The Floating Bear crew has arrived

Oh, and if you're wondering about how the new name The Floating Bear came about, you can read the story summary here. Yesterday afternoon, after a very long day and a broken airplane delay, the kids and grand kids arrived to their new home in Coconut Grove. Since the shuttle was down due to the high winds, it took multiple trips to the boat in the dink to transfer their things, in the middle of which a bystander commented, "Wow that's a lot of stuff!" I thought about it for only a minute and then said, "Not when you consider that it's everything they own in the world." Three large duffle bags, three backpacks, 2 car seats and a stroller. Not bad light living for 4 people.

The next 4 weeks until Tim returns will be filled with boat maintenance, preparing their boat for full time living and the trek up the ICW to Ladies Island for the summer, but these first few days will be saved for soaking up the views and enjoying the breezes, running and playing in the park, and getting their sea legs. For the past three years of graduate school their lives have been ruled by deadlines and demands on their time, and it will take a few days of tending to only life's simple, immediate needs to decompress. So if you happen by our boat in the Dinner Key Mooring Field you just might hear this collective <sigh> coming from it as they slowly acclimate to living aboard.

We will be having a proper renaming ceremony this summer at Ladies Island.