Seems like it’s about time for a mid-year-ish check in…
We’re trying out life as a family of four on Brio II.
Given that I grew up sailing in BC, and Jon and I have spent a decent amount of time sailing my parents’ boat here, we surprisingly hadn’t sailed the San Juan’s… ever.
To be fair, we’ve only dipped a toe so far — a week anchored at beautiful Sucia Island — but it’s taken so long to get here that it feels maybe a little extra sweet?
Still not quite sure what the future holds for us, but we’re working on enjoying these days while they’re right here. We’re homeschooling Zephyr this year, and I have maternity leave until the late spring, so it’s a sabbatical year / winter-of-weekends for us 🙂
Honestly, there have been many moments where this all felt impossible. It’s a ridiculous thing to admit out loud — obviously we’ve done this before, in much more exotic and challenging locations — so what could be so hard about exploring our local islands as a family afloat again?!
But going from one kid to two kids is definitely more like going from one kid to three kids, and moving out of an apartment is infinitely harder than moving into one… and then those pesky boat projects continue to take about 7-10x more work than we ever think they will.
So. All of that to say, I am so so so thankful to be here, right now: anchored at Sucia with Kit asleep in the aft cabin and Zephyr doing flips on any horizontal bar he can find, Jon cooking something delicious for dinner, and none of us with a clue of where we’ll be next weekend 🙂
It’s wonderful to look back at the last year and reflect on how things evolve over time…
January 2023 – Zephyr at outdoor preschool
One year ago Brio II was in El Salvador, we were embracing a ski season in Vancouver while living in our little apartment next to my sister, Zephyr was going to an outdoor preschool, and we weren’t sure what the future would hold.
And now? Well despite what the blog might suggest, lots has changed!
It was an exciting departure from El Salvador!
Chronologically, we’ve been working to concentrate the spread of our life (living in 3 different countries is amazing for a while, but it gets complicated!!). The biggest step this required was bringing Brio II up to BC, where we hope to explore our own backyard in the coming years.
In May, Jonathan, his brother and a friend sailed the boat from El Salvador to La Paz, Mexico. Jon then loaded her onto a giant freighter (in the dark, in a nice boisterous chop, just to make it extra fun) and 10 days later Sevenstar Yacht Transport delivered Brio II to Nanaimo, BC.
She doesn’t look very big on the side of a ship!
The whole experience was remarkably easy, if not exactly straight-forward. After negotiations, it cost us $23k, with no additional costs on either end since the boat ships with the mast-up and we didn’t have to go through a boatyard.
“Why didn’t you just sail her yourself?” you might be asking…
Which leads me to the other big event of 2023: We added to the Brio-trio! The ‘Brio quartet’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, so we’re still working on a crew name 😉
Kit made her fast & furious entrance on November 9th, fooling us all by being a week overdue and then arriving after only 90-minutes of labour.
My one-word birth plan (“EPIDURAL!”) had to be abandoned and I delivered her standing up, holding on to Jon’s arm and screaming my head off. No hypnobirthing chill over here!!
The upside of an unplanned, unmedicated birth is that my recovery has been a lot more straight-forward, both physically and emotionally, than it was with Zephyr. An unexpected win given I’m also 5 years older!
Little Kitsy fits into our life like the perfect puzzle piece we didn’t know we were missing, and Zephyr has taken to being a protective older brother like a fish to water.
And as for 2024?
Since Kit was born in Canada, I have an incredible 18-months of maternity leave. This is a gift I don’t take for granted, having also experienced a 12-week leave with Zephyr.
Side note: It’s worth saying that American women really are forced to be stronger than Canadians can imagine — I think there’s a common misconception that somehow American mamas are just fine with their lack of options, rather than forced into the hardest choices. I’m not trying to get political here, just pointing out that Canadians have a whole heck of a lot to be grateful for!
Outside of maternity leave, Zephyr is halfway through his first year of French Immersion kindergarten (which he absolutely loves, much to our delight!); Jon is working on Brio II and building a business in Point Roberts, where the marina is; and none of us are exactly sure what else the next chapter might hold 🙂
Possible intentions include exploring the Gulf Islands and San Juan’s aboard Brio II, some kind of a move (more land life? Back to full time boat life? Unsure!), a bit of a focus on building a cruising kitty or some kind of longer term financial strategy, and just generally figuring out how to be a family of four 🙂
So I guess what I’m saying is check back at the end of the year!?
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