Day 330, Year 8: New Dinghy Launched
Date: Sunday, September 29, 2013
Weather: Sunny Day with Daytime Temp in the High 60’s F
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
If you read this log every day, you are probably saying, “Okay, okay, enough about this new dinghy.” But I must make one more report. The paint we put on yesterday dried just fine and it was ready to launch today. The short version of the story is that Sam and Jonah helped with the launch while Oliver slept in the van. We were able to easily carry it down the ramp and into the water. Now for the longer version . . .
As part of Heather’s birthday present, we took all three boys for the day. Sam, Jonah, Mark, and I drove into town after breakfast to pick-up Ollie. Heather and Jed were going out for the morning to do some looking at Cape antique furniture shops and then to have lunch before returning home to delve into a basement clean-out project. We took the boys to a local nursery to buy chrysanthemums and pumpkins to decorate the front of the house as a birthday present for Heather from the boys. By the time they picked out the ‘just perfect’ flower and pumpkin from each, Heather and Jed were long gone. So we went back to the house and place the gifts in front of the house as a surprise for when they returned. Then we were off for Woods Hole to launch the dinghy. Sam and Jonah were both very excited about this and had all sorts of plans for testing the dinghy in the water. Ollie, who woke up this morning with yet another cold, slept in the van while the rest of worked on getting the dinghy into the water. Thankfully we were able to park right next to the launching area and could hear Ollie if he awoke—which he didn’t. With me at the front of the dinghy and Jonah, Mark, and Sam on the back, we were able to carry the dinghy down the ramp and into the water. Then we had to figure out how to get the new dinghy across Eel Pond to Windbird and at the same time get all three children and the old dinghy there as well. Sam offered to paddle the new dinghy across all by himself and we accepted the offer. We had no idea he could really do it, but we told him to do the best he could and that we would come in the old dinghy with the motor to assist him. Well, before I could walk to the van to get Ollie and come back to the old dinghy, Sam was halfway across the pond. Once we were on our way, I realized that I just had to get a photo of Sam as he reached Windbird. He was rowing that dinghy in a perfectly straight line toward the boat. I guess six year-olds can do more than we normally allow them to do. Anyway, I was driving the old dinghy and Mark was in the front holding Ollie. There were so many bags between us that he could not easily get back to drive, so I told Jonah he was going to have to do that job. We got a little off-course, but I guess four year-olds can do more than we think as well. I got a couple of photos of Sam and then we all met on Windbird’s port side. Sam says the West Marine dinghy is amazingly easy to handle. Since I can’t row anything in a straight line, I guess I’ll have to try it to see if I agree. With both dinghies at Windbird, we were able to raise the motor off the old dinghy and put it back down on the new. The motor is almost as heavy as the dinghy, so we had to use the lift on the boat. There was no way to just make the transfer with the help of the lift. But with a little teamwork, we accomplished the task.
After lunch, Mark took Sam and Jonah out into Great Bay for the dinghy sea trials and they made a visit to Devils Foot island. Ollie’s nap was interrupted by the move from the van to the dinghy to the boat, so I stayed aboard Windbird in hopes of getting him back to sleep. That didn’t work, but we had a good time playing together. When the ‘boys’ returned, they had good reports about the dinghy’s performance and their walk-about on Devils Foot. On the way back into town, we drove around a bit to get Ollie to sleep and then we took Sam and Jonah to the Falmouth Conservation Land to see the sheep. They wanted to see what the spring lambs looked like now. We couldn’t tell which were the mothers and which were the babies, so Sam and Jonah decided that lambs grow very quickly. We then drove into town, ordered a sushi feast for Heather’s birthday dinner, bought a birthday cake and 38 candles, and headed home for a birthday celebration. Tomorrow is Heather’s birthday, but she has to work and tomorrow night is a school night. So we decided to celebrate tonight. The sushi was delicious and we all got a kick out of the sight of a small birthday cake with 38 lit candles. It looked like the cake was burning. And since the icing was whipped cream, the heat from the candles actually started melting it before Heather could blow out all those candles!
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| 130929 Day 330 Cape Cod, USA–Launching the New Dinghy |
We saw some photos on Facebook of Ziggy and Coco in their new home in Puerto Rico and they certainly look like they have quickly made the adjustment to living in a tropical paradise. I copied some of the photos and am sharing them here. Culebra sure looks beautiful and Coco and Ziggy look so happy.
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| 130929 Day 330 Culebra, PR–JJZ&C's Arrival in Culebra |
