Team work

Posted on July 3, 2017 Updated on July 3, 2017

There comes a time in everyone’s life when they just have to know the truth about certain things. Important things. You realize you might not be able to go on anymore if you don’t have the answer. On Tanda Malaika we had that burden, but after a great deal of travel, research and meditation, are now enlightened and feel an incredible weight lifted off our shoulders. By now you may wonder what it is that troubled us so dramatically, and I’m here to share the love and pass on the knowledge…We have been eating and enjoying animal crackers our whole lives (technically I have only since coming to America), and have always wondered just what exactly all those little animals are, and how many different ones there are. Strictly for research purposes, we invested in a small 4 lb container of them, and got to work to discover the truth.

The creatures had to find one of each animal and we lay them out in a specific order. Each of them took turns writing on a sheet of paper what they thought the animal was, and in the meantime I googled it then checked their answers. Aidan is the ACCW (animal cracker champion of the world), after only getting two of the thirteen wrong. Did you know that these delicious morsels have been around since 1903 and 106 different animals have been made!? One last fact to share: Jude especially loves the flavor of the cow shaped ones, and bugs Aidan on purpose by picking them all out and eating them.
This past week has been frustrating for me. I like to get things done,to work, explore and adventure, and have no time or place in my life for laziness (not to be confused with relaxation). I am busy having an epic sciatica disaster from my lower back, down my right butt cheek and all the way to my foot…like a hot poker has been inserted. I usually quite enjoy pain, but this is something else, and leaves me walking like a 98 year old version of the Hunchback of Notradame. I’ve been downing Motrin, Tylenol and Excedrine, and no position brings relief for very long. So, we haven’t done a whole heck of a lot, but have worked as a team and checked a few things off the to do list. We borrowed Janes car and went provisioning.

This of course involved first scrubbing out every food locker on the boat, and reorganizing so older stuff gets used first,

then shopping for the new goods and stowing them too. This is what the receipt looks like after such a grocery run. We should for the most part be good for the next few months, with the exception of fresh produce. Check out Emma’s new haircut!

The twins removed everything out of the starboard forward crew berth, which is like our garage, scrubbed it out and reorganized everything in there. Jude lay all duffles and luggage out on the tramp to air out and check for broken zippers etc, and reorganized and stowed them.

I tackled Danny’s and my berth. It’s always best to do this when he’s out of town because unlike him, I have no problem throwing things away or donating them. Our room looks twice the size now! Aidan and Emma did lots of cleaning and room switching, Mycah washed and cleaned the windows, Emma cleaned the anchor locker, I fixed the corroded zippers on Danny’s backpack, and we remarked the anchor chain.

We have tried several things for this job, but always seem to come back to zip ties. They last longer and can easily be seen as the chain rushes down into the ocean below.

We also fixed the lazy jacks (they hold the sail bag up), which took lots of team work. In order to feed the line down through the mast, we taped a weight to the end of a line, which was attached to the lazy jack line.

We sent Emma up the mast in the bosuns chair where she had to drop the weighted line through a small hold in the mast.

Mycah used a hook at the end of a snake and skillfully retrieved the dropped line out the bottom of the mast.

Emma came down and Jude went up in the bosuns chair and used her ninja sailor skills to fix and reattach the lazy jack line, and Bob’s your uncle, the job was done!

The marina we are in runs parallel to a wonderful park.

Yesterday and last night there were all sorts of festivities there, including a parade that the creatures walked over to watch, while I stayed on the boat and took photos.

Everyone was dressed up with leis and traditional outfits.

Men performed dances, their voices loud and strong as they recited chants and hakas..

Beautiful children chatted and watched,

while others took selfies to remember the day!

I love these people, and I love the energy that they freely share.

When the creatures returned up the dock, we cooked hamburgers for dinner,

then watched the beautiful sunset glowing from behind the huge cranes.

Danny is enjoying spending time with Aundrea, Mom and Dad in California, and we are so glad that he has the chance to do it. We miss him and are excited to show him all the projects we hope to complete before he gets home.