June 2009 - Sailing, Part 1

I am writing this from a quick land-stop. It is nice to do laundry and take a hot shower in a big bathroom (yay for the amenities of modern life!) Edison and I got on board the sailboat, Fearless, on Friday and it has been a big learning experience for us all.

Before I get ahead of myself, here is a snapshot from Memorial Day. We celebrated the day at Eben's sister's house and the whole family was there. (his 2 1/2 y.o. cousin Will was not willing to be photographed...) It was a beautiful, sunny day for a BBQ. Thanks, Marleigh!
Here is the sailboat, Fearless, that we are sailing on. We are borrowing it for the summer from Eben's father. Eben rode the dinghy out to take a picture of the boat in the fog. The weather has been nice one morning and raining the next. We started in Newport, RI, worked our way up to Bristol, RI in Narragansett Bay, to meet up with a bunch of Eben's Coast Guard buddies. I'll put some pictures of that picnic on the blog in another post. Then we spent three nights at the idyllic Block Island, RI (more on that in a later post). Last night we stopped at Fisher's Island, CT and are now docked at the CG Academy in New London for the day.
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How do you take a baby on a week-long sailing trip? Great question. Let me know if you have any ideas. This is what we've come up with so far - gates. This one lets Edison roam in the dining area while keeping him out of the kitchen and aft cabins. I wonder when he'll figure out how to get over it.
Here is another gate - this one is at the top of the stairs so that Edison can play in the cockpit area while we are cruising or sitting outside. This has the added function of serving as a teething bar. (His eighth tooth is finally coming in.)




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I think he likes it on board the boat.