new system for our outboard motor. We have a 9.9 HP motor for our 10-foot dinghy and it (motor) is stored on our pushpit (back rail, the curved part).

We have a pulley to hoist and lower the motor to the dinghy each time. It sits in on a piece of wood screwed onto the pushpit.

But where the wood was before, it didn't allow for the motor to sit properly because of the throttle handle. So the piece of wood had to be moved a few inches to give it more space.

John with his incredible know-how and positive attitude just did it right then and there. This man has been such a blessing to us from the very beginning!

His boat is launched and he has it moored in Chester on his mooring buoy so he has no reason to come back to Gold River Marina, but he does because he wants to check in with us and make sure we're doing ok. He'll call us on the days that he can't come in person just to chat and see how our jobs are going. He not only knows a lot and will impart this knowledge and share his tools with us, he CARES. Cares an awful lot.

We also started the engine again and it purred to life on the first try. No spluttering, no choking, no praying. Success!

Time to break out the condensed milk! For those who don't know me, I LOVE condensed milk on bread. I was saving the only can I brought with us for a time like this. There's nothing like a little sweetness to make the success even sweeter.

This evening we had our first guests on board for drinks, Robin and Jackie. They are the couple we met the first night Matt and I arrived at the marina with our car and U-Haul truck. It was freezing that night and they lent us their hot water bottles and invited us onto their boat to warm up.

They will be moving on soon, headed towards Newfoundland and beyond. I will always remember them as our first cruising friends.

We celebrated with Robin and Jackie by popping the top off the bottle of a Settlers Cider we had brought with us from Ottawa.

Matt's cousin, Sara, and her husband, Gary, in Prince Edward County in Ontario, started this cidery several years ago and have started selling in their tasting room recently.

This evening we also met the people who have their boat next to us at the dock. I heard voices coming from next door, and a young boy's voice too! Whoa, another child!

Sam was 11 years old and he was there with his dad and his Grandpa getting their boat ready for another summer sailing season.

We invited them inside to have a look around, and they had us over to their boat too. It is always so interesting to see the inside of other people's boats. You can learn a lot.

Lovely to meet more nice people, especially a young child.

It's been nearly one month here and we haven't seen any other children except for our own!

Today was a great day. We deliberately slowed down and carved time in to play and work together.

As a result, everyone was very happy, there was no whining or tantrums, plus we did manage to get some jobs done afterall.

Morning coffee view.

Typical scene every morning: journal writing and cereal eating.

Kids were in a fantastic mood this morning.

Morning shop in Chester.

There's our outboard motor on the wooden frame on the dock. It needs to be
hoisted on to the dark wooden plan sitting on the pushpit. It is currently
too close to the pole and would not sit there due to the outboard handle's
position. In the end, the wooden board was moved a few inches.