No Rest for the Weary

How did we get here?

We are feeling blessed and grateful for all we have and all we are doing together. 2014 finished with a quiet, peaceful and happy crescendo. At this point, we are not quite sure how to stop – because we love it – (family time, boat, flexibility, challenges, achievements, togetherness, learning) and of greatest importance, is the kids’ education. Our adventure-school model is working so well that we are not too motivated to stop. At some point we will put the boat in storage and fly home to RI, re-enroll the kids in their beloved day-school…but not today.

Our brisk, refreshing New Year’s day plunge: a Rey family tradition.

We spent a quiet New Year’s Eve in Marathon at Hawk’s Cay Resort. New Year’s day we cruised the beautiful Atlantic via Key Largo and Islamorada to Miami in record time, even stopping for a traditional “Polar Bear Plunge” to welcome the new year in Biscayne Bay. The kids and I moved into our friend George’s place for the week, while Tony pressed on with Cortado to a Ft. Lauderdale shipyard. Cortado spent the week getting some engine work done, her bottom and boot-stripe sanded and re-painted, and a few electrical and painting projects.

After five days of practice and racing, the guys finished 5th overall out of 49 boats in the Etchells’ Sidney Doren Memorial Regatta. The EFYRA III had a great week. One highlight that week for us was an evening of NBA with the Miami Heat and Brooklyn Nets.

Go Heat!

Meanwhile, the kids and I were very excited to get back into school and our daily routine. We enjoyed a solid and welcome re-start in all our subjects; Sophia and Oliver came back to school voracious in their learning. For starters, we read “The Music of Dolphins” by Karen Hesse which takes place in the many island mangroves between Cuba and Miami — exactly the body of water in which we have spent all of December and January. It is a beautiful book and added meaning to our cruising in the waters nearby.

Posing for photos with Dad and trophies. Discussing with the chef, our choice of poisson at Milos, Miami.

After racing, we packed up Cortado with all our school books and headed down to Key West AGAIN for Race Week. We took three days to cruise down this time – making sure to stop often to enjoy the islands and family time together. We enjoyed an easy ride down the rest of the keys to Key West. Dolphins played in our wake on every leg of the trip south, which we consider to be very good luck.