In the Bosom of the Family

We arrived in Newport in incredibly thick fog, unable to see the Newport bridge and had an enormous difficulty finding a mooring.  Booh suggested that we take the boat out at New England Boatworks in Portsmouth so we headed up there to get some work done.  The list included anti-fouling, installation of a new propeller, fixing the rudder, changing the anodes, among other things.
We left the boat in Portsmout for a trip up to St. Andrews.  This was a wonderful and relaxing visit with lovely weather.  Emma and Macsen helped with planting in the garden and Seb learned to drive the tractor and the rototiller.   We visited HonGu’s new house for the first time and had the first round of celebrations of Emma and Macsen’s birthdays with a pile of presents and a fairy castle and schoolbus cake respectively.   

At the end of the week we headed back to Rhode Island with Mom and Dad where we had the second round of celebrations of all of the kid’s birthdays with a bouncy house and Booh and Jen’s.  Seb, Dad and Booh spent an incredibly productive evening adjusting the pitch in the propeller and installing a new engine mount.  The nasty vibration we always experienced when motoring now appears to be gone.
Mom  and Dad left on Thursday morning and we headed back to the boat on Thursday evening.  It was a rough day for the monkeys who were torn not only from their beloved grandparents but also from Seren and Rhys.  

On Booh and Jen’s recommendation we headed over to Provincetown for a little distraction.  P-town is fun and lively and helped cheer us a little. In P-town we rented bikes and biked for miles through the dune.  Macsen rode in a pull-along seat and Emma on a tag-along with her own peddles.