As you know I have been very busy. Robbie and I took a 3 week road trip to Alaska with our S.V. Free Spirit friends. Thank you for letting us tag a long it was the trip of a life time. SO FAR! I am also home schooling and that's a trip of it's own. Then you can add BMX racing with Robbie to my schedule and my life is pretty hectic. So I thought I would share some pictures with you and bring you up to date with whats going on here.

Terrie

Terrie and Robbie at Mt. Rushmore. August 2010

Robbie and the Free Spirit boys in the Badlands August 2010.

Terrie and Robbie on Alaska trip. August 2010

Captain Robert Nov 2010

S.v. Wahine Nov. 2010

Me and my honey at our 20 year class reunion last month.

Scooby playing Captain last week.



Robert up the mast changing the mast head light bulb. We now have a LED bulb!

There is a little progress going on the boat.

We are still hoping to get out there and chase the dream.

This little angel has me wrapped around her little finger.
The best grand baby ever!

Robbie doing a little target practice.

He loves his weapons.

The 3 Thompson men enjoying a camp fire tonight.

Just wanted to share a couple of great pics.

Isn't it weird how much people can change over time.
I attended my High School reunion this past weekend, and we have all changed yet it seems that we have also remained the same. We all still have our little groups that we seems to be drawn to however we are able to go between these groups a lot less painlessly then we did in school. I think it is because now, we are actually interested in exploring those other groups. To see how others have changed. There are people I truly disliked in school that now I find we have a lot in common. My husband is a prime example of this phenomenon. We were not close in school and now he is my best friend.

I have been trying really hard to dedicate my self to homeschooling. We feel very strongly about this as when we sail off into the sunset we will HAVE to home school. I would like to have a good foundation in place so that the change in location isn't to much for us to handle.
HOWEVER.
I am struggling with schedules and keeping him on task. The subjects are easy at this point. Even someone like me can handle the teaching. Me being one who hated school.
I am looking for ways to keep him interested and me motivated. I can not give up. If this does not work it will put a serious damper on our sailing plans.

We just finished a 3 week road trip across country to Alaska with a sailing friend. Along the way I read to him from a book about each state we were in. Well sometimes when we stopped we covered several of the states at once. We also went to Mt Rushmore. Very educational YES!! I think that there are educational opportunities every where.
I will post some pics of our trip soon. But now it is time for school.

It is just in my nature to be nice. Hasn't always been that way. But that is a whole other topic we won't dwell into. I enjoy being the hostess. Hospitality should be by middle name and it's not JUST because I live in the south.
I must make a confession. I do these things because they make me happy! Yep there it is, Purely selfish. I get a great deal of enjoyment out of helping others. Entertaining others. Cooking for others. Who wants you to be the only person you cook for. If I didn't have someone to cook for I probably would not cook at all. I'd probably be eating out of the can over the kitchen sink. YUCK.
So what prompted this line of thoughts this morning you might ask? Well the other night a very dear friend called and said me and the kids will be there in a couple of weeks and need to stay a few days. Can you pick us up from the airport?? Woohoo I can't wait to see them. Of course come. I would have jumped in my truck right then and went and got them. But alas I must wait. I don't like to wait. I'm not a patient person.
But I digress. These friends I met because of the Boat. We met in the yard while they were working getting ready to set sail on a grand adventure. We also have boat friends in Spain, California, and the Florida Keys. Who knows where else! Everywhere we go I meet new and interesting people who have touched my life and made a lasting impression. I'm not saying they have all been good impressions. There are those you wish you hadn't met. They make the good ones stand out more so.
How do make these friends you want to know? I'm NICE! It's that easy. Smile, lend a hand, or offer a ride. Invite them to dinner. It really is that easy. And you touch a life, brighten somebody else's day. Who knows, that person might return the favor to you someday or pass it along randomly to someone else. But you have another friend, out there.
So, go sailing!

reason #71
To go sailing!!

Treasure hunting we found the anchor right here at home, just think what we might find
"out there"!! Let's all go sailing. It might be good for the economy.

Robert has been making some headway on some of the many repairs Wahine is in need of. He has cut out a portion of cap rail and replaced it with new pipe. He had to add some new medal underneath where there was a lot of corrosion.

I will try to get down there soon and take a picture of the new medal installed.

Wahine is very happy that we have removed the unsightly blemish from her lovely hull.

Wahine Speaks to us!

This was taken last month by none other than Waddy! Awesome pic PAPA!

Boats have their own personalty and characteristics. Sail boats I think more so. Old sail boats our in a whole other league. Ours is no exception. She lets us know when she needs attention, and when she wants to go somewhere. A gentle pull on her dock lines a hick up in the engine room. Sometimes she just screams ME ME ME!!! . Last weekend Robert went down to the boat to move her back to a friends dock. I guess she wasn't ready to go. The night before she wouldn't run right. Then the anchor was really really dug in. When Robert was ready to head down river she got hung up on something. He thought he had freed it and started off again. NOPE she said still hung up. The anchor had hung on a piece of chain from the bottom of the river and Robert had pulled it up with his anchor. In the process of figuring this all out the engine ran out of fuel. This never happens! But we are planning on hauling out soon so we let it run down fairly low. Apparently to low. Doesn't matter Wahine was not ready to go yet. Drop our anchor, climb down to figure out what we are hung on, start hauling in the chain. And hauling and hauling. Wonder what is on the other end. An anchor, an engine block, a small Volkswagen??

So to keep out of trouble during this process Robbie decides he should clean the decks. Did I mention it had started raining. With everything already wet it was a great idea. She really needed it. Things turn green in the river fast. So a tune up and a bath!

Many hours later he finds the end. But wait there is still another end as Robert had hung it in the middle. Haul, and hoist some more. FINALLY the other end comes up and low and behold there is an anchor on it and approximately 240 feet of Awesome chain. Awesomely heavy. Robert thinks that he actually knows who made this particular anchor. Tom Colvin, the same designer who built our boat. HHMMM wonder who might have lost it? Wonder how it is that we were the ones to find it. Wahine works in mysterious ways. We will show pics to Tom and if it is one of his maybe he can tell us who he sold it to. I wonder if there is a finders fee!! It looks really expensive. Or maybe just really heavy. Here are some pictures of Wahine's latest treasure find.







P.S. She willingly went back to her dock down river the next day.

The Chain all 240 feet!

The very heavy anchor.

Facebook is bad for bloggers!! I spend way to much time on facebook reading everybody else's thoughts instead of expressing my own.
So here our some of my own.

This mess in the Gulf of Mexico SUCKS! So I better go to the beach and enjoy it before it is gone!
Our sailboat is a mess and we are not making much progress.
My Spanish is going very slowly! Maybe I can figure out how to make my facebook page in Spanish so I would HAVE to practice my Spanish.
My grand babies are awesome and a joy.
My son is racing BMX and we will be at the bike track every Saturday morning! SWEATING!!

More thought s soon!!

This picture of Wahine was taken this week in the river on the way to the city dock for a much needed bath. The rust down the side is the result of a rotten cap rail.

That is top of the repair list.

Robbie fooling around at the park by the river!! Free spirit I bet you recognize this play ground!

I am a very bad blogger! That said- here is an update on the crew of the S.V.Wahine!

Robert and Terrie working A LOT

Robbie playing ball .

Scooby chasing the ball A LOT!!

There is actually some progress going on in regards to sailing off in to the sunset. Robert has removed the old life lines and repaired the rudder chain. He is about to start the repairs on the cap rails. Then I will have lots of stuff to paint and sand. We have had many discussions about the lay out of the new galley. The design being the hardest part!!

So the holidays are over and were well into the new year. I think we all make resolutions. Some out loud and others to yourself. Here are a few of mine. Maybe by listing them here I will hold myself accountable for making some of the things on this list happen.

1. learn to speak Spanish it will make traveling more interesting.
2. loose weight. Not because I don't like the way I look. But for my health.
3.declutter my house. I have way to much STUFF.
4. Work harder on getting Wahine ready to Sail away into the sunset!!

If it was fun and not work we would being paying them instead of them paying us!!

Did anyone notice that work is a four letter word. Capt Robert!

Hey All

I have a new job and do not have 8 hours a night to spend surfing the net. Darn real jobs kinda suck. But at least I see the sun now and am trying to readjust to working normal hours again. I have some great pics from Halloween I will try to post! Talk to you all again soon.

Terrie

This is so cool Waddy took this pic of my pumpkins and Robbie with a special exposure on . There is of course only one Robbie Thank God!!

I am utterly appalled by the story in the news about the women who was told that she could not keep her neighbors kids at her house in the mornings because she was not a licenced daycare. I am amazed at the pettiness of the person, who it was stated, was one of her neighbors that complained. Obviously not one of the neighbors whose kid she was watching. It was just for an hour while they waited for the bus and it was out of the goodness of her heart that she was doing this. She was not being paid.

I guess that is what trying to do a good deed will get you in this world.

Stress and aggravation.

I hope she does not give up. Women need to stick together. Without women like her a lot of us would not be able to work.

So please go out and volunteer in your community. It might give some poor soul something to complain about.

This is a picture of my house from the air taken by Waddy. While he and Robert buzzed our house last weekend. The hooligans!! Cool huh!

It's been a long yet rewarding weekend. I just got back from a state Woman's Club meeting in Orlando. Anytime you attend one of these events you always come back ready to jump back into service work feet first and full speed ahead. They are very motivational.

While there I saw many of the women that I traveled with to Peru so I thought I would share some more of my pictures from the trip.

These doors were in Cusco. A great many of the doors were painted blue. Chris I thought of you when taking pictures of doors. I hope I get to see the wonderful ones in Spain someday!
The rest of the pictures below were taken at the Machu Picchu ruins. One of the Great wonders of the world.

Hi All!

Just surfing at work. And thought I might post some more on my trip.

I received an email from our Federation Chairman about speaking at our upcoming state board meeting.About the trip. Now I always have lots to say and yet for some reason I still get nervous when I have to speak in front of a crowd. My words always sound rushed to me. Am I forgetting something? Did they get my point? We will only have 3-5 minutes to speak. That's not long. I am going to have a hard time deciding on what to talk about. There was SOOOOO much.

This is a fountain in the Main Square. Surrounded by government buildings. Such as their Presidents House. They told us that one day a year that Pisco flows from this fountain for the entire day. What is Pisco you ask? Pisco is the equivalent to corn whiskey that is the national drink in Peru. It was very potent stuff. Could you imagine a fountain in front of our White House that flowed whiskey?? HMMM I'm not sure about that one. But for sure things couldn't get a great deal worse in Washington. Might be an improvement.

The architecture was such a lovely mix of many different countries. Spain, Germany, and Europe just to name a few. The weather in Lima is Gray and dreary all year due to it's location on the coast. So the Government ordered the buildings to be painted bright colors because of the suicide rate. Nice!

More Later.

Reason # 70

to go sailing

Discovering new worlds, communities, and people.

Peru was an amazing place. Not much room to sail where we were but beautiful is not a word that does it justice. However it has a very dirty side as most countries do. The cities are over populated and the government only seemed to be concerned with the area that the tourist visited. Once you left that space the ugly truth showed through. The thing that bugged me the most were the kids. There was someone in every parking lot and intersection trying to sell you something. And often they were children. Early in the morning and late at night it made no difference. Where are their parents? Why are you not at school? No one new or they didn't care. There is compulsory school for the small children but no law to enforce it. Go figure.

Here are some pictures from the trip. There will be many more to follow.

Day one off to Lima. Right before we left we found out that due to health reasons our fearless leader would not be with us. We were very sad. Not to fear second in command quickly copied her in to a packable size and she went with us in spirit. She had a great time and never a hair out of place. We really did miss her since of humor. Her jokes were a little flat! LOL

Flat Stanley and one of my sons small blue ninjas, That mysteriously appeared in my suit case, also made the trip. They all really enjoyed Machupicchu!



Here is another of Linda enjoying the scenery!

This young man was juggling these sticks in a very busy intersection for money.

This is the view out the hotel window in Lima.

Maybe more tomorrow.

I'm HOME!!!!!!!
Just got home yesterday. It will yake a day or so dig out from under the pile of SH*&%&%
You know ,, stuff!
Will post lots of pics soon. Peru was great and Machupicchu was amazing.

Reason # 69

To Go Sailing

NO car wrecks

My father in law, and me and Robbie were coming back from a visit to the next town over this evening and were first on scene to a vehicle rolled over on it's top in a ditch. Waddy jumped in and help cut the woman loose and get her out of the truck. She almost died. With gods help and good karma we were in the right spot at the right time. I pray she will be OK.

If you are ever on a boat that is moving fast enough to flip over and land on its top you have screwed up. AND your not cruising.

Slow down and go sailing. And until them buckle up and drive safe.

I saw on another blog a challenge/ suggestion that you should post a photo. Not just any photo but the photo that is the 10Th photo in the 1st folder. I couldn't make this up. Guess what mine was! Yep a picture of our boat the SV Wahine in all her glory and here it is.

And this is the next one it was taken in Hope Town Bahamas. Just wanted to share this one cause it's pretty.

Well I am getting ready for my big trip to Peru. I think my friends and family will be glad to see me leave. It is all I think about and they are probably getting sick of me.

22 more days. YAH

I got the greatest water bottle that has a built in filter that will filter out the nastiest of cooties. And I can use it on the boat later. Double cool.

Interesting fact. You can pack a meat cleaver in your checked luggage on international flight but not your extra camera batteries. I am learning so much getting ready for this trip. I have never flown over seas.

On a side note my honey has finally obtained his pilots licence. Look out BIRDS!!