Vacation arrives!

This is shaping up to be the easiest work month ever, besides the ones when I was unemployed or in jail, those were pretty easy too, but in a different way.

We are leaving for the enchanted island of Sao Miguel in the Azores tomorrow night for over two weeks (please don’t rob my house….if you try I’ll get you on camera you thief), we haven’t been there in five years so are very excited for this trip.  Last time we were there Stella and Magnus were approaching the tender age of 1 and 3 – otherwise known as the “hell ages”.  The trip was generally fun, but frequently interrupted by short, but intense, episodes of putrid toilet visits, immature melt downs, horrible temper tantrums and fussy eating.  And that was just Ana – you should have seen what the kids were like.

This time, we’re all a bit older and hopefully wiser so are anticipating a much easier and enjoyable trip.  The kiddies are approaching 8 and 6 so can practically take care of themselves, while Ana and I, at the primo 40 mark, are now much more patient, easy going, relaxed or perhaps you could say simply worn out, so better able to sit back and watch the chaos unfold around us instead of actively participating.

I’m hoping to put up a posting each day of our trip, these vacations are always a good time for me to do some writing.  I have been working on a travel book for about 5 years and my goal this year was to complete it, so I’m going to see what I can get done on that front, it’s been a long time coming and if I wait until it’s perfect, it will never get finished.

After the Azores trip, we’re back to work for two weeks then off again for another two weeks on our annual Lake Erie sailing trip.  Our sailboat, Bella Blue, is in top shape and eager to cast off those dock lines and take us away on the water.  We installed a second refrigerator this past weekend (see image above, pre-installation), which went surprisingly well for a boat project – I only cut myself twice, hurt my back, smashed my toe, and had to hold an inverted dog/warrior position inside the tiny cockpit locker for about 20 minutes, which left stretch marks on my ass.  My neighbor Andrew’s injuries were similar, but he was stuck in the locker for at least 40 minutes – I was surprised he could still walk.  In the end, it was a lovely job, and though we had originally considered using the extra space for broccoli storage, we did finally come to a consensus and decided to utilize the space for beer and wine, then just tow any such green vegetables behind the boat and hope some sad, hungry fish consumes it.

More to come from the Azores!