April 2018 Update on Us

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.

April 2017 Update on Us

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

May 2015 Update on Us

Finally, an update!!!!

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2014-06-15 10.35.16Today is the six year anniversary of completing our circumnavigation (May 1, 2009). It’s been eight years since we left on our circumnavigation (April 28th, 2007). Where is time going?

We can’t believe that we’ve let more than a year pass since we posted our last update! A couple weeks ago, we took Kosmos on a mini-vacation to Oceanside, California. We took advantage of the down time to write this post. Sadly, we haven’t had a “real” vacation in over 2.5 years, hence the lack of time to write.

The last year has certainly been eventful! Here are the main things:

  • We still have Kosmos, and we are hoping to do extended cruising around 2018.
  • Keith just turned three and is doing awesome.
  • Christi became ill with a rare immuno-disorder that affects kidney function.
  • Eric became Chief Technical Officer of a company called Neulion.
  • We bought a new, high-tech car.

If you are interested in the details, we’ll pick up where we left off… April 2014 turned out to be a dramatic month for us, with some huge ups and downs. For some reason, every April seems be an intense time for us. Anyway…

A few days after we Continue reading

April 2014 Update on Us

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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