Musings on Life at 17 Months and 32 Years (in Beaufort, SC)

Zephyr turned 17 months and I turned 32 last week. I have to keep doing the math to figure out how old I am, which is one of those things I thought only *really* old people did, so not sure what to make of that 😉

Sailboat life in a dinghy with a toddler

We drove back up to Maryland last week (Zephyr now thinks of the truck as his 4th home), 12 hours each way from Beaufort, to look at a few potential “Brio II’s”. We’ve been looking for the “perfect” Brio II for about two years now, and honestly I’m not sure we’ll ever find her… but I think what we’ve both realized is that we are VERY EXCITED by the prospect of a bit more space, a couple cabins to spread out (and close the doors) on, new projects and a new empty canvas to make our mark.

I look around Brio and see a boat that has been completely transformed since we bought her 8 years ago… we’ve touched almost every system, refit almost every major component of her… but we just can’t make her any bigger.

Toddler climbing the companionway on a Nor'West 33 sailboat liveaboard

I realize what a ridiculous privilege it is to be able to sit here and complain about the size of our floating home while contemplating buying a second boat, so I have to acknowledge that our life has been blessed in so many ways already… a bigger Brio has just been a huge dream!

Shh baby napping

This is the “shhhh Zephyr is napping 4′ away from here!” face. Very well practiced by his parents!

In the interim, as boat shopping continues and the weather slowly, slowly cools down (now in the high 80’s instead of the high 90’s… a much appreciated change!), life marches on.

The latest baby updates:

Toddler and daddy in dinghy in Beaufort, SC near Lady's Island Marina

Zephyr is super into water right now, and will happily spend hours playing in the sink with a measuring cup and a spoon, or in the cockpit with the hose, or in the marina lounge’s kitchen sink.

It’s a fantastic way to keep him busy, right up until the point that you need him to do something else… hell hath no fury like a toddler whose water has been taken away!

He’s slowly adding words to his vocabulary, including a few of his own making… “ama” (airplane), “me-me” (milk), “ba-ba” (unknown but he says it very determinedly haha!).

He’s also getting better at navigating docks and decks on his own. I refuse to let him outside without a lifejacket on — the one “rule” I won’t compromise on, after a few too many tragic stories too close to home — but I fully expect he’ll fall in the water at some point, it’s just a question of when. At least with his lifejacket on we can haul him out and dry him off, and it gives us a handy spot to tie Kevin to (the elephant Z can’t live without).

And it’s nice to watch him race around the deck of a bigger boat, comfortably making his way around shrouds and sheets, popping his head down a hatch to peek inside.

The one thing we’re completely agreed on is that this is the life we want to give our little man… a life afloat, with lots of time together, lots of time outside and in tune with nature and the weather and the creatures around us, and without a ton of “stuff”.

Not that you’d believe the “stuff” part of you looked in the back of Jon’s truck right now… “like real gypsies” my dad exclaimed, when he saw the piles of our crap.

We don’t travel light, but we do travel often!

Lastly… In case you want to wait on pins and needles with us… we’ve got a Brio II in the works that I am REALLY hoping we can finalize and share more about soon 🙂

I’ll keep the Zephyr pics coming until the paperwork is signed, but then Z might have to share the limelight with Brio II…

Living the two-boat-dream,

– LMK


Comments

Musings on Life at 17 Months and 32 Years (in Beaufort, SC) — 2 Comments

  1. Congratulations on your Brio ll. ! Love your blog and pics.
    Will be going back to San Carlos? We hope to spend time there
    in our motor home, which we now have instead of our boat.
    So I envy you on the water.

    • The new Brio is in the Chesapeake, so no immediate plans to return to San Carlos! But we sure would love to get back there some day 🙂

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