Bonthorn: Living My Version of Life: We're Slowly Getting There....

After breakfast everyone got onto their tasks.

Journals and schoolwork for kids and boat jobs for the adults.

However in reality, one parent really needs to be 'on' during homeschool to answer questions and to simply guide and teach.

We realize our kids, although can very well DO the work, get distracted easily by each other and will often take much longer than necessary to complete one simple question.

At one point I had to send Tai to his cabin to finish his math work which was already taking over an hour to complete!

Usually when one is really focused and on target, the other one is in a completely disastrous mood, complaining that everything is 'too hard' or moaning that their brother/sister is already so far ahead and almost finished their work. Well, if you weren't so busy complaining or getting distracted.....

This mood alternates between them day to day and there is no pattern. Luckily, so far, they are not moaning and groaning at the same time.

I'm not trying to complain myself here... But just wanted to paint the reality of what really happens on a daily basis.

However, all seems to be forgotten when the work is done.

We send them outside to play and suddenly they become the best of friends and go off on their own marina adventures.

Today I gave them a tennis ball and reminded them of the boundaries. Then off they went.

Periodically we would see them running and hear them screaming with delight as they chased the dogs.

Later on I could see they had gathered some pieces of wood and were hatching a plan of some sort.

While they were occupied, I managed to get some stuff organized and shifted around in our storage lockers.

Once we are launched it is important all things are stowed away properly. It may be a much smaller living space than we're used to but everything has a proper home for it on the boat.

So far I have not felt claustrophobic living in such close quarters with one another.

In fact, I love that we are within a few feet of one another and that we live with much less.

We are better at reading each other's moods since we are together for most of the day too.

I know when Matt needs a bit of a break and should probably break for some food.

Matt knows if my tolerance is being stretched a bit with a stubborn child and will takeover whatever it is I'm trying to achieve with said child.

I do feel a bit bad that the kids haven't played with other kids for over a week. Too bad there aren't any here at the marina! At least they have each other I suppose.

Late this afternoon, I took them out just to get out and for a change of scenery.

We went to the Gold Bean Cafe for a bite to eat that was recommended to us. For a $5.99 kids meal, they ate like royalty!

Then we went to a park that is on the way to Mahone Bay. Fantastic play structures and with a great view.

Matt tackled a job today that wasn't even on the job list: rewiring the VHF cable through the mast.

It was also finally a good enough dry day to seal the chainplate holes. Matt reamed it out with an Allen key in the drill, then cleaned it up and beveled it with a fake Dremel and wire brush attachment.

Although he ruined a good IKEA butter knife by smearing the putty all around the inside of the holes, the job got done. A little bit of improv was necessary as he couldn't get to the bottom of the holes without removing loads of ceiling and cabinetry.

In the end, a mini pool noodle from the craft section of the dollar store was just the right size to push down the hole below the level Matt wanted to fill. It made a good plug to catch errant putty. He just had to wait till the curing was Goldilocks warm so he could take them out before the stuff turns to steel.

We also measured and ordered a cutter blade to install on our prop shaft. This is just in case we snag a fishing line or wire and need it untangled or just simply cut off.

This cutter blade will cut the line off the prop as it rotates through the water.

Many people have horror stories of fouling their propeller in lobster pot territory (Cape Cod, Maine) and had to be towed in by the coastguard. The expense of getting towed is astronomical and basically if you don't pay up, you won't get your boat back.

But perhaps even worse, some people who had their prop fouled by a fishing line had it so badly entangled that it pulled their shaft right out and seized the rudder. Then you're dealing with a whole other set of issues like a hole in the boat and no steerage!

Another good day today. A few more boat jobs done, and we all managed to shower this evening too!

Tomorrow the Tern Boatworks team will hopefully get to our bulkheads and start to take it out for replacing.

We're slowly getting there....