Kuna Kids

Our time in the San Blas Islands of Panama was filled with stunning beauty.  The fish filled reefs, the native rainforest, and the palm fringed beaches were all spectacular (see our Sept. and Oct. postings for stories and pictures of this area).  And we found the native Kuna people to be just as beautiful as the landscape.  We loved connecting with the Kuna people, and developed some rewarding relationships with many of them.  And, the children we encountered were particularly delightful.  Kuna kids seemed to be, well, simply happy.  See for yourself in this slideshow of some of our favorite snapshots of Kuna Kids...

Nuedi!

Cardboard and Duct Tape

We plan to homeschool the boys (7 and 11, 2nd and 5th grade) while on our sailing adventure.  The prospect is a bit daunting.  Over the last year I spent quite a bit of time researching how best to handle this big job.  I bought books, bookmarked many websites, and girded myself for the coming educational battle.  Just before we left, I went to talk to the boys' teachers (both of whom are gifted educators).  Here's what they told me:  Just have them read.  Lots.  Have them write.  Keep a journal. And don't worry too much about the rest of it; it'll come along the way. They'll be fine.

Today Jamie decided to make a boat of cardboard and duct tape.    

When it was done we went down the the water's edge
and launched his creation.

We are closing in on our first week of our new adventure, and other than having the boys write in their journal every evening we haven't officially started homeschooling yet (or "boat school" as we find ourselves calling it).  And so, today I made no effort at schooling of any sort.  But I found that Ms. Calvert and Ms. Long were right on the money - it'll come along the way.  Here's Jamie's journal entry this evening:

My Cardboard and Duct Tape Boat 

Today I woke up and started to make a cardboard and duct tape boat.  First I made a cardboard frame of the boat, then I covered the boat completely with duct tape in the inside and the outside. Then I made a rudder completely out of duct tape.  NO CARDBOARD.  Next I found some chopsticks, and a rag and I used that for a mast and a sail. Then I taped the end of the sail to the bow.  Then I was done.  Then I took it out in the water and I put it in the water and then it floated.  I sailed the boat for about 20 minutes.  Then I went back to my boat Points Beyond.  I felt proud.

 By Jamie, age 7

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And We're Off!

New Year's Eve: Dec. 31, 2012 - OC to KW

2012 in the rearview mirror...Sunset on New Year's Eve, Key West, FL

We have an old, oft repeated family adage: “Sometimes we have adventures, and sometime we have mis-adventures.”   A prescient adage, indeed...Let the adventures begin!

Our flight was set for Dec. 31 at 12:15 AM out of LAX; a red-eye,  because we are always up for bargain air-fare.  We loaded up for the airport at bed-time on Sunday evening; two cars, two kids, two adults, one dog, 6 carry-ons, and 8 items to be checked (6 boxes and 2 large roller-carts, packed to the gills).  As you can imagine, all this crap didn’t fit into just one vehicle.  So we drove both of our old-and-older Volvo wagons, OC Hillbilly style, to the airport.  Thankfully, brother Brent and dear friends Steph/Dave both live close to LAX, and they helped out by dropping us off curbside, and driving our cars back to their respective homes, where our venerable vehicles patiently await our return next summer.  We traipsed our way through security...shoes off, laptops out, jackets off, dog in arms, through the machines.  I had the extra thrill of having both hands swabbed by TSA while holding Sophie, apparently in case she was a bomb, or drug mule, er, drug pug.  Or who knows, maybe they were checking for pet dander.  In any case, off we went down to the very end of the terminal, or course, and so very proud of ourselves for managing to arrive at the airport with time to spare.  Nice change from our all-too-often last minute, sweaty dash down the jet-way as the doors close behind us.  And so, with time to spare, we got ourselves all settled into our seats; boys jockeying for the window seat, and Sophie safely stored in the over-head bin**I mean**under the seat in front of me.  Ah, yes...this should have been a sign...something akin to “no good deed goes unpunished”.   

At LAX...waiting.

At first I notice some sort of activity up near the cockpit.  Was that the pilot that just took his belongings and exited the plan?  Hmm.  The flight crew does not look happy.  Hmmm.  Did that first officer actually just mumble “gonna cancel this flight” as he walked by?  Hmmmm.  Um, yes, he did.  And yes, it was cancelled as we all sat strapped in our seats ready to go.

Brady gets to test out the pilot seat!

Seems our captain was ordered to go fly another plane - this one to Miami because apparently that flight was down a pilot, and as the Miami (MIA) flight has “international connections” they were deemed more important than us twerps heading to Ft. Lauderdale.  They said they were “searching for a pilot” for us....and soon announced that apparently one was not going to be available until 5 am.  It was presently nearly 12:30 AM.  And so, we were all ordered off the plane into the now nearly deserted terminal.  Have a nice night! See you back here to re-board in 4-5 hours!  Oh, and by-the-way, TSA/Security has shut down, and so, if you choose to leave the terminal you can’t re-enter until TSA returns at 4:30 AM.  

Jamie on the comfy floor.

[Side-note: Why, I ask, in a building where everyone KNOWS there will be long exhausted waits and possible sleeping necessary, are there only individual chairs with metal arms between each seat making stretching out impossible?  Why not make some sliver of comfortable long-term waiting available?  Is that such a crazy idea??  Is it that back in the day we wanted to discourage the homeless folks from crashing the bus/train/airport terminals for a good night’s rest by making it difficult to stretch out and possibly doze off?  But as you know, nowadays only ticketed/paying passengers can be in the terminal.  So the only folks hankering for a good night’s rest are those of us stranded in airports, awaiting future flights.  Not sure how that makes us unworthy of comfortable waiting? Not that the homeless are unworthy of comfortable spots to doze, either, I suppose...But, I digress.]

Dev dashed out to see the agent about our options, and with the help of brother Brent (airline guru/magician) we managed to score a flight to MIA at 6 am, WITH a connection to Key West.  This is great news because our original plan was to get a rental car in Ft. Lauderdale and drive the final 4 zombie-ish hours to Key West.  (Remember that it took us TWO cars to get to the airport?  Yeah.  It was going to take a miracle (or a van) to get all of that crap loaded up into one vehicle.  I had visions of the kids sitting high atop suitcases, with Sophie strapped to the top of the car, Romney style.  So flying directly into KW with all of that checked baggage would be a coup!

So it was with satisfied smiles (ok, there were some frowns too), that we settled into - on to - the cold, hard, grimy LAX floor for a night of attempted slumber, which was accompanied by the sounds of floor polishers, and non-stop Christmas Musac.  You can imagine how that went.  Well, Sophie slept well in her carrier.  And at 4:30 am, we are up from our night of “sleep” and ready to load onto our MIA flight.  We all did actually semi-sleep on the flight, sitting up.  At some point exhaustion sets in and sleep comes - neck jerking, dry-mouth-open - but some sort of sleep, nonetheless.

We had a great meal in Miami while waiting for the KW connection, and happily walked out onto the tarmac to board the little puddle-jumper.   Except that as we all stood in line at the edge of the tarmac we were told to return to the terminal.  Yes, we were being delayed.  Again.  This time the wait was a mere 30 minutes before we were all sent back out to the plane.  

On the tarmac, take two.

It’s a short hop to KW - 45 min. or less.  As we flew in low over the island we each looked for, and spotted,  our mooring out in the harbor.  I smiled as we landed and taxied up to the Key West “International” Airport, where the sign greeting you reads, “Welcome to the Conch Republic”.  

Waiting for our checked bags in the tiny one-room terminal turned out to be a longer wait than the actual flight.  And then the horrible truth: none of our eight checked bags and boxes arrived with us.  Of course.  So, we loaded up our carry-ons into the rental car, and headed off to the boat-yard, where Points Beyond presently sits.

Key West from above.

How we celebrated New Year's Eve. 

And it’s New Year’s Eve!  I told to boys that, as is our custom, they can stay up as late as they want tonight!  Till midnight, or past!, I say.  No takers.  For some reason they had no interest in staying up late.  We had a yummy meal at a nearby restaurant, and then settled into our bunks, and promptly fell fast asleep at 9 PM.   We were all briefly awakened by various explosions, and possible gunfire at midnight, and then we slipped back to sleep.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  Tomorrow is a new day, a new year, and a new adventure.  Or mis-adventure.

In the boat yard.

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Countdown

English: The Bahamas. NASA image created by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott. Instrument: Aqua - MODIS (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We are a month out, now.   Airline tickets have been purchased, plans made, and bags are semi-packed.   The last month has been spent going over lists, organizing, planning, purchasing necessary items,  and worrying about what we are forgetting.  Which will undoubtedly be plenty.

And, there's still plenty of work to be done on the boat.  In fact, I'm guessing several weeks will be spent putting things together on the boat before we actually cast off the lines and head off toward the Bahamas.  But that's all ok.  It's all part of the process, and we are doing our best to remember that all this planning and prep is part of the journey. 

Dear friends, please keep in touch via email (pointsbeyondcrew@gmail.com)
We'll be monitoring our email and will write back as often as local wifi makes it possible.