My Home Page
Note: keep on the lookout for more updates, I'm not done yet, we're just publishing what I've done so far.
Hi...I'm Rachel and I am going to try to explain a bit about what me and my family do, because it's unique and few people really understand what fills our days, how we can function without a Target or Wal-mart nearby, etc.. This front page will be my journal about where we are and what we're doing. If you just click on any of the pictures in my pages, you can see a larger view. Also purple text exhibits interesting facts about where we are (on this page only).
2/12/07
Hello! We are in George Town, Bahamas! After we got to Mayaguana we rested for a day and then shot all the way up to George Town. George Town's a pretty popular cruiser place, the water is sooooo blue and it's a good place to meet other kids especially when the "Family Island Regatta" is going on (just so you know the regatta is coming up). There are a TON of boats here!! We've been here a couple of days and we're staying a few more to use the internet and stuff--because of the large amount of cruisers there's easy internet access. Which we need to make arrangements and do research to prepare for our return to Florida. Which brings me to the unfinished subject of my last entry:
We're going to China! We are going to spend our month in Florida running around like chickens! one month to pack up our belongings and either put them in storage or take them with us. We also have to take care of things like school evaluations, Doctor and Dentist appointments, look through the storage unit, stuff you have to take care of if you've been out of the country for as long as we have. We're also going to visit our grandpa on, Dad's side, in West Florida and Jamie in Orlando. Like I said we are going to be busy.
Once we get to China, which will be a little harder than usual because the pets can only be on a plane for 12 hours at a time so we have to split up the flights a little differently, we will stay in a hotel for a week while the pets are in quarantine; the quarantine is only for a week which I'm really happy about because in some places the quarantine is for months!! I'll miss them anyway though. During the week we will apartment-shop and, hopefully, will have an apartment by the time we have the pets back or shortly there after. I think I'm going to be able to bring most of my things with me to China, at least the stuff I like most and/or need to be comfortable, you know, stuff so that there's some familiarity.
2/5/07
Wow! I haven't updated in a while. We're en route to Mayaguana, Bahamas we left Big Sand Cay in the Turks minutes ago. And I decided to spend my sea-sickness updating my web page. Supposedly the waves aren't going to be to bad but I do not trust the weather man. Well I've got a lot to tell about what's happened between now and my last update... Where to start? Well, a few days before Christmas my Dad got an e-mail from somebody in the business world that he knew, saying that there was a great job opportunity opening up in Asia!! That's it, that is all he said. My immediate reaction was to laugh (although now that I think of it I guess that we're the people to ask first because we already travel around) however Dad said that we should at least see what the job was, so he respond. I started to panic, us? Asia? no way! "It could be in Iraq, It could be in Afghanistan, it could be in Vietnam." I voiced my worries. But the word came back that the job was in China. I've done some studying since then but not much.
I'm beginning to feel the waves more, I may have to stop my entry at some point and pick up again some other day because of sea-sickness.
Phone calls and e-mails went back and forth for a while. And we considered more and more seriously. Eventually Dad decided to fly out to Shanghai, China to further check out the work situation and the area. When he got back we pretty soon after had to make our decision and get word to the Shanghai people. Well, he and Mom talked and we decided that we are going to China!! I'm both apprehensive and excited about the trip, Shanghai is the biggest city in China so we should be able to find anything we need. Now on to the important part: we're headed back to Florida to haul out the boat while we're gone. The plan is to get to the States at the end of February and stay all of March packing and such. Then get to China by the 1st of April. Note: the pets are coming with us naturally. I've really got to stop typing, focusing closely on a computer screen makes you more sea-sick. Hopefully I'll continue this update soon. Got to stop, bye.
12/27/06
Merry Christmas!! I had a GREAT Christmas we spent Christmas and Christmas eve in Maho bay, St. John! And there's nothing like starting the holiday bright and early at six o'clock. That's right six, that is when Marcie and Jillian-my two wonderful sisters (sarcasm sarcasm)-woke me up. Then at the soonest possible second, presents were being unwrapped. I got Dad a Sudoku puzzle calendar (very fitting), Mom a T-shirt, Marcie and Jillian a CD each plus a few trinkets. I got a cow girl hat that I love, a horse necklace and bracelet and some sea glass earrings among other things. Later we went to defend our Christmas dinner spot on the fast filling beach. We had dinner with some friends on Indigo Moon, Evensong, Makers Match, Fidelis and some boaters on Pirates hideout. It was great we had turkey, mashed potatoes, three casseroles, potato salad, some really good noodle dish, stuffing, ham and lots of home made bead not to mention the dessert three pumpkin pies (my personal favorite), an apple pie, a rum cake and a chocolate/nut cake. We had way to much food. After we ate we went swimming then sang carols to Dr. Dave's guitar. I had so much fun!!
Anyway, we're planning a big birthday party for Buddy (the person) on Indigo Moon for the twenty-ninth. So we're going back to Maho bay for that. And I'm going into town now so, more updates later.
12/21/06
Four days till Christmas!!! I can't wait, I've been trying to get in the Christmas spirit which is difficult because A, we're not near places with decorations up or around the holiday shopping stampede (although we, and some other boats we know, have put up some lights and paper snow flakes) and B, the weather does not feel like winter at all it is still hot.
Yesterday we all went in to shore to see the semi-wild donkeys that roam the coast of Caneel bay. We got there and had just started looking for donkeys when we saw a deer a little ways away from the side walk! She was just watching us, then we saw four or five more across the road. It was so cool!! We got to watch them for a good few minutes before they ran off playing together. If we hadn't seen another thing I would have been happy but the expedition wasn't over yet. A little farther down the path we spotted the herd of donkeys, there were maybe 10 altogether. We were approaching all cautiously until an employee in a golf cart showed us just how tame they are, he reached out his hand and they came right up to him. We petted them for a while then headed back to the dingy to wait for Mom, she'd gone off to take some pictures. On the way there we saw the deer again. Then as we waited we again saw the donkeys going up the path. It was a lot of fun, much better than writing-the subject I got to skip to go along.
12/16/06
Wow!! I haven't updated in so long it's embarrassing, so I've decided to pretty much wipe out everything and start over (I do intend to update my page occasionally this time). So what's going on out here, well we're in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Great Lameshur Bay on the south side of St. John. St. John and the surrounding waters are almost entirely a protected national park. St. John is covered in trails, and we've climbed a few, but yesterday we climbed the Lameshur Bay trail all the way to the Arawak Indian petroglyphs. The trail goes up and down hills for 2.1 miles until you reach what looks like just a small pool between some rock formations. For a minute I thought we had hiked the grueling trail for nothing, but sure enough faintly visible on the rock were some carvings. I wasn't impressed, partially because of hiking so far; but supposedly the Arawak Indians left very little behind to teach us about their culture, so to someone more knowledgeable than me, this would be a great find. Upon closer inspection, a few more petroglyphs were revealed. The hike back was worse. We were already tired and we hadn't brought enough water because we didn't know how long the trail was. After 4.2 miles of hiking on rough terrain, we all got back to the boat pooped. Dad did smother enough energy to tease about going on another hike today ha ha ha.