Getting Our Sea Legs

The first of many wipe-outs as he got used to wearing shorts and flip-flops

We’ve now survived our first month on the water! Things are starting to feel more like home around the boat and we are slowly uncovering all of the mini-projects that will be keeping us busy over the next few months. All of us are adjusting fairly well, but it feels like we’re all toddlers learning how to walk again on the boat.

My knee-eye coordination is somewhat lacking

Living on a moving object tends to be more dangerous than you’d think…especially for the less coordinated like myself. Going on and off the dock seems to be my most precarious for me, as I tend to misjudge the height of the stanchions and give my knees a solid beating. The first week on board I was sure that Dan or I were going to give ourselves a concussion with the number of times we both hit our heads on various areas of the boat. We didn’t end up with one, but Dan did procure our first boat-related broken toe as he slipped while getting into the cockpit. Chock that one up to getting our sea legs, I guess.

Judging by the nasty color of Dan’s toe, we’re pretty sure it broke.

Carter’s had his own injuries from our new life. He is still adjusting to losing the extra protection of always wearing pants. His knees were in pretty rough shape after his first few high speed wipe-outs in shorts. He’s started to get more cautious about his running speed on uneven surfaces, but not without learning the lesson the hard way a few times.

Battle wounds from the kamikaze fire ants

Last weekend, we went out to Indiantown to get another few boxes off of the trailer (almost done unpacking!). As we were walking back to our car, Carter suddenly let out a panicked cry “Mommy! Ants!” He had stomped his way right into a fire ant hill and the ants were on a mission to get him off. And they didn’t say please. Dan grabbed Carter and started swatting off any ant he could see as Carter was crying “get them off, get them off!” Those little guys really held on tight too. We finally got all of them off and Carter’s clothes thoroughly checked before I was able to talk to Carter about it.

“Carter, did you know you were stepping in an ant hill, honey?”
“Yea, I did.”
“Why did you step on it? Those ants didn’t like that very much.”
“I just wanted to help them make their hole bigger, Mommy. It was too small.”

My poor, sweet little boy.