Missouri photos......

St Louis arch

Kelsey and Emma

Kyle, Emma, and Maggie

John loading the canoes

Rachel, Miles and Lily....ready to raft

Emma and Jen were stuck like glue

Family reunion!!

Mehari "parked"

Here she is!! This is Mehari's new home for the next few months, until we get back from fishing in Alaska. It is supported and braced (in case of a hurricane) and it should be safe. It was really sad leaving her after all the memories and adventures we had with her, but we'll be back soon!

It's in a boat yard called Bock Marine, and they seem like they really know what they're doing. Plus, it's a boatyard that let you do your own work on the boat. Something that is becoming harder and harder to find. So, when we do come back in the fall, all she'll need is a new coat of bottom paint, and she's ready to launch!

Beaufort, N.C.

Soon to be tuna steaks!

Zoe watching dolphins off the front of Mehari

We had a good sail up from Florida. It ended up taking 4 days, because the wind died out on the 2nd day and we ended up motoring quite a bit. On the flip side, we had several HUGE pods of dolphins with us on our trip and were able to watch them for an hour or so. We also caught a couple of fish! We had a BIG mahi on one afternoon, but we didn't let him get tired enough before we tried to bring him on-board and at the last minute, he wriggled off the hook!! We were NOT happy. But early the next morning, Levi and I each caught a Black Fin Tuna! Those were a first for us, and it was great eating on our last day at sea. Rachel seared them in some Teriyaki and over a bed of coconut rice, they were amazing!

We arrived in Beaufort N.C. a few days ago and discovered it was just voted the "Cutest Small Town in America" although we could have figured it on our own once we got here. It is just an amazing town along the ICW, and lots of little shops lining the old waterfront street. It was established in 1709 and there are rows of old houses as you go away from the water's edge. Really pretty.

"Cutest small town in America"

Boat-building competition 

On the day we arrived, they were having an annual "Boat Building" Competition. The 2 man teams were each given the same set of plans, and lumber supplies, and 4 hours to build a boat from scratch and make it seaworthy enough for each team member to row across the bay and back, relay style. It was lots of fun, watching the teams slam the boats together with liberal amounts of Sika Flex or 5200 (all purpose heavy duty boat caulking). Even still, most of the boats took on a LOT of water getting across and back! Some of them even had to dump the water out between rowers! Good fun. Maybe Levi and I will be ready to enter next years' event ;)

Mehari is anchored right in front of the town and we have spent a few nights hanging out on-shore, and finding some parks to run around in. Also this week, Emma and I flew up to Boston to pick up the car we purchased to get us up to Alaska. So that was a fun, but way too quick road trip where we drove through 9 states in 3 days! 

So, now it's time to get Mehari out of the water, safe in a boat yard for hurricane season, and start packing for our road trip up to Alaska! Busy, Busy!

From Beaufort, 

Hems

stateside :)

Hello from the US! We made landfall in Port Canaveral, right in the shadow of Kennedy Space Center, where the shuttles have been launched from.

Entering the "ICW"

First thing we had to do was to check in with Customs and Immigration. As boaters entering in our own vessel, we are required to call in when we arrive, and visit the office within24 hours. We had heard it can sometimes be a hassle, but for us it was super simple. We went into the office, down the street from where our boat was tied up, and it took a whole 6 minutes to check us in. We'd kinda hoped for some fanfare entrance, and a big welcome back to the US, but he just glanced over the passports (even the expired ones! :) and sent us on our way.

Addie Anna

So, the next day, we went up into the Intra-coastal Waterway (a canal system that runs almost the entire East coast of the US, and usually really calm) and made our way up to a marina in a little town called Titusville. It is a city-run marina and was a great place to leave the boat while we visited with family who were staying near Orlando. Erik's brother's in-laws Russ and Susan, put us all up in their huge camper on their farm and we had a great time hanging out with the crowd of family that was continually passing through their house. It was our first visit with them and all of us we were instantly accepted as family........how's that for southern hospitality?! We also got to meet our new niece/cousin Addie and absolutely fell in love with her!

Maggie with a baby Croc!

We packed in a lot of fun in one week, playing games, visiting and catching up, and of course, plenty of eating! We had a several BBQ's, and took a big group of family out for a day sail up the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) one afternoon. We skipped the whole craziness of Disney and Universal Studios (just spending a few hours one evening walking down "City Walk", a chaotic shopping and restaurant compound)
We also visited a local winery for a blues and wine festival, got to take an air-boat ride in the swamp where we got to see alligators.........SUPER COOL!, and even fit in a quick trip across the state to visit friends we'd met in Costa Rica. Whew! It was a busy week, but we all had a great time, and of course, there were a few tears when we had to say good-bye again and make our way up to North Carolina.

It was four day sail up to Cape Hatteras area and it was much faster to "go outside" (of the ICW) and try and ride the Gulf Stream north, even though it is much rougher out on the open sea than the calmness of the ICW. Plus, it was the last open sailing for all of us on Mehari for a while, so we wanted to cherish the peace of the open sea!

See you in NC!

Hanging out with Grammy and Gramps!

A few pictures...

Hey all-

We've been moving kinda fast trying to get to Athens in less than a week now. So not much internet. Here's just a few pictures from the last few days...

Levi showing Miles the ocean....
Mom making Miles laugh like he does so often! :)
Emma and I enjoying typical small Greek streets
Zoe and Lily playing on shore......I'm guess they're playing a restaurant...Lily being the waitress.
Zoe.....just being Zoe :)

New Pictures!

Hi everyone! I added these and more pictures to our web albums. Make sure to check them out and see what we're seeing! :) Enjoy!

https://picasaweb.google.com/ErikHem