2018 at last!

Could you be more proud!  My son Shawn is now a Chief and I got to be there.  Highest rank in the NCO.  We had such a fine trip to Panama City and even got to take Gary's Mom with us.

Says it all!

Oma with Emma

Amanda with boyfriend Chuck

Love those PJ'S

Jillian showing dance moves

Gary, Jan, Brian, Shawn, and Amanda

Dating hangout at Schooner's in PC

Love that PC beach

More of 2017 to 2018

This was a great year of traveling by car.  We had wonderful times and Miss Em stayed in Ft. Pierce while Gary would work on her daily.

Moved the TV and ready for Thanksgiving

Anna Marie and Katelyn growing up

Ft. Pierce inlet from our favorite weekend place, Manatee's

Our girl Amanda gets prettier

Our Laura and her husband Carlos
Beautiful and smart

St. Augustine at Christmas

White Marlin for New Year's
More beautiful than before Irma

Can it get better?

Oh Yeah!

We have a dingy in Ft. Pierce!

Football season, I am happy before the Alabama/FSU game

Of course I lost, Gary flew the flags at the dock on Miss Em.  He flew mine upside down.  Says it was an accident, don't think so!

Visit to Panama City for Shawn's big promotion!

Oh, yeah, he loves me!

White Marlin's new beach area

Have to take in one concert at Marathon a year!

I don't know why I'm smiling because we had to leave.
Sunset Grill is my favorite brunch

Evidently it's a hard life!

Wow a Whole Year in Ft. Pierce

Some of the great times in 2017!

Visiting The Great Escape in St. Augustine Mini Vacation

Aunt Kates Resturant in St. Augustine
Best friends Mark and Lori

Beautiful sunsets and dingy rides

Biggest Bird at the dock

Two captains at work!

Time to eat and drink

St. Augustine's finest

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Worth waiting for

Smiles tell it all

Great Brunch

So much has happened this year. I can't believe how fast the time has flown.  We certainly had major refit repairs to deal with.  At least Gary did.  I just had my hands full trying to stay healthy and be in the workforce.  We missed going to Marathon for the winter but our friends had us come to White Marlin for mini vacations.  We also got to enjoy the amenities at Ft. Pierce City marina.  The fresh markets on Saturdays really helped me as well as long walks around a great little town.  We are now looking forward to traveling again and the first stop, St. Augustine.

Debbie and Jan in Jacksonville Mini Vacation

Mike and Debbie and our adult beverages

The only thing quiet on this trip

Back to Basics in Ft. Pierce

It worked out that I was able to go back to my old career in teaching Handicapped Pre K chidren.  I have a wonderful job at Lawnwood Elementary which is very like my last position in Panama City.  Because of my age I was able to go back to work without financial diminishations.  Gary was not so lucy, so he is full time maintenance captain and occasional galley slave. 
We did have quite a bit of damage during Hurricane Irma, but not catestrophic.  Sails, equipment, dingy chaps, canvas, and of course all the waxing and brighwork having to be redone.  We had generator problems and of course the general maintenance tht hs to be done. 
We have gotten to spend some time with our Marathon boating buddies, and am looking forward to seeing more of them as they travel through Ft. Pierce on their way to winter quarters in Marathon.  We will miss our White Marlin family and the beautiful weather this year.

Relaxing at the fountain at the City Marins

Sails getting ready to go to Mack Sails

Florida State won one!

Lookng forward to Thanksgiving!

Hunkering Down in Ft. Pierce

Football season is upon us!  Gary is so happy that his team Alabama, is doing so well.  I still have hope for FSU, but you know, they are my Alma mater so no matter.

We have had to make some tough decisions about cruising.  We have decided to stay here in Ft. Pierce for an extended time to make repairs and give the cruising grounds time to repair also.  Ft. Pierce is a good area to do this and quite frankly we are just exhausted after this last 2 years.  We have been through 2 hurricanes, a major grounding in the Bahamas, and finished re decking the teak decks.  Our friends we winter with will be very missed, but sometimes you just have to hunker down and regroup.

It is interesting going back to life on the dock.  There are a lot of positives and negatives also.  Mostly the negatives are not traveling as much.  Generally, back to weekend anchoring.  Positives are access to activities, provisioning, and repair supplies. 

I find myself reliving  when I first moved onto Miss Em to start my new aquatic life.  I was so excited to become the new caretaker of this beautiful LRC.  I think of all the things I had to learn and the excitement I felt to realize that this would be a lifelong adventure.

Still running down the road with my hair on fire!

Jan

Hurricane Irma

All of Florida evacuated for Irma. There wasn't anywhere to get the boat pulled, so we prepped her as best we could and moved as much as possible inland.  We did find storage for the dingy. We went to Tallahassee to move Gary's mom and ended up at his brothers in Ponce DeLeon. Stress was high.  We were blessed again that Miss Em had minimal damage.  Can't say the same for our physical and financial damage.  Living in Florida has always had the possibility of losing everything due to a storm.  All we can do is prepare and hope for the best.

Now we are at the City Marina to finish Hurricane season.  Our future plans are not definite but I still have dreams of many more years on Miss Em.

Working months at Ft. Pierce

Peacock Crossing!

We had so much fun checking out Ft. Pierce city birds!  They live in a certain area and are the masters of all they survey.

They have their own sign!

They take the kids out for a stroll!

They take a nap wherever they want!

If they feel like a brisk jaunt they take it!

Back at the City Marina to finish up projects

As with any vessel, maintenance must be addressed.  We love Ft. Pierce for maintenance.  It has great facilities and shops for supplies.  There is a wholesale store here called the Marine connection, like sailorman but with lots of new items.  add two boatyards and a fiberglass store and you can get just about anything done.  We also stop here for our 6 month health checks.  I have found some great doctors and am happy to say am in good health.  Gary just got his medicare so he will be doing his well checks also.

We spent a month at the City Marina to let me start work on the toe rails.  I hope with the new awlwood system I am using that this will really cut done on the brightwork maintence.

One side done, but then we had to have the boat hauled for bottom work at Witicar boatyard.  This was more involved than we thought but it was all done and looks great.





We were so happy to get back on Miss Em.  I made a fancy meal for us. Gary's birthday was that week and it was so fine to be back home.

Then we have the eclipse!

I looked in the tablet and got a great view, however it didn't take great pictures.