This weekend, Nordhavn is throwing an event at their corporate office in Dana Point to celebrate their 40 year anniversary. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to attend. Its extra-sad because Saturday, April 28 is the 11 year anniversary of when we left on our circumnavigation. It would have been so fitting to celebrate our anniversary with PAE and the Nordhavn family.

Since our names will likely come up at the event, we figured we should post a quick update.

2012 through 2016 were the hardest years of our lives. Looking back, we can’t believe we managed to survive. 2017 was a better year, but it was still tough. 2018 has gotten off to to a great start, though!

Christi’s health is still improving very, very slowly. She’s now close to remission. While she’s still sick, it’s now a mild chronic illness and she is finally capable of going cruising again. She is is still dealing with our elderly parents and is focusing on getting all our ducks are in a row so that when another opportunity arises to set-sail, we’ll be able to go.

Eric likes his job at Jaunt and likes life in the Bay Area.

Adjusting to the Bay Area was harder for Christi and Keith than it was for Eric. Life styles between the two areas are more different than Christi had anticipated. But overall the transition wasn’t too bad and we’re all finally feeling settled.

Keith is 6 now and in kindergarten. He’s enthusiastic and fun; a natural born leader and a social butterfly. His current obsessions are LEGOS and Ninjago. In school, he’s learning to read and do math. Keith has a long way to go before he’ll be ready for cruising, but he’s getting there.

Kosmos is now 12 years old. She’s doing great! The best part about the Bay Area is we’ve been able to make many overnight trips to various parts of the Bay. We’ve been to Sausalito, Treasure Island, Oakland, and Berkeley so far. This summer, we plan to do some ocean time, as well. Eric has a long list of boat projects he wants to do.

Today is the ten-year anniversary of when we left for our circumnavigation! We’ve been reflecting on how our life is so different now than it was ten years ago. It’s almost unbelievable how much life ebbs and flows.

The latest with us:

Eric got a new job as Vice President of Software Engineering for Jaunt, a virtual reality company based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Eric has already moved up to the Bay Area. Christi, Keith, and Kosmos will follow this summer, after Keith gets out of school and the seas are more favorable.

Keith is now 5. He is still going to the French language immersion pre-school and is doing great.

Christi is still very, very slowly healing from her kidney disease.

We’re still dealing with our elderly parents.

We’re excited about taking Kosmos up to San Francisco Bay, where there is so much more to see and do than San Diego Bay. We’re still hoping to be out cruising in a few years.

Christi, Keith and Kosmos Corondao Island

2012 and 2013 were both challenging years for us. 2012 was hard because Keith was an especially difficult infant due to digestive problems. As soon as Keith outgrew his acid reflux, all three of our parents experienced serious health issues. Helping the folks consumed our 2013.

2014 has gotten off to a better start, though. While Christi’s dad still has issues, overall, he’s doing pretty well. Eric’s mom has stabilized. Unfortunately, Eric’s dad is currently on hospice, but we’ve come to terms with it, emotionally speaking. We now have caregivers coming in to care for his dad, which has helped ease the burden.

Over the last two years, we’ve consistently taken Kosmos out for day trips in the San Diego area, but we’ve only done a few longer trips, all within Southern California. We’re speaking at the Nordhavn Southwest Rendezvous in May, and we Continue reading →

Its hard to believe so much time has passed since our last update! In good news, life is going well for Christi, Eric and Keith. Keith is thriving in every way, and while he is still all-consuming, he’s getting easier (and more fun!).

Unfortunately, this year, all three of our remaining parents have had issues arise, so in addition to caring for Keith, we’ve also had to spend a lot of time helping our parents. Christi’s dad had some medical issues that popped up early in the year — in the April 2013 post, we mentioned Christi had already gone to Las Vegas to see him five times, primarily to take him to various doctors. Fortunately, Christi’s dad is doing better now. Just as Christi’s dad started to improve, Eric’s dad — who has been ill for several years now — took a significant turn for the worse. Unfortunately, Eric’s dad has been steadily declining since then. Eric’s mom — who has health issues of her own — is having a hard time with the situation. We’ve decided that caring for children is much easier than caring for aging parents.

Eric is still traveling a lot for work. At the end of June, he went to a conference in Paris. Christi and Keith tagged along. Paris with a baby is certainly a different experience than Paris as a romantic trip for a couple. Below are photos from Paris.

Keith has come so far since the last update! He is now 17 months old. He recently got four molars and is now up to eleven teeth. He’s always amazed us with Continue reading →