Karen's Big Adventure

I received a wonderful Christmas gift from Jon. Sailing lessons. Well actually a sailing lesson. A five day sailing lesson in the British Virgin Islands! I went in January and had an absolutely wonderful time! AND, I learned to sail! I still have lots to learn, but I'm on my way.

I flew to Tortola and spent the next five days on a 47 foot Hylas monohull called the Blue Planet (I think) captained by a woman named Lousie.

Cap-i-tan Louise

There were four other women on board (girl power) including a mother/daughter team. We all got along great! Pictured are from the left, Teri, from Minnesota, Linda from Maryland, Ashley (Teri's daughter) and Luanne from Dallas!

Dinner at Pussers!

The scenery was incredible! We visited many of the spots we saw as a family just over a year before.

LOVE this place.

We spent quite a bit of time each day learning "the ropes" (pun intended) and practicing our skills. There was plenty of time for relaxing and fun, too!

I was usually found somewhere out on deck,

reading, and sunbathing.

I really had so much fun and would do it again in a heartbeat. In the meantime, we are getting ready to put our little boat out on the lake and see what Mom can do.

Family Fun!

We had the BEST family vacation.  We took Drew, Lucy, Will and Molly to the British Virgin Islands and chartered a catamaran for a WEEK.  It was super sweet. We flew to Tortola and picked up the boat and a really nice skipper named Patrick.  We spent the next seven days sailing around to other islands - all pretty small, but WOW were they beautiful.  The kids were great - they had fun snorkeling, jumping and diving off the bow of the boat, swimming with the fishes and playing on beautiful white sand beaches.  Bummer, huh? The water was the most gorgeous shade of blue, the weather was great and the stars were AMAZING. No TV, no radio, no texting, no video games, no phone, just US.  We laughed and read and played cards.  Karen even cooked most of the meals in the galley!  Jon grilled for us on a grill that hung off the stern.  We loved every second of it!  Here are just a few of the pictures...